The Theatre of Ancient Greece

Early Athens
Early Athens
The City Dionysia
Held between December and April, often in March.
Festival lasted 5 days.
Began with parades and celebrations, sacrices and
tributes to the Gods.
Especially Dionyssus.
A celebration of all things primal.
Originally, the ceremonies incorporated
performances of DITHYRAMBS.
A system was developed with high prole members
of the society to judge the performances of the
dithyrambs.
The City Dionysia
The popularity of the festival and the
prominence of the winners led to an
expansion of this part of the festival.
The theme of the festival and of Dionyssus
allowed for a retrospection of the city-state.
Great thinkers and philosophers took
advantage of this and began to perform
specic dithyrambs about Athenian legends
and history.
This expanded into the performance of
tragedies.
They became so popular that the state began
to fund them directly.
The City Dionysia
Each year, the ARCHON, or magistrate of
the city-state would select wealthy,
prominent individuals to sponsor a new
tragedy. This was a great honour.
The nanciers were called the CHOREGOS,
and they were responsible for:
- Commissioning and paying the playwright.
- Hiring the chorus.
- Hiring the musicians.
- Paying for the costumes.
They were the early PRODUCERS.
The City Dionysia
The prize for the best play in the festival was
shared between the playwright and the
Choregos. (much like the best picture oscar
today.)
The original prize for the best play was a
GOAT, which may be why Tragedy became
the name for the plays.
The popularity of the tragedies grew and
grew, as did their relevance and complexity.
The City Dionysia
The plays were originally performed in the
AGORA, which was the public marketplace
at the time.
AGORA actually means large open space.
However, the popularity and prominence of
the performances led the the creation and
construction of a specic performance
venue.
The City Dionysia
The theatres developed by the Athenians
were AMPHITHEATRES.
They were designed as such to best make
use of natural SIGHTLINES and
ACCOUSTICS.
They sat between 10 and 15 thousand
patrons, and were dug into hills to create
tiered seating.
Here is a reconstruction of
the THEATRE OF
DIONYSSUS.
Originally, the plays were made up solely of a chorus.
The ACTOR was introduced as a sort of Prompter, asking questions of the chorus,
or replying to their statements.
The was reective of and important to the style of life in Athenian society.
The individual and the group were constantly striving for some sort of co-existence.
The rst playwright to introduce an actor to the performance, in mid 6th century
BC (around 534), was THESPIS. He also played the rst part.
In the 460s, the playwright Aeschylus introduced the rst performance with 2
actors. He played one of the parts.
Sophocles later introduced the rst plays with three actors.
All the roles were played by men, most of them between the ages of 17 and 21.
They sang and danced as a unit, and were judged on criteria of uniformity, grace and
precision.
CHOREOGRAPHY is, literally, the mapping of the chorus.
All the players wore large masks made of linen or lightweight wood.
The chorus masks were all identical, but the masks for the individual actors were
more unique.
In comedies, the masks were more grotesque, like caricatures, often portraying
animals.
The Dominant Playwrights
Aeschylus
Agammemnon
The Libation Bearers
The Persians
The Oresteia
Sophocles
Antigone
Oedipus
Electra
Euripides
Frogs
Hippolytus
The Trojan Women
Structure of the Plays
1. PROLOGUE (intro)
2. PARODOS (entrance of the chorus)
3. EPISODES (series of odes)
4. CATASTROPHE (reversal of the heros situation)
5. EXODOS (nal song and exit of the chorus)