Greece Theatre Movements

Ancient Greece: Theatre Movements

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

When speaking of "Greek" theatre, we are actually referring to the cultural group of city-states located within the Greek peninsula. Rather than one united country, we speak of the most important city-state. The center of Greek theatre development occurred in Athens originally. The Athenians defeated Persia in 490 B.C.E. and until the Peloponnesian Wars they ruled most of the peninsula. The wars with Sparta took place between 431 and 404 B.C.E. and during this time Athenian drama continued to flourish. When the Spartans finally defeated the Athenians, there was a period of time in which no new playwrights emerged. The Spartans ruled until 404 B.C.E. but the Athenians were still in the forefront of theatre development, with actors traveling throughout the world. In 336 B.C.E. Alexander the Great began his reign and his influence spread throughout Greece and beyond. Alexander promoted achievements in the arts and culture of Greece and spread his influence throughout Egypt, Asia, and India. Alexander's reign begins the Hellenistic era, which lasts until 146 B.C.E. when Greece is conquered by the Romans.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK THEATRE

Q: How did satyr plays develop?

A: The Greeks often held festivals after the harvest. During the festival there were often comedic performances involving a satyr which was half man and half goat. These performances developed into satyr plays.

Q: How did tragedies originate?

A: The Rural Dionysia, a festival in mid-winter, focused on a celebration of the got Dionysus. The performances during this festival involved a chorus with the head of the village as the leader. The best performances were given a goat as a prize, and a goat was sacrificed at the beginning of the festival. The Greek work for goat, "tragos" may be the origin of tragedies.

Q: How did comedies develop?

A: A festival in January called the Lenaea included masquereades or "comos", which gives us the term "comedy".

TRAGEDY AND COMEDY

The first style of drama to develop in the Golden Age of Greece was tragedy. We know what Greek tragedy is like by reading the plays that still exist and by reading the works of Aristotle. Aristotle's The Poetics (335 B.C.E.) was written after the Golden Age, but is the best form of dramatic criticism we have. Wilson lists Aristotle's six elements of drama, in order of importance¹:

1) Plot

2) Characters

3) Thought/Theme

4) Language (dialogue/poetry)

5) Music

6) Spectacle (scenery/visual elements)

Aristotle also describes the order of events in a good tragedy, which are evident in many extant Greek tragedies. The play begins with the prologos which provides the background for the story, then the parados when the chorus enters. Then for the continuation of the play there is an alternation of episodes, which is when the dramatic action takes place, and the choral ode, which is performed by the chorus, until finally there is the exidos which is the final scene when all performers leave the stage.

Aristotle also said that in good "complex" tragedies there is only one plot in which the hero/heroine has a tragic downfall which leads them to discover the error of their ways.

Climactic Drama served as a mold for a successful Greek play. Many playwrights would use general guidelines and stock devices in the plot, and only change details of the play. Climactic drama started near the climax, so that an exposition was provided, but all the action of the play took place within 24 hours and in one location. There were few characters and one main action. Violence was not shown onstage, and instead is referred to by the characters after it happens. Instead of showing a character being killed, the other characters would simply talk about what happened.

The style of comedy which the Greeks began writing is referred to as Old Comedy. Eventually the writing style changed and became what is referred to as New Comedy. There is rarely a clean jump from one style to another, there is usually a gradual period of change, hence, you guessed it, Middle Comedy. The generally accepted dates are: Old Comedy until the Peloponnesian War in 404 B.C.E, Middle Comedy from 404 until 336 B.C.E. and then New Comedy.

Q: How do the styles differ?
A: ^{NEW COMEDY
OLD COMEDY
Form of Comedy
Subtle comedy of manners
Political Satire
Plot Construction
Domestic/Family Situations
Bourgeois Life in the City
Political/Societal Situations
Sharp Topical Observation
Level of Realism
Realistic/Down-to-Earth Fantastic/Improbable
Characters Stock Characters
Recognizable
Contemporary Personalities
Chorus
Occasionally still on-stage
throughout show, but
usually used only for
singing and dancing
between acts
Chorus plays vital role and
helps to portray the
importance of political
ideas}

Q: How did audiences understand what was happening on stage with so many distractions and without modern theatre technology?

A: The truth is, the audience didn't need to pay attention to the whole play to understand the plot, because the plays they were watching dealt with stories from their religious and cultural background.

THEATRE BUILDINGS, SCENERY, AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

Theatre buildings were constantly being updated as drama continued to develop throughout the Classical Era. This is a diagram of a typical Greek theatre:

The orchestra was originally used for dancing and other ceremonial events. In the center of the orchestra is the altar which also stems from origins of worship, but during plays was used by the chorus. Historians don't agree on whether or not there was a raised platform for actors during the Classical period, but even if there was, it was not as large as the stages built later on during the Hellenistic period.

The audience sat on a hill in the shape of a half-circle where wooden benches were eventually built. In the center of the front row there were stone seats for important officials and priests of Dionysius. Entrance into the theatre was free at first, but eventually a fee was charged. Poorer citizens were given the money to attend the theatre because it was socially obligatory.

Behind the orchestra is a stage building. The facade was used as the background for the plays, usually set in a palace. The building, called the skene was used to house the actors so they could change costumes off-stage, and also to house properties. The amount of doors is debated, but there may have been large central double doors and a smaller door on each side which was used for entrances and exits. The skene also had side wings referred to as paraskenia.

The parados is the space between the skene and audience where the chorus entered.

Scenery was mostly stationary as the facade of the skene, but some scene-changing elements did develop. A pinake was a frame covered with stretched fabric which could be painted with scenic elements. The piriaktoi had three sides, each painted with a different scenic element such as a tree or an architectural detail. Scene changes were symbolic rather than realistic, and the dialogue of plays often helped to clarify the location of the characters. Many historians believe that these were not even used during the Classical era, and were only developed later on.

Special effects were limited to two main devices. The mechane was a crane built behind the skene and could lower actors onto the stage. This was mostly used for the entrances of gods and goddesses, to suggest a descension from heaven. The Latin term deus ex machina ("god from a machine") refers to the appearence of the gods to sort out any plot complications. Today this term refers to any dramatic device used to unravel the plot.

Significant changes to the theatre building were made during the Hellenistic period. We know that during the Hellenistic era there was a stage that was built quite high, up to 13 ft. It was 140 ft. long and the depth was up to 14 ft. The side pieces, or paraskenia, were eliminated. The stage house was eventually a multi-story stone structure with columns between the openings. On the first story the facade is called the proskenion, the facade of the second story is referred to as the episkenion. Historians still aren't sure about the scenic devices or to what extent the orchestra was used during the Hellenistic period.

A summary of the differences between the Classical Era and Hellenistic Era:

	Classical Era	HellenIstic Era
Time Period	600-336 B.C.E.	336-146 B.C.E.
Theatre Capacity	15,000-17,000	3,000-20,000+
Seating	Wooden benches	Permanent stone seating
Paraskenia	Present	No longer present
Skene	Simple skene	Large stage house
Comedy	Old Comedy	New Comedy
Innovations	Noteworthy drama	Ascension of actor and costume development
Playing Space	Orchestra 66 ft. in diameter	Stage raised 13 ft. 140 ft. long
Purpose of Drama	Worship Dionysus	Used in multiple ceremonies

¹Wilson, Edwin, and Alvin Goldfarb. Living Theatre: A History. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004.

Western Theatre History