Greek Theatre Outline
(Summary of HB Anthology Unit 1, Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, and Aristotle's
Poetics
Origins in ritual
- arena arrangement
- religious, social, civic, aesthetic, entertainment function
- earliest "mimesis" for an audience
- music and dance also central; theatre not separate art
Classical Athens, 5th century BC
Theatre only held as part of religious events, ie City Dionysia
- religious fests also social, civic, aesthetic, entertainment
- Archon is city magistrate in charge
- Choregus is a wealthy sponsor of playwright
- playwright is director, choreographer, music director
- each of 3 tragic playwrights writes trilogy and satyr play
- playwrights compete for annual prize, shared with choregus
- festival lasts a week with parades, speeches, other contests
- citizens' RIGHT and DUTY to attend
Comedy festival: Lenaia
- five comic playwrights compete
- Old Comedy, Aristophanes
- topics of community life, political and social satire
Theatron -- Ancient Greek theatre buildings
- amphitheatre
- orchestra
- thymele
- skene
- paraskenion
- machina
- ekkyklema
- parodos
Performers
- maximum of 3 actors or hypokrites
- later, actors also compete for prizes
- chorus of 12-15 singer/dancers
- Choragos is chorus leader
- all performers male
- actors wear chiton and mask specific to character
Dramatic structure for Ancient Greek tragedies
- prologue
- parodos
- episodes (Oedipus Rex has 4)
- choral odes (Oedipus Rex has 4)
- exodos
- peripeteia -- reversal for protagonist
- catastrophe -- downturn of play's events
- protagonist, orginally "1st actor"
- anagnorisis -- recognition
- hamartia -- tragic flaw, or mistake
- catharsis -- effect on audience
Sophocles (496-406 BC)
- with Aeschylus and Euripides, surviving playwrights from Classical
Athens
- general, politician, playwright
- enlarged cast to 3 actors, enlarged chorus to 15
- 7 of over 120 plays survive
Oedipus Rex c. 431 BC
- play text as fragment of performance text
- intensive plot structure (plot vs. story)
- identify elements of dramatic structure of Ancient Greece
- fate vs. individual choice
- Oedipus' character: what makes him great brings him down
- reflection of Athenian values
- dramatic irony
- strong themes: blindness vs. sight
Aristotle's Poetics (384-322 BC, Poetics c. 335 BC)
Literature, theatre and music are imitative processes (mimesis);
different genres vary by means (genre differentiation), objects (goals/telos),
methods/modes (narrative vs. dramatic)
Greek tragedy: imitates superior people, characters use dramatic
mode
Greek tragedy's poetic meter: iambic trimeter
Definition of tragedy: "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action
which is serious, complete, and of some magnitude; in language which is beautiful,
with each of its varieties found separately in the parts; enacted by the persons
themselves and not presented through narrative; through a course of pity
and fear effecting the purgation of those emotions."
6 elements of tragedy, in descending order of importance:
- plot
- character
- thought/theme
- verbal expression/diction
- song composition/music
- visual adornment/spectacle
Plot is the goal (telos) of tragedy; plot, character, and theme are
what tragedy imitates (mimesis). Diction and music are the medium
of the imitation. Spectacle is the manner of the imitation.
Principles of plot
- character and theme serve plot
- whole
- unified
- not describe what is but what can be
- simple vs. complex
- anagnorisis and peripeteia should happen at once
- single vs. double
- best plots: recognition happens to prevent an action; 2nd best: recognition
happens after action
- recognition is best if it unfolds from plot, 2nd best: from reasoning
Character of Protagonist
- morally good
- appropriate to type (women and slaves)
- like real people
- consistent
Really good link on Ancient Greek theatre:
Recreating
the Theater of Dionysus in Athens
Video of Epidaurus
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