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Greek Drama. Religious Festivals. In honor of Dionysus – god of wine, food, fertility Dionysia--city where festival was held in the spring Festival lasted for 4 days; ended with awards given to best plays. Competitive dances, songs and choral hymns performed to honor the gods, esp. Dionysus
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Religious Festivals • In honor of Dionysus – god of wine, food, fertility • Dionysia--city where festival was held in the spring • Festival lasted for 4 days; ended with awards given to best plays. • Competitive dances, songs and choral hymns performed to honor the gods, esp. Dionysus • Choric storytelling evolves into re-enactments of legends of Greek culture
Greek Drama • The Ancient Greeks took their “entertainment” very seriously and used drama as a way of investigating the world they lived in, and what it meant to be human.
Greek Drama • Wealthy citizens would sponsor plays by paying a tax called the choregia. • Many hoped the success of the play they sponsored would provide them with a way into politics.
Greek Drama • The three genres of drama were comedy, satyr plays, and most important of all, tragedy.
Comedy • Mainly satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness.
Tragedy • Themes -- love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. • Main protagonist commits some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant he has been. Then, as he slowly realizes his error, the world crumbles around him. • The three great playwrights of tragedy were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Tragedy • Aristotle argued that tragedy cleansed the heart through pity and terror, purging us of our petty concerns and worries by making us aware that there can be nobility in suffering. He called this experience 'catharsis'.
Satyr Plays • Short plays performed between the acts of tragedies that made fun of the plight of the tragedy's characters. The satyrs were mythical half-human, half-goat figures and actors in these plays wore large phalluses for comic effect.
Thespis • Father of Drama/First Actor • astounded audiences by leaping on to the back of a wooden cart and reciting poetry as if he was the characters whose lines he was reading • “Thespian”
First Playwrights • Aeschylus introduced a second actor, creating DIALOGUE • Sophocles introduced a third actor, as seen in Oedipus Rex, which allows for dramatic complexity.
Classic Greek Theatre • Theatron • Seeing place where audience sat. Held up to 20,000 people. • Orchestra • Circular dancing place where actors and chorus performed • Thymele • Altar to Dionysus, center of orchestra
Classic Greek Theatre • Skene • Building used as dressing room • Proskenion • Façade of the skene building which served as backdrop • Parados • Entrance to the theatre used by chorus audience
Actors & Acting • A play could have many characters but had to be divided among three actors • Unlimited number of extras or mutes. Stage could have a dozen or more soldiers or village maidens without violating the rule of “three” • All roles were played by men
Costumes & Masks • Long flowing robes • Symbolically colored • High boots, often with raised soles • Larger than life masks • Made of linen, wood, and/or cork • Exaggerated features
Masks—Persona • Male vs. female • Young vs. old • Grief stricken vs. hopeful • The “open mouth” on the mask increased the resonance of the actor’s voice
Function of the Chorus • Serve as a barometer of popular opinion • Add beauty (theatrical effectiveness) through song dance • Give background information • Divide action & offer reflections on events • Questions, advises, expresses opinions—usually through chorus leader
Conventions • Unities • Action—simple plot • Time—a single day • Place—one scene throughout the entire play Temple at Delphi
Messenger Tells news happening away from the scene Reports acts of violence not allowed to be seen Limitations Continuous presence of the chorus No intermissions: continuous flow of action and choral odes No lighting or curtains Conventions
Tragic Hero • Tragic Flaw—Hubris • Excessive Pride; arrogance • Fatal errors in judgment which contributes to the downfall • Tragic Realization • Accepts responsibility for the outcome • Perceives before the fall how he/she has contributed to his/her own destruction
Irony • The awareness—by the author, character, or reader—of a contrast or an incongruity between appearance and reality • Verbal Irony • Words that appear to mean one thing really mean the opposite
Irony • Dramatic irony • What appears true to a character is not what the audience or reader knows to be true • Situational Irony • What appears likely to happen is not what actually happens
Paradox • A statement or a situation that at first seems impossible or self-contradictory but that may actually be true, either in fact or in the figurative sense.
Deus ex machina • 'dA-&s-"eks-'mä-ki-n& • Function: noun • Etymology: New Latin, a god from a machine, translation of Greek theos ek mEchanEsDate: 1697 • 1: a god introduced by means of a crane in ancient Greek and Roman drama to decide the final outcome • 2: a person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty
Archetype • A basic model from which copies are made; a prototype • An original pattern
