6.  Theatron: literally,
the “watching
place”
 Orchestra: literally,
the “dancing
place”
 Skene: “scene,” or
backdrop

8.  Daylight
 Class issues
 Women
 Comfort
 Sound effects

10. The modern word
“theater” comes from
the Greek word
theatron meaning
"seeing place"

11. Challenges:
 Size
 Distance from
audience
 Holding interest

12.  Behind orchestra
 Served as
backdrop, house
 Decorative in
later years
 Holds mechane

13.  Parodos: passageways (pl.paradoi)
 Ekkykleme: “the thing that rolls”
 the small wagon platform, was wheeled in
to show a corpse to the audience.
 All killing had to occur off stage and be
reported to the audience by the chorus or a
messenger.
 Mechane: crane used for special effect

15.  Staging was accomplished simply with
the use of pinakes, or scenery painted
on boards and placed against the
skene.
 Also periaktois, triangular prisms, that
could be revolved for scenery changes.
 Properties were also used.
 Drums were sounded for thunder.

16. …In an
amphitheatre
…With a
chorus who
described
most of the
action.
…With masks

17. • The theater of ancient Greece, flourished between c. 550 and
c. 220 BCE.
• The city-state of Athens, was it’s centre.
• It was part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honored the
god Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry with altars
generally on stage.
• Banks would shut down for days, people would travel from all
around to see the drama competitions—even prisoners were
temporarily released to see the plays
• Tragedy means “goat song” (relates to Dionysian sacrificial
rituals)

20.  The chorus was
trained and
costumed at state
expense through a
choregos (a
wealthy citizen)
who chose this job
as his way of
paying taxes and
raising his
standing in the
community.

21.  Members of the chorus
were chosen from the
general population.
 Chorus members were
unpaid volunteers
doing their civic duty.
 The rehearsal period
for a chorus was likely
four months or more.

22. • DRAMA: a literary composition
written to be performed by actors
• central character called a tragic
protagonist or hero suffers some
serious misfortune
• the misfortune is logically connected
with the hero's actions.

23. The modern word “drama”
comes from the Greek word
dran meaning "to do”
 The Greeks understood the
role of action in plays.

24.  Comedy
 Tragedy
 Satyr
 Comedy and tragedy were
the most popular types of
plays in ancient Greece.
Hence, the modern
popularity of the comedy
and tragedy masks to
symbolize theatre.

25. The word “comedy” comes from
the Greek word “komos” which
means “band of revelers.”

26.  These were short plays
performed between the
acts of tragedies. They
made fun of the plight of
the tragedy's characters.
 The satyrs were mythical
half-human, half-goat
servants of Dionysus.
 They served the function
of comic relief.

27. The Satyr and the
Satyr plays
spawned the
modern word
“satire”.

29.  used a chorus
 The choric dithyrambs (choral
songs) were originally about
the death and resurrection of
Dionysus (the god of wine and
revelry).
 Chorus reflects what the
audience is thinking
▪ “color commentary”
▪ Provides background and
spectacle

30.  The first function of the chorus was
as narrator (telling stories, providing
information).
 to bridge the gap between the audience and the
players by making responses and asking
questions
 to intensify the emotion and establish a lyric
mood through rhythmic chanting and dance
 to maintain a sense of ceremony and ritual

31.  The chorus could punctuate
the action of a play with bursts
of song and dance, which
enlarged the dramatic action
and relieved tension.
 Instruments used to
accompany choric songs and
dances included flutes, lyres,
horns, drums, and bells.
 The ‘Parados’ (chorus
entrance) marks the beginning
of the play, and the exodus (its
exit) the ending.
 Singing
 Dancing
 Strophe
 Antistrophe

32.  As the number of
actors increased
from one to
three, the size of
the chorus, which
originally
numbered 50,
was reduced.
 12-15 men

33. TheChorus could play the
worshipers of a God, or as
in Oedipus, the villagers and
Theban elders (town
leaders).

34. The modern word
“thespian” comes from
the name Thespis, the
first actor credited
with separating from
the chorus to hold a
call and response with
them.

35.  Choruses did not rehearse in the
theatres, they probably rehearsed in a
closed room so that the spectators
would not see the drama before the
performance.
 Early dramatists (Aeschylus and
probably Sophocles and Euripides)
taught their own choruses.

36.  Consisted of standard Greek attire
 Chiton: a sleeveless tunic belted below the
breast
 the himation: draped around the right shoulder
 the chlamys, or short cloak, worn over the left
shoulder
 elaborately embroidered patterns
 Masks were used.
 If playing a female role, the male actor in want
of a female appearance wore the prosternida
before the chest and the progastrida before the
belly

37. 3 Actors, all men
Elaborate gestures,
“over-acting”
Women were not
allowed to
participate.

39.  to masks bring the characters' face closer to
the audience.
 to enable an actor to play in several different
roles,
 to help the audience to distinguish sex, age,
and social status, in addition to revealing a
change in a particular character’s emotions
and appearance.
 a mask—called a “persona”
 Masks contained “megaphone” to amplify their
voices

40.  Another adaptation that the Greeks'
developed for their theatre masks were
special mouths that acted like megaphones
to amplify their voice for everyone in the
huge theatre to hear.

41. Actors wore masks with exaggerated facial features
and expressions to make it easy for all viewers to identify a
particular character because theatres were very large.

42.  Greek actors originally started wearing
masks that were very human like that just
covered part of the face
 Eventually with the increase in theatre size
the mask changed as well
 The mask then began to cover the whole
head and resembled legends from Greek
mythology not humans

43.  usually made by the people that who
wore them in the play
 from consisted of cloth, leather, and
wood with animal hair and painted or
died different colors with flowers and
other plants attached to them.
 Famous actors in bigger plays may
have had jewels and other ornate
items placed on their masks

44. Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Menander

45. Medea is a princess from Colchis. She marries Jason, who is
on a quest for the Golden Fleece. Medea betrays her father
and murders her brother for her love of Jason. Medea has
magical powers. Jason takes Medea back to his homeland
Iolcus. They are rejected for fear of Medea’s power and move
to Corinth, where they have children.
Jason takes another wife, the king of Corinth’s daughter
Glauce. Medea, betrayed, sends a bewitched gown to
Princess Glauce, Jason’s new bride, it kills her and her father.
Jason returns to find Medea has killed their sons. Medea
leaves with the bodies of her children in a dragon led
chariot. Jason, a shadow of a man, no longer protected by
Hera, dies when a timber from the Argo crushes him in his
sleep.

46.  Son of wealthy Athenian  495 B.C.E. :Born in
merchant Colonus, in Attica
 Lived during golden age  441: Writes Antigone
of Athens  431-404:
 Center of democracy Peloponnesian War
 Important figure in (Athens v. Sparta)
society  429: Writes Oedipus
 Becomes cultural
spokesperson Rex
 406: Sophocles dies
 Noted playwright
 Wrote primarily tragedies
 Witnessed decline of
Athens

47.  Delphic Oracle,
prophecy
 Corinth and Thebes
 Sphinx riddle
 Self-punishment
 Children: Eteocles,
Polyneices, Ismene,
Antigone

48. • Sphinx's riddle: "What is the creature that walks on four legs in
the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?"
• To this Oedipus answered "Man”.
• Oedipus's name means "swollen foot”. His ankles were pinned
as a baby. Here is the baby of which the Sphinx speaks,
crawling on four feet.
• Oedipus the adult man, standing on his own two feet.
• Oedipus will leave Thebes an old blind man, using a cane.
• Oedipus himself proves to be that same man, an embodiment
of the Sphinx's riddle.
• Oedipus is solver of the Sphinx's riddle, and the answer.

51. From Aristotle’s Poetics
The Six Aspects of Tragedy
1. PLOT
2. CHARACTER
* 3. SPECTACLE
4. SONG
5. DICTION
6. THOUGHT

52. 1. PLOT: Plot is the way the incidents are presented
to the audience
• Must be “whole” –beginning/ middle and end
• Incentive moment- begins cause and effect
• Climax
• resolution
• Must be complete and have “unity of action”
• No “deus ex machina”
• No “episodic plots”
• Plot can be simple or complex
• Catastrophe (cata/strophe): change in fortune
• Perepetia: a reversal
• Anagnorisis: recognition

53. 2. CHARACTER
• Personal motivations connected to cause/ effect aspect of
plot
• Protagonist should be renowned and prosperous
change from good to bad
• Hubris – arrogance, overconfidence
• Hamartia: a tragic flaw
• Characters should have the following qualities:
• Good or fine
• Fitness of character
• True to life
• Consistency
• Necessary or probable
• Idealized/ ennobled

54. 1. He must be a man who is superior to the average man in
some way.
1. Oedipus is smart he is the only person who could solve the Sphinx's riddle.
2. Must evoke both pity and fear, must be a character with a
mixture of good and evil. Oedipus is a hero with a violent
streak, clever man, but is blind to the truth.
3. Hamartia, often translated as "tragic flaw" but really
means "error in judgement.”
4. Dramatic irony The audience knows the outcome of the
story already, but the hero does not, making his actions
seem ignorant or inappropriate in the face of what is to
come.

55. 3. THOUGHT
• Reference to theme
4. DICTION
• Word choice is proper and appropriate
• Emphasis on style and use of literary devices (metaphor)
5. SONG
• Musical element of the play
• Use of the chorus
6. SPECTACLE
* Production for effect