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Greek Drama
Dithyrambs:
1. sung by a Greek chorus of up to 50 men or boys
dancing in circular formation
2. would normally relate some incident in the life of
Dionysus
3. leader of the chorus later became the solo protagonist,
with lyrical interchanges taking place between him and
the rest of the chorus
Greek Drama
Dithyrambs:
4. Competitions between groups singing dithyrambs were
an important part of festivals such as the Dionysia
5. Each tribe would enter two choruses, one of men and
one of boys, each under the leadership of a choragos
6. successful choregos would receive a statue which
would be erected - at his own expense - on a public
monument to commemorate his group's victory.
Greek Drama
Greek Drama
Thespis:
1. singer of dithyrambs
2. introduced a new style in which one singer performed
the words of individual characters in the stories
3. became different characters with different masks
Greek Drama
Greek Drama
Early Greek playwrights wrote tragedies:
1. Stories of the gods and heroes used to explore human
problems
2. Universe was governed by fate or destiny
3. Fate interacted with the ability of humans to make
decisions which would bring them either greatness or
disaster
Greek Drama
Characteristics of Greek tragedy:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Little action presented on stage
Plot already familiar to the audience
Little character development, instead types
Centered on the conflict between the individual and the
universe and not other personalities
Greek Drama
Characteristics of Greek tragedy:
5. Tragic fate brought on by someone committing a crime
against society or the gods thereby upsetting the
balance of the universe
6. Punishment came in order to balance the scale of
justice
Greek Drama
Purpose of Greek tragedy was to purify
the emotions of the audience by
representing the triumph of justice.
Greek Drama
Actors:
1. hired and paid by the state and assigned to the tragic
poets
2. three actors were required for the performance of a
tragedy
• the protagonist “first actor”
• the deuteragonist “second actor”
• the tritagonist “third actor”
Greek Drama
Actors:
3. protagonist took the role of the most important character
in the play while the other two actors played the lesser
roles
4. since most plays have more than two or three characters
(although never more than three speaking actors in the
same scene), all three actors played multiple roles
Greek Drama
Actors:
5. male actors had to play female roles
6. playing of multiple roles, both male and female, was
made possible by the use of masks
7. masks with subtle variations also helped the audience
identify the sex, age, and social rank of the characters
8. main duties of an actor were to speak the dialogue assigned
to his characters and to sing songs solo or with the chorus or
with other actors
Greek Drama
Greek Drama
Chorus:
1. tragedy was not just straight drama—included songs
sung both by actors and chorus and also with dancing by
the chorus
2. the chorus were non-professionals who had a talent for
singing and dancing and were trained by the poet in
preparation for the performance
3. standard number of members of a chorus was twelve
4. chorus, like the actors, wore costumes and masks
Greek Drama
Chorus:
5. first function of a tragic chorus was to chant an entrance
song called a parodos as they marched into the
orchestra
6. once the chorus had taken its position in the orchestra, it
had two duties:
• dialogue with characters through its leader, the
Coryphaeus,
• most important function was to sing and dance choral
songs called stasima
Greek Drama
Tragedy structure :
1. scenes of dialogue alternate with choral songs--allows
the chorus to comment in song on what has been said
and/or done in the preceding scene
2. most tragedies begin with an opening scene of
expository dialogue or monologue called a prologue
3. after the prologue the chorus marches into the orchestra
chanting the parodos
Greek Drama
Tragedy structure :
4. a scene of dialogue called an episode, which in turn is
followed by the first stasimon
5. alternation of episode and stasimon continues until the
last stasimon
6. there is a final scene of dialogue called an exodos
“exit scene”
Greek Drama
Structure of a typical tragedy:
Prologue
Parodos
First Episode
First Stasimon
Second Episode
Second Stasimon
Third Episode
Third Stasimon
Fourth Episode
Fourth Stasimon
Exodos
Greek Drama
Producing for the city Dionysia festival:
1. Decide what plays you want to stage.
2. Submit your proposal to the archon eponymos.
3. Wait for the archon to select the choregos who will fund
your play, and your star actor.
4. Finish writing the plays.
Greek Drama
Producing for the city Dionysia festival:
5. Write the music and attend to many other details.
6. Make sure the choregos attends to his duties.
7. Rehearse, rehearse, rewrite, rehearse, rehearse.
8. Wait for the process of selecting the judges to take
place.
9. Attend the proagon.
Greek Drama
Producing for the city Dionysia festival:
10. The Festival of the Greater Dionysia arrives.
11. Attend the events which take place just before the plays
are presented.
12.The plays are presented.
13.The judging takes place.
14.Go to the cast party, and begin thinking about next year.
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skene
theatron
proskenion
parodos
chorus
orchestra
Greek Drama
Aeschylus:
•First of the tragedy
playwrights
•Guilt and punishment
were themes
•Best known works:
Prometheus Bound and
The Oresteia
•13 time winner of City
Dionysia
Greek Drama
Sophocles:
•Greatest of the tragedy
playwrights
•Themes:
1. Ideal of nothing too much
2. Love or harmony and peace
3. Intelligent respect for
democracy
4. Sympathy for human
weakness
•Best known works:
Antigone and Oedipus Rex
•24 time winner of City Dionysia
Greek Drama
Euripides:
•Developed a different style of
tragedy
•Ridiculed ancient myths
•Humbled the proud, exalted
the low
•First to give ordinary man a
place in Greek drama
•Portrayed men as they were
•Introduced love as a theme
•Best known works:
Alcestis, Media, and Trojan
Women
•5 time winner of City Dionysia
Greek Drama
Aristophanes:
•Introduced comedy-developed
from politics and current events
•Wrote about Athenian politicians,
generals, philosophers, and other
playwrights
•Best known works:
The Knights, The Frogs, and The
Clouds
Greek Drama