World Theatre I - exam I

“He thought no more of it than killing a beast, and his flocks were rich, teeming in their fleece, but he sacrificed his own child, our daughter, the agony I labored into love to charm away the savage winds of Thrace.”

Agamemnon by Aeschylus (525-456 BCE)
Spoken by Clytemestra as she defends her decision to murder her husband to avenge him sacrificing their daughter Iphagenia.  

Aeschylus wanted to demonstrate that vendettas never end well along with educating people on how the legal system works – as the City State was newly formed and needed defending. This quote must have connected Clytemestra to the audience as she explains her rage, yet at the same time she explains why Iphagenia’s sacrifice came to be in the first place - which Ancient Greeks would have seen as a necessary action rather than a cruel act.  

“Come, children, give
Me your hands, give your mother your hands to kiss them.
Oh the dear hands, and O how dear are these lips to me,
And the generous eyes and bearing of my children!
I wish you happiness, but not here in this world.”

Medea by Euripides (480 - 406 BCE)

Quote spoken by Medea  

The first part of this quote must have soothed the audience, as Medea shows how much she loves her children. And then horrified them, as the words ‘but not here in this world’ set in the foreshadowing for how the play will end. The finale is what earned Euripides a name as a ‘woman hater’ as in his writing he did the unthinkable – made a mother kill her own children - and made him the least liked among the big three. Yet, thousands of years later, Euripides is seen as the most beloved among them.

“I am hopeful at the moment of setting about to discover
The fact that you two are twins, born for each other
And on the same day to the very same father and mother.”  

The Brothers Menaechmus by Plautus  

Spoken by Messenio, finally putting it together and revealing to the brothers that they are indeed the twins that each of them was searching for.  

Performed first in Plautus’ lifetime (254-184 B.C.) 

Plautus wrote for common people, whose family members may be separated far more often than those of the upper classes. The moment when the two characters finally find out what the audience knew all along must have brought celebration and relief that the brothers finally found one another. 

Egyptian Coronation Drama 

Polytheistic (worshipped many gods/goddesses), Parallels the death and resurrection of Osiris & the defeat of Set & Horus' coronation, Cycle Story (Birth to Rebirth, Summer to Fall), Coronation of the New Pharoah, Worshipped Death

Rabinal Achi 

Worshipped War, Mayan (Close Relation to Aztecs), Queche Warriors

Dionysus 

God of wine, theatre, and fertility

Pericles

Statesman who was sponsoring Aeschylus, Made theatre accessible to poor people and built/restored theatres

City Dionysia

The most important Greek festival in honor of the god Dionysus, and the first to include drama. Commemorated the coming of Dionysus to Athens, held each year at the end of March or early April and extended over several days

What Greek tragedies are based on

Myth

Thespis

first actor 

Dithyramb

a wild choral hymn of ancient Greece, especially one dedicated to Dionysus 

Choregus

Wealthy person who financed a playwright's works at an ancient Greek dramatic festival

Satyr play

A type of play that makes fun of society; provides comic relief. served as afterpieces to the tragedies

Pinakes

Scenery painted on boards and placed against the skene 

Periaktoi

In ancient Greek Theatre, a three-sided scenic piece which could be revolved. 

Machina

Crane for flying gods 

Ekkyklema

platform on wheels used to bring out characters from inside the building 

Author of The Oresteia

Aeschylus 

Author of Oedipus the King

Sophocles 

Author of Medea

Euripides 

Author of Poetics

Aristotle 

Author of Lysistrata

Aristophanes 

Lysistrata's War 

Peloponnesian War (Athens vs. Sparta)

Ludi Romani

a festival dedicated to the god Jupiter which was the first major Roman festival to incorporate theatre 
Performed in September, actors were slaves and the wealthy owned their own theatre company

Name of first playwright of African descent

Terence (Publius Terentius Afer) 

Added music to Greek new comedy models

Plautus

Roman tràgic playwright

Seneca 

Author of Phormio

Terence

Author of The Brothers Menaechmus

Plautus 

Author of the Art of Poetry/Ars Poetica

Horace 

Author of De Architetura

Vitruvius 

Author of Dulcitius and Sapientia

Hrotsvitha

First female playwright

Hrotsvitha

Quem Queritis trope

the priests delivering the sermon enacted the story, rather than just telling it, and became the characters. Easter mass trope

Regularis Concordia

established conduct and rules for monasteries, designed to establish uniform practices and to encourage a sense of purpose and order in England's monasteries, described how tropes are supposed to be performed

Author of Regularis Concordia

Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester 

Corpus Christi

Body of Christ

Mansion

a form of skene, indicated where we were in the story

Platea

a neutral acting area in front of the mansion

Liturgical drama

religious plays performed inside or near church, part of church service, performed during Hours

Cycle/passion plays

bible stories from the creation to the end of the world

Guilds

Association of merchants or artisans who cooperated to protect their economic interests 

Mystery plays

plays based on the Bible

Miracle plays

plays based on the lives of saints

Author of Ralph Roister Doister

Nicholas Udall

Author of Gammer Gurton's Needle

Doctor S

The 5 structural parts of the Greek tragic play and the definition of each

Prologue – monologue or dialogue that tells the audience where, who, and at what point in the myth the play begins 

Parados – entrance of the chorus and the first choral ode 

Episodes – scenes of dialogue 

Odes – chorus songs between episodes 

Exodus – final scene and the exit song from the chorus 

Three Greek tragic playwrights, a title of a tragedy by each

Media by Euripides 

Oedipus the King by Sophocles 

The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus 

Six key elements of tragedy according to Aristotle in the order he ranked them in importance

plot (mythos) 

character (ethos) 

thought (dianoia) 

diction (lexis) 

music (melos) 

spectacle (opsis) 

Parts of a Greek theatre

Orchestra (stage), theatron (audience), parados (actor entrances), skene (backstage), Proscenion (backdrop)

Names of the 2 best known Roman comic playwrights, title of a play by each, and 1 distinguishing characteristic of each of their playwriting styles

Plautus - The Brothers Menaechmus – ¾ of his lines were followed by a music accompaniment 

Terence - Phormio – wrote refined comedies meant for highly educated people 

Roman tragedian, title of one of his plays

Seneca - The Trojan Women 

2 distinguishing characteristics of plays by the Roman tragedian that influenced Renaissance

He kept the violent scenes on stage
His tragedies were meant to be examples of how emotions could destroy a person’s life

List 2 distinguishing attributes of each of the following performances (i.e. 6 total): Fabulae Atellana, Fabulae Riciniata, Fabulae Saltica  

FA 

- ridiculous situations consisting of puns, horseplay and riddles of a vulgar and crude nature 
- stock characters set in a country with country people

FR 

- Roman Mime (art of movement with no text) - made fun of Christians, the actors did not weak masks.

FS 

- An actor had to change masks to change character or expression. Chorus sang the story, usually accompanied by dancing
The plots were usually taken from mythology or history

Parts of a Roman theatre

- Theatron is now a semi-circle
- Orchestra
- Skene is now SCANEA
- There is no longer parados. Now, there is CAVEA.

According to the Art of Poetry the two-fold purpose of theatre is what?

EDUCATE AND ENTERTAIN

List 3 specific points that Aristotle made about playwriting in Poetics

Plot (mythos) is the most important aspect in playwrighting
If a scene can be removed from the play and the play still works, that scene needs to be removed
Tragic plot must involve a tragic deed

List 3 specific points that Horace made about playwriting in Ars Poetica

plays must be written in five acts 

Language must be clear and consistent to the characters

It must be a unified story

5 locations in towns and/or countryside of medieval religious performance (NOT mansion and platea but performance sites)

Inside cathedrals, outside cathedrals, town square, cornish rounds, and old roman amphitheaters

-List two specific examples of humor in The York Crucifixion

The measurement error - when they realize that they drilled the holes too far apart, instead of drilling new ones, they casually decide to stretch Jesus’ body to make them fit

Approach to the crucifixion - the workers treat it as a mundane task that they can argue and bicker over instead of the heartbreaking and horrific scene it is supposed to be

In the play Medea by Euripides, what are the rules that are presented to the women of classical Athens?

• Being treated as property by their family and husbands

• Having to give birth as their primary function - if they do not succeed in it, a husband had a right to take another wife

Example in Agamemnon and Libation Bearers what are the elements blood vengeance of a palace state?

• Agamemnon: Clytemestra states her deed in killing her husband as a righteous response, as if it is a sacred prayer and a divine right.

• Libation Bearers: Orestes kills his mother to avenge her killing his father and calls it ‘justice hungry for retribution’

Example of a switch to a trial-evidence in The Eumenidies

Athena arguing with the chorus about needing to hear both sides and making proper judgement

Livius Andronicus

Prisoner from war from Northern Italy, slave, first to translate Greek tragedy, no extant plays

Morality plays

made-up stories, allegories (pertaining to the characters), teaches morals