The nature of (old) comedy

When was comedy incorporated into the City Dionysia

When was comedy incorporated into the City Dionysia

486 BC

how did the comedy section work at CD

• 5 playwrights wrote 1 play

• may have been 3 during peloponnesian war

• separate competition

origins of comedy

• Kommos (revel)

• 6th c BC

• men participating in animal chorus

• streets of city dancing, drinking and singing in honour of Dionysus

  • leather phallus’s

    • human fertility

    • part of costume in comedy

what was the main comic festival

• Lenaia

• held in January each year

• mainly Athenian audience

  • seas too stormy for travel

what is the other influence of comedy

• abuse poetry

• insulting onlookers

when was old comedy

486-386 BC

who was the main playwright in Old comedy

Aristophanes

When was middle comedy

386-321 BC

who was the main playwrights in middle comedy

• Aristophanes

• Menander

when was new comedy

321-263 BC

who was the main playwright in new comedy

Meander

who are two of Aristophanes’ contemporaries

• Cratinos

• Eupolis

how many of Aristophanes plays survived

11 of 40

where were Aristophanes plays set

• Athens

• deals with contemporary issues

• even non-Athens settings involve Athenian issues

  • Hades in Frogs

who was Aristophanes writing at the same time as

• Sophocles

• Euripides

• for 20 years

• started in 420

What is important to note when discussing comic playwrights

• little contemporary evidence

• we don’t even really have plays for Aristophanes

Contributions of Aristophanes

• Only known facts are dates and some production details

• born 440s

• believed to be from aristocratic family

• Banqueters a satire on comedy- 427

  • now lost

• Kleon sued him for mocking him in Babylonians

• competed at both Lenaia and City Dionysia

• career over 40 years

• most of his plays in shadow of Peleponoesian war

what was the benefit of no foreigners at Lenaia

More freedom to put ideas forward

The Aristophanes Audience

• Affected by war

• his plays often feature extreme measures to get peace

• wrote less plays by Athens surrender

• Shown as sympathetic to everyday lives, independent businessmen, small landowners

• hated Aristocrats, those who imitate their betters, slaves and other working-class

• Sympathetic to intellectuals

How did comedies finish

• celebration and Triumph

• banquets or weddings

what is a clear difference between comedy and tragedy

• tragedy mythological past

• comedy was everyday life

• Audience would have not been familiar with comic plot

Why were comic prologues so long

• to give audience an explanation of events and set the scene enough for them to follow the plot

What was the main focus of comedies

• conflict

• important issues treated with farce and fantasy

Parabasis

• only in comedy

• speech by chorus or chorus leader

• playwrights own views

• usually irrelevant to plot

• clouds- used to complain that he hadn’t won a previous time

Language

• paradox

• very crude

• but also very formal

• scatological and sexual jokes

• monodies and choral lyrics

• made up new words

Acting in comedy

• fourth speaking actor?

• some use of extras for minor speaking roles

• 24 chorus members

  • can be split in two

• costumes were used to make the actors look ridiculous

The chorus

• plays usually took their titles from the chorus

• played an active role in the plot

• animal chorus’ common

structure of play

• prologue

• parados

• episodes and stasimons

• parabasis

• episodes and stasimons

• exodus

relationship between chorus and actor

• hostile to start

• won over by hero

• chorus can be used to relocated energy between actors

  • frog chorus

Masks and costumes

• essential element of the worship of Dionysus

• designed to make actors look ridiculous

• short bordered tunic

• cloak reaching below waist

• thick tights

• padded

• ‘female’ costumes were exaggerated (like pantomime dames today)

• masks were grotesque with furrowed brows and protruding chins

• used to determine status, sex and providence

Phallus

• symbolized fertility and Dionysus

• added to crude nature of play

masks for animal characters

• reminded audience they were animals

• acted like humans so required representation

Animals

• chorus of birds was made up of 24 different birds

• costume designer had to be skilled and knowledgeable

• Frogs, Birds, Wasps to name a few

Comic techniques

• slapstick

• farce

• comic duo

• scatological humor

• bathos