Chapter 1 & 2 Theatre History

What year did Theatre start?

534 BCE

Thespis won a contest for the best

Tragedy

Menander

many plays are based on his style but we don’t have any copies of his actual plays

The Common Era

1453

Gutenberg Press

1438

How Many Greek Tragedies Are There?

31

What kind of Theatre used masks?

Greek

Comedy

Anything that is a deviation from the norm

Six Aristotle Elements

• Plot

• Character

• Theme / Central Idea

• Diction

• Music

• Spectacle

Performative

Organized human activity

Performance

A form of art and entertainment

Myths become

Oral tradition

Myths grow up around

Rituals

Basic element to the human psyche

Storytelling

Escapism

A form of escaping from our daily lives/steuggles

Western Thought

• Relationship between man and “gods”

• Reality as ever-changing

• Humanity

Eastern Thought

• “gods and man are equal”

• Everything is Fixed - non-changeable

North Africa and the Near East

• Cave Paintings

• Sanskrit Drama

• Egyptian Drama

Where is Greece?

Mediterranean

“gods,” heroes, and history are seen in

The Iliad and The Odyssey

When does Greece take shape

Between the 8th & 6th centuries BCE

You’d see like a thousand ppl performing Hymns in blocks of

50

By what time was a form of Tragedy developed?

Late 6th Century BCE

Tragoidia

Ancient Greek word for Tragedy - Goat Song

Dithyramb

Ecstatic Hymn - Sung & danced around a phallic symbol

Dithyrambic Chorus performed by a chorus of 50

The oldest known Greek play

The Persians

When was The Persians written, and what was it about?

written in 472 BCE about an event that happened in 490BCE

Inventor of Tragedy

Thespis

1st Actor & known playwrite - 534 BCE

Thespis

From which century does 31 Tragedies survive?

5th

Who wrote the 31 tragedies?

Aeschylus, Sophocles, & Euripides

What was the name of the festival?

City Dionysia

The festival “City Dionysia” honored whom?

Dionysus

Tragic Structure

• Prologue - Events that occurred before the play

• Parados - The entrance of the chorus (Exposition)

• Episodes - Scenes between named characters

• Odes - Choral Scenes (Stasima)

  • Commentary on the action

• Exodus - Concluding scene and exit of the characters

Characteristics of Greek Tragedies

Late Point Of Attack (Start of rising acting)

Violence is unseen

Satyr Play

Comic relief plays

What kind of play wasn’t written in verse?

Satyr

What is the only surviving Satyr play?

The Cyclops by Euripides

Aeschylus Years

523 - 456 BCE

Who was the earliest of the 3 playwrites?

Aeschylus

How many plays did Aeschylus write?

About 80 plays - 7 survive

What did Aeschylus Introduce?

1. The 2nd actor

2. Reduced the chorus size to 12

3. Topic: Man’s relationship with the “gods”

Sophocles Years

496 - 406 BCE

How many plays did Sophocles write?

At least 120 plays - 7 survive (plus an almost complete satyr play)

What did Sophocles introduce?

1. 3rd actor

2. Increased the chorus size to 15 but decreased their importance

3. Topic: Emphasis on individual characters, psychological motivations

Euripides years

480 - 406 BCE

How many plays did Euripides write?

90 tragedies - 17 survive

First feminist playwrite

Euripides

What did Euripides do?

• Questioned traditional values

• Real psychological motivations

• Tendency toward melodrama

• Use of Deus ex Machinae

When was comedy added to The City Dionysia

487- 486 BCE

Aristophanes

Wrote 40 plays - 11 are extant

All “old comedies”

Aristotelian Structure

1. Plot

2. Character

3. Theme

4. Diction

5. Music

6. Spectacle

The beginning of a play must

Create expectation, establish place, point of attack, & have a Major Dramatic Question