Intro Terms and Greek Theater

Theatre

Aesthetic, social, ephemeral (here and now), contingent (things can go wrong)

Components of theatre

script, stage, auditorium, backstage

Kinds of texts in a play

Front matter (intro to characters), stage directions, dialogue

Mimesis

Imitation of an action

Aristotle (4th C BCE)

Imitation of an action, has a social function

Goethe (19C)

Expression of mind/soul, personal/humanist function

Brecht (20C)

Call to action, political function

Lyric poetic form

Expression of the state of a private soul at rest, joy, grief, etc.

Epic poetic form

Describes an activity in the world from a distance, uses exegesis (external narration)

Dramatic poetic form

Mimesis

Greek Tragedy

• Public event with civic importance

• Stories taken from myth

• Dramatic structure

Components of Greek theatre

• Political

• People involved judges, choregus, chorus, actors

• Audience

Big three

• Aeschylus (c. 525-456 BCE)

• Sophocles (c.496-406 BCE)

• Euripides (c. 485-406 BCE)

Costumes in Greek Theater

• Full mask for young/old, god/mortal

• Stock costumes for different gods/ages/genders

Stagecraft in Greek Theater

• Skene for for some entrances/exits

• Paradoi for other entrances/exits

• Ekkluklema for rolling out corpses/other gore

• Mechane for flying

Structure in Greek Theater

• Prologos

• Parodos (choral entrance)

• 3-5 alternating episodes marked by character entrances

• Stasima: choral odes between episodes

• Catastrophe

• Exodus: Chorus final song, dance, chant, and exit

Chorus in Greek Theater

• Separates reflection from event

• Mediator beween stage and audience

• Epic voice/narrator

• Spectator-delegate

• Singing and dancing

Peripeteia

Unexpected reversal of circumstances/fortunes, often a turning point in the plot that leads to downfall

Aristotle’s Poetics

• Imitation: mimesis of an action

• Catharsis: purification/purgation

• Hamartia: to miss the mark

• Catastrophe: peripeteia

Six elements of “good” tragedy

• Plot (mythos)

• Character (ethos)

• Thought (dianoia)

• Diction (lexis)

• Spectacle (opsis)

• Song (melos)

Oedipus compared to Trifles

• Discovery

• Double movement forward and backward in time

• Arc of inevitability

• Every moment of the play is a revelation of both past and future