Subjects:
Twenty-five hundred years ago, Western theatre was born in Athens, Greece.
Between 600 and 200 BC, the ancient Athenians created a theatre culture that
has influenced theatre through history. They created plays that are still
considered among the greatest works of world drama. Their achievement is
Greek theatre took place in large hillside ampitheatres. The players
included a chorus and their leader, and the lines were more chanted than
spoken. The chorus performed in the orchestra, not on a raised stage. The
use of masks represented characters and high-soled boots worn added height
to the players. Thespis is where it all began. Little is known of this man.
It is uncertain whether Thespis was a playwright, an actor or a priest, yet
it is his name with which the dramatic arts are associated in our word
"Thespian". Thespis performed his plays on wagons and seats were set up for
performances in the market place of Athens. The original word for 'actor'
was hypokrites, meaning 'answerer,' for the actor answered the chorus.
Thespis is said to have introduced and been the first actor, later called
protagonistes (first competitor). Th
. . .
nature worked, how society should work, and what man's role was in the
scheme of things. Historians such as Thucydides and Herodotus were heard
and scientists and mathematicians like Thales, Hippocrates, Archimedes
became known. They may
have played drums, lyres and flutes, and chanted as they danced around an
effigy of Dionysus.
Greek drama was influenced by five playwrights over the 200 years following
Thespis.
Each set of three tragedies was followed by the performance of a satyr
play, a short mocking of a myth related to the theme of at least one of the
tragedies.
Tragedy did not develop by chance. Free thought after years of religious dictatorship spawned
the next great era in theatre. Previous to the invention of the skene, entrances
could only be made through the two ramps which led onto the orchestra. Later a hall was added, incorporating or obliterating the Older
Temple, and a second temple built further south. The chorus
in Menander's plays resembled a modern chorus, singers and dancers who
provided filler between acts. The chorus
is often a direct participant in the action.
Most important about TDA is the influence that Greek theatre has on modern
theatre.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.