WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS GOVERN

to go back in history to understand it’s origins. Greek Theatre was born over 2,500 years

ago – 2,000 years before Shakespeare – in its earliest form it took the form of religious rites,

involving songs and dances acted out in honour of the gods, and was performed only by priests and followers of the gods.

Over the course of time up to approximately 600 BC, these rites slowly evolved into the

Classical Greek Theatre that we recognise today. At this point the rites were formalised around THE DITHYRAMB – an ode to the god DIONYSUS – the god of wine, fertility and nature – things close to hearts of the people of that time – the Dithyramb being usually performed by a chorus of 50 men, five from each of the tribes of Attica. The CHORUS is a central part of Classical Greek Theatre - It was the means by which the message of the play was poetically communicated to the audience.

The Dithyramb gradually evolved from simply praise of Dionysus into stories, tragedies

and comedies, much like our modern plays. Of course every play needs a leading a

. . .

There were three main festivals of Greek Theatre – the Rural Dionysia, taking place in midwinter – the Lenacea, in January - but the greatest of all the Greek theatre festivals was the CITY DIONYSIA – this took place every April in the city state of Athens – it was attended by official representatives of friendly states and all the citizens of Athens – attendance for the citizens was compulsory – no person could not attend, on pain of punishment – if any person did not have the financial means to attend, they were funded by the state.

The range of masks available enabled the actors to assume the full range of characters need for a play – man, woman – and their exaggerated characteristics provided the full range of emotions required for a realistic performance – fear, anger, hate, despair.

These are the conditions which govern Classical Greek Theatre, and which form the foundation for theatre and drama to this day.

A great amphitheatre of the time survives at the World Heritage site of Epidaurus, and is still used today to stage modern performances of the great Greek plays.

All writers taking part in the Dionysia had to submit three tragedies and a satyr play – and these plays all had to have a connecting thread. His name gave rise to the name by which the actors of today are sometimes known – THESPIANS.

The first day of the City Dionysia was focussed on a great parade by the actors – wearing their fine costumes but not their masks – a record of this parade can be seen today on the

frieze of the Parthenon. Prizes were awarded to the writer of the best tragedy and the best comedy.

The plays of this time were performed in the great AMPHITHEATRES – these were

open air theatres – the word theatre being derived from the Greek THEATRON – the banked wooden (later stone) spectator seating rows.

The next three days were given over to performance of tragedies and satyr plays – little is known today of satyr plays, but the TRAGEDY was the main element of Classical Greek Theatre – it was a depiction of man’s struggle through life, battling against life’s rules, and fate – most often the leading character would be guilty of that great crime, Hubris – by 475 BC and the time of Aeschylus, the main elements of tragedy were –

Prologue – to set the scene

Parados – an ode sung by the chorus as it entered

Five dramatic scenes - each followed by a Komos, an exchange between the chorus and the protagonist

Exodus – the conclusion

The final day of the festival was given over to comedies – whose writers only had to provide

one play – this day must have been a day of welcome relief to the audience after three days of tragedies.

The costumes worn by the chorus were light and simple – representative of the common man – the audience – but the actor’s costumes were brightly decorated and heavily padded,

with high boots, which would convey to the audience the impression of power and divinity – the representation by man of the gods – and as Thespis grew in influence, he is believed to have introduced the most vital part of the costume – the MASK – these were made from light wood or linen, and allowed the actors, which were few in number, to portray many different characters, and indeed to act the part of a woman – essential when the actors were solely men.

The focal point of the amphitheatre was the platform known as the ORCHESTRA , from where the chorus performed, around the central altar to Dionysus. These authors not only wrote the plays, they would compose the music that accompanied their pieces, and they would also in early days, train the chorus. Behind this was the PROSCENIUM (stage) and the SKENE – a hut or screen behind which the actors could carry out costume changes, and it would also conceal all the tools and machinery which were needed during the course of a play – the most important item being the MACHINE – a crane which was used to enable the gods to descend from heaven at the close of the play and solve the problems and issues raised in it, in order to bring the play to a fitting conclusion – this is the origin of the term DEUS EX MACHINA .

The Dionysian Festivals were transformed by Pisistratus in 534 BC, into drama competitions – the first of which was won by Thespis.

Common topics in this essay:
Greek Theatre, World Heritage, BC Aeschylus, THESPIS ATTICA, Dionysus PROSCENIUM, CITY DIONYSIA, City Dionysia, Greek THEATRON, Dionysian Festivals, greek theatre, classical greek theatre, Classical Greek, classical greek, play –, greek theatre –, course play, satyr plays, tragedies satyr, – person, city dionysia, – ode, theatre –,

Approximate Word count = 1269
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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