Greek Theatres
Very early in history, the Greeks began to collect poems that had been written in honor of their brave ancestors. These poems were often recited in public and almost everyone in the city would come to listen. Many people think that Greek entertainment evolved from these poems, but actually it did not. The word "tragedy" comes from the Greek word "tragos-oidos", which means goat-singer. The Greeks had wild parades that consisted of people stomping around like wild goats, wearing goatskin. These people often sang, but the viewers of the parade eventually got bored of this. The officials in charge of the parade thought of the idea for the goat singers to stage conversations between each other, which would be considered "acting". This concept of acting eventually evolved into the grand entertainment of the Greek theatres. This type of acting entertainment became popular and drew large crowds of people. When plays began to be performed on small stages, they also drew a large crowd. When the theatres were built, they became a major part of the lives of all people and also affected play entertainment for decades to come. Before the actual theatres were built, small stages were built out of wood and set up only during festival
They were performed during the festivals. The plays were performed and then the stages would be taken down. The skene was a wooden building behind the orchestra. Even though half of the audience could not see the performance going on up close, the theatre was still filled to full capacity almost every performance. One of the parados was positioned at the corner of the skene and the other was next to the theatron (Phillips 4). The viewers of the plays entered the theatre through the paradoi. They were all large, open-air structures mainly built on hillsides. Most theatres were built just like the first in Athens. Even twenty-five hundred years later, people still know of the theatres. There was not usually much scenery either. All of the Greek theatres had the same elements, which were the orchestra, theatron, skene, and paradoi. Athens had four festivals in which they worshipping Dionysus, god of wine, fertility, and rebirth (Trumbell 2). There were usually not more than three actors in a whole play production. There was a path between the seats in each row closest to the skene. Sometimes in the earlier tragedies it was used for as a palace or temple during the performance.
Common topics in this essay:
,
Euripides Aristophanes,
theatres built,
plays performed,
greek theatres,
top rows,
plays performed stages,
people theatres,
built hillsides,
play theatres,
performed stages,
|
Acceptance Essays
