Greek Theatre

What was the role of the theatre as an Athenian social institution? How did it attempt to reflect and direct the audience’s sense of identity and community?

In Greece, places of performance were usually connected with the sacred precincts of the god’s . Greeks honoured each of their god’s through annual festivals. In Athens four festivals were held each year in honour of Dionysus, it was during one of these festivals which was held at the City Dionysia that drama’s were first presented. At these festivals playwrights, actors and choruses competed for prizes. When the play began, there was only three actors on the stage at once. They wore very elaborate costumes, and over their faces they wore mask with a wide mouth, so that everyone in the audience could hear and see them.

The theatre in the City Dionysia was a great semi-circle on the slope of the Acropolis, with rows of stone seats. The front row consisted of marble chairs, these were reserved for the priests of Dionysus and the chief magistrates. Beyond the front row, was a circular space called the orchestra, where the Chorus sang, and in the centre of which stood the altar of Dionysus. Behind the orche

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The works of Euripides have been more variously judged than those of the other two great writers, His art is tamer than theirs, and his genius rhetorical rather than poetical. The plot of a tragedy usually followed a known myth, Normally the dramas begin with a prologue by one or two actors; then the chorus enters and sings its first song; and a number of "acts" follow, separated by choral odes. He wrote about ninety plays, in which only around eighteen survived.

Tragedies themselves are much more than just plays dealing with war and misery where everybody dies in the end. Tickets admitted holders to a section rather than a seat and in these section there was areas set aside for women. On each of three days, three tragedies and a satyr-play were presented. A panel of judges awarded a prize for the best group of plays. The first of the three classical playwrights of 5th-century Athens, Aeschylus plays are the oldest surviving Greek plays, these include ‘The Persians’, ‘Seven Against Thebes’ and ‘Oresteia’. He removed all deeds of bloodshed from the public view, and in their place provided many spectacular elements, improving the costumes, making the masks more expressive and convenient. These ceremonies provided opportunity for considerable mockery between participants and spectators

Our knowledge of Greek tragedy is based almost entirely on the works of three play wrights of the 5th century , Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides.

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

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