History of the Theatre

The Origins of Western Drama

Greek Drama

Western drama began to develop in sixth century Greece as part of the worship of Dionysus, Greek god of wine and fertility.

First theatre consisted of a group of chanters, called the chorus, dancing around a sacrificial goat.

This chorus became known as goat-singers, and their chant, the “goat-song” or tragos (origin of the word tragedy).

The First Dramatic Competitions

The ceremonies honoring Dionysus evolved into dramatic contests.

Legend states that Thespis won the first competition. History remembers him as the first actor.

The term thespian has been given to actors ever since.

The Festival of Dionysus

The dramatic contests became part of a festival in honor of Dionysus.

These festivals lasted five or six days.

Each playwright presented four plays: a tragic trilogy (three plays related by theme, myth or characters) and a satyr (satirical, comic) play.

The Theatre of Dionysus

The first theatres began as circular (or semicircular) areas called orchestras surrounded by a hillside on which the audience sat.

The Theatre of Dionysus

Eventually stone seats and a stone building called a skene were added.

The Theatre of Dionysus

The Skene

Actors used the skene for changing masks and costumes.

Scenery was painted on the front.

The roof was called the god walk, for actors playing gods.

The Greek Theatre

The Machina

The Greeks used mechanical devices in their productions.

One was called the machina, a cranelike hoist that allowed actors to “fly.”

Usually characters lowered by the machina represented gods come to earth to solve the problems of man.

The Machina

From this comes the term deus ex machina, meaning “god from the machine.”

This term is still used to refer to an artificial plot device introduced by an author late in a play to resolve difficulties.– Unexpected inheritance– Long-lost letter (or other item),

lover, relative, friend, etc.

The Greek Chorus

The chorus was a very important part of early Greek plays.

The chorus served to explain the situation and to comment on the action.

The chorus also interacted with the actors.

The Greek Chorus Today

The Greek chorus is alive and well in theatre and film today.

There are many modern examples, including…– The Stage Manager in Thorton

Wilder’s Our Town– El Gallo in the musical The

Fantastics– The Muses in Disney’s animated

Hercules– An actual chanting Greek chorus in

Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite

Greek Tragedy

The Greek tragedies, considered classics of Western literature, involve conflicts that come from the clash between the will of the gods and the ambitions and desires of humanity.

They show how useless it is to fight Fate.

Greek Tragedy

The greatest writers of Greek tragedy are…– Aeschylus

Noted for the majesty of his writing

Writer of the only surviving Greek trilogy, The Oresteia

Greek Tragedy

– Sophocles Ranked with Shakespeare as one of the great

playwrights of all time His balance between the power of gods and the

importance of humans created some of the strongest characters ever to walk on a stage.

Wrote Oedipus Rex, Antigone– Euripides

Emphasized human relationships and became a master of pathos

Wrote The Trojan Women, Medea

The Roman Theatre

Primarily an imitation of Greek theatre

Two notable comic writers were Plautus and Terence

Seneca, a writer of tragedies, created “closet dramas.”

Theaters expanded into amphitheaters, large circular arenas that were surrounded by tiers of seats.