September 16-20, 2019

Greek Theatre Cont.

September 16, 2019

People
Aeschylus
● The Father of tragedy with the oldest surviving plays

Sophocles
● Considered the best of the three
● Won 24 contests at the City Dionysia Festival
● Only 7 of his 120 plays have survived - Oedipus the King “perfect Greek tragedy”
● Contributions:
○ Addition of 3rd actor, limited chorus to 15 performers, first one to use the
skene for scenic design

Euripides
● Won the festival only 4 times with 18 plays surviving - Cyclops (satyr play)
● He’s the most unique with mainly minor myths or greatly changed major myths
● Contributions:
○ First to combine comedy and tragedy elements

Aristotle’s Beliefs
The Audience
● Forms a collective identity with different behaviors expected in different times
based on performance styles
● Cyclic interchange with performers
● Critic is a privileged audience member
○ Peer reviewers for grants or academic critics

Aristotle’s Poetics
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Tragedy- they must concern people of noble birth, rank, or expectations; the topics are
noble involving war, politics, religion, etc.

Aristotle wasn’t a comedian writing comedy, he was a satirist writing satires.

Six Elements of Story

In order of importance to Aristotle:
1) Plot
○ The point of exposition
○ Inciting incident
○ Rising action
○ Conflict
○ Climax
○ Denouement (falling action)
2) Character
○ Who is this person?
○ What does this person want?
○ Where/When is this taking place?
○ How is this person going to get what they want?
○ Why do they want it?
3) Thought (theme)
○ Forbidden love, war, etc.
4) Diction (artistic use of language)
○ The way the words work in performance artistically.
5) Song/Music
○ Musicality of the lines
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○ Song and music that is in the production

6) Spectacle
○ Visual narrative information for the Greeks

○ What do you get from your eyes to enhance the story?

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Plot Structure
● Beginning, middle, end parts
● Unities
○ Time: the action should take place over no more than 24 hours
○ Place: the plot should cover a single physical space and should not attempt
to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one
place
○ Action: the plot should have one main action that it follows, with no or
few subplots
● A complex vs. a simple plot is preferred; this includes reversal and recognition
● Single vs. Double (no subplots)
● Goal (telos) is catharsis
○ Gives drama a social function in the polis

The Greeks viewed theatre as a social utility. It functioned the same way as current day
bills. You have to participate.

Character Elements of Greek Tragedy

● Characters should be probable or necessary to the plot
● Hero
○ Good
○ Aim at propriety
○ True to life
○ Consistent in the actions or reasoning
● Hamartia (tragic flaw): meaning much debated

Plot Structure of Tragedies

● Prologue
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● Parodos
● 3-5 episodes (scenes) alternating with choric parts
● Exodus: final act
● Kommos: (optional) a lament/epilogue

Old Comedy
● Part of the City Dionysia
● Political and social satire
● Personal attacks and authors POV falls away

The writing becomes a lot more editorial and less about entertainment for the masses.

Structure
“Happy idea”: absurd but clear relevance to contemporary issue
● Prologue
● Chorus enters and debates the happy idea with each other and characters
● Parabasis choral section in the middle that addresses the audience directly
● Scenes adopting the happy idea
● Komos in this case is a reconciliation rather than a lament, leading to feast or
revels
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Roman Theatre
September 18, 2019

What has survived today?

● 33 Greek plays, 36 Roman plays
● Over 400 Greco-Roman Theatres in Europe, Middle East, North Africa, and
Central Asia

Theatre & Religion

● There were four major celebrations in honor of Dionysis
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○ City Dionysia
○ The Lenaia
■ Held in Athens during the winter (January)
■ 5 Comedies were performed
■ Is the home of Greek Comedy
○ Rural Dionysia

Dithyramb- A regular part of the City Dionysia; a choral ode was sung in honor of
Dionysis by a chorus of 50 men

People
Aristophanes
● Wrote primarily old comedies; 11 plays have survived (Lysistrata)
● Probably won four contests

Menander
● Wrote new comedies; one survived (The Grouch)
● Works were adapted by Roman playwrights