Greek Theatre

The Actors

• One main character follwed by characters called 'Follwers'. The leading characters were referred to as 'Hypocrits'. The Followers were part of the orchestra and were referred to as playing the 'dumb' characters.
• Women were not aloud on stage, the Hypocrits wore Prosternidas' to imitate breasts when palying female characters. To look tall and impressive they wore Cothornous' with were wooden shoes with high heels, called Kothomois.


• Masks were always worn. They had big holes for the eyes and mouth and were necessary for the Dionysian religion that they followed. Actors who played the protaganists were seen as high profile members of society and seen by some as ambassadors.

The Chorus

• Sophocles made a chorus of 15 people and they entered in rows on stage in 3 rows of 5. Coryphaios was the leader of the chorus and was in the middle row at the front, and was a professional dancer and singer. The rest of the chorus were amateurs chosen by the poet.


• They were considered the mouthpiece of society in morality and suffered along with the hero of the story.

Costume

• Early on, body paint, fur and animal skin was used to make costumes but later on Chitons and Hamateons were used, which were made of silks and linen, and wool for the latter. They were very decorated for the theatre and were overly done as they were clothes of the time and so the theatre was very exhaggerative with it.

Comedy

• Derived from the Dionysian cult when the pheasents sang hymns. During festivals they sang vulgar and offensive hymns to the God of Comoi, which was the origin of the word comedy.


• Comedy was a mockery of people and situations and criticised morality and corruption.


• It was not seen as vulgar then as that was the culture.


• Only 11 comedies have been saved and revived from Aristophanes, including 'Lysistrata', 'The Bird', 'The Frog' and 'The Wasp'.

Satiric Drama

• Abandoned the Dionysian cult attitudes, to be separate, but it didn't dismiss the belief system, and told stories more about heroes. During festivals, a writer would write 3 tragedies and 1 satiric drama.


• Similiar to tragedies but lighter in tone and shorter in length, led by Satyrs. It was so the audience could relax more after watching 3 tragedies. They mocked the lives of heroes rather than praise them.


• Only 2 plays have been recovered: 'The Cyclops' by Euripidies, and 'The Scouts' by Sophocles.

Tragedy

• Defination by Aristotle: An imitation of an important and complete action, with specific length and embolished language, with separate parts in specific order, in active and narrative form, tending through pity and fear to the catharsis of passions.


• Catharsis: the process of realising strong but repressed emotions so as to be relieved by them.

Theatre layout




Play structure

• There are three forms of performing in a Greek play: Prose, Lyrics and Dancing.


• The prologue helped the audience understand the background to the story, the chorus were absent for this part of the play.
• The Prologue, Episodes, and the Exodus are written in Iambic Trimetron, with 3 beats.


• If there was music for a song, it would comprise of a flute, phormigx, drums and sometimes a guitar known as a kithara.


• Part 1: Prologue (in prose). Part 2: Parados (Lyric). Part 3: First Episode (Prose). Part 4: First Stassimon (Lyric). Part 5: Second Episode (Prose). Part 6: Second Stassiomon (Lyric)............ and so on........... Final part: Exodus (Prose).

Deus-Ex Machina (Stage Craft/ Machinary)

• The Aeorema: Used to present Gods on stage. Wrongly referred to as Geranos, which translates as the modern Greek word for 'crane'.
  

• The Periactoi: Two pillars on wither side of the scene that rotated to change the scene.
  


• The Ekeclema: A platform on wheels on which dead bodies were presented to the audience, as deaths never occured on stage.

All of this information is courtesey of www.greektheatre.gr