+

HISTORY OF THEATREEAST & WEST

Chapter 15

+From Ritual to Theatre

6th Century( BC) Greece – Theatre of Dionysus Ampitheatre in Athens Dionysus – god of wine & fertility

THEATRE’S BEGINNINGS Began as ritual dance honoring Dionysus

A rectangular area (orchestra) at the base of a hill Ritual became formalized in the 6th Century (BC) Women no longer allowed to attend or participate. Temple of Dionysus was added at the back of the

orchestra and a thymele (altar) Celebration began with the sacrifice of a Tragos (goat)

+ Greek Theatre

Temple of Dionysus

+From Ritual to Theatre

Continued

Consisted of a formally dressed chorus of up to 50 men. Sang with the accompaniment of the dithyramb (musicians) Danced with symbolic gesture related closely to the words being

sung.

5th Century (BC) – Known as the Golden Age of Athens Democratic discourse

All male citizens given a voice in State affairs.

Thespis - The "inventor of tragedy" was born in Attica, and was the first prize winner at the Great Dionysia in 534 BC. He was an important innovator for the theatre, since he introduced such things as the independent actor, as opposed to the chorus, as well as masks, make up and costumes. First actor

Created the first travelling theatre Used wagons which carried into the Middle Ages.

+From Ritual to Theatre

Continued

534 BC – City of Dionysia – Week long drama festival Held in March each year

Pompe (procession) Statue of Dionysus paraded around the city center Playwrights introduced

534 BC – First Tragedy Contest (plays announced) 508 BC – Dithyrambic Contest (battle of the bands) added 501 BC – Satyr Plays added 457 BC – Comedy (old) contest added 336 BC – Comedy (new) contest replaces Old Comedy

+ Phynichus Student of Thespis Introduced female characters into drama

Played by men in masks Introduced contemporary subjects Won the tragedy contest in 476 BC

Phoenissae (The Phoenitians)

• Chorus of Phoenitian women• Celebrated the defeat of the Persian king

Xerses at the battle of Salamis None of his works have survived

Festival becomes very popular in the 5th Century BC Temporary wooden benches were added around the orchestra Skene was erected behind the orchestra

Skene (tent or hut) – we get our word scene Represented location

Became a permanent stone structure in the 4th Century BC

+ The Greek Playwrightsand the Development of

Tragedy Of the hundreds if not thousands of plays written in the 5th

Century BC only 32 tragedies from 3 playwrights have survived.

Aeschylus (523 BC-456 BC) Diminished chorus from 50 men to 12 Innovated a second actor so that dialogue was possible

Multiple roles using masks Wrote about 80 plays but only 7 have survived Agamemnon

Most noted play One of a trilogy called The Oresteia Has been compared to Hamlet by William Shakespeare

+ Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC) Out of the hundreds of plays written only 7 plays

survive Introduced a third speaking actor Brought dramatic plot closer to tragedy Advance scene painting using painted panels called pinakes Known as the father of Greek Tragedy Most noted work Oedipus Rex

Introduced more psychologically complex well motivated characters Introduced the Anagnorisis

meaning “from ignorance to knowledge”

Euripides (480 BC-406 BC) Only 18 complete plays survive Employed a more naturalistic and human approach versus

the conventional means of the other playwrights Not highly appreciated Introduced strong and intelligent female characters Most noted work Medea

+ Beyond TragedySatyr Plays and Comedy

501 BC – Satyr Plays Chorus made up of half man – half beast creatures Playwrights had to write one to go with their tragedy trilogy Drinking, dancing, and vulgar language

Cyclops (520 BC) written by Euripides

By the 4th Century BC only one satyr play was produced at the festival

407 BC – five comic writers would present a single play One on each day of the five days of the festival

+Comedy (Old)

Had the same structure as that of tragedy Chorus was made up of non-humans

Wasps Birds Frogs Clouds

Comedy (Old) presented caricatures rather than the realistic characters of Tragedy.

+Comedy (Old)Playwrights

Aristophanes (448-380 BC) Only surviving comic playwright Out of 40 plays only 11 survive Politically and socially based satire Criticized politics and policies of the time

Only time this could have happened Best known play: Lysistrata

Anti-war play Women withheld sex from the men until they stopped the

war

+Comedy

From Old to New

Tragedy was popular when Athens was at it height.

Comedy was popular when Athens’ government was at its lowest or in decline

404 BC – Peloponnesian War is lost to the Spartans

336 BC – Alexander the Great comes to power. Comedy loses its political undertones in favor of

more familial and societal relationships The theme of “Love” is introduced Chorus was diminished even further Only one “New” Comedy play exists today

Diskolus by Menander (342-291 BC)

After the 3rd Century BC – comedy began to decline

By the 1st Century AD – The City of Dionysia Festival ceased.

+ From Greek to Roman Theatre Pericles (495 BC-429 BC)

Reigned in the 4th Century BC Athens was rebuilt on a grand scale Theatre of Dionysus renovated

Orchestra is rounded off Hillside excavated and temporary wooden seating is

put in. Ten sections of seating, one for each of the ten tribes

of Greece Women may have been allowed to sit

in one of these sections The first permanent roofed European theatre

was built The Odeon of Pericles

Odeon of

Pericles

Odeon of

Pericles

+ Hellenistic Greece

Extended approximately from 336 BC to 30 BC

Under the leadership of Alexander the Great Greece went through numerous changes.

Greek culture began to mix with those of the near East A shift from “city-state” to a more Monarchic structure A move away from a “thought-based” society to one that began to

become more “faith-based” Many new theatres are built

Everyone was now allowed to attend the theatre including women Plays no longer played exclusively at the Dionysian Festival

Theatre of Dionysus is further renovated Wooden seating was replaced with stone seating

More like stadium seating The Skene was rebuilt in stone The logeion (speaking place) was added

during this time

+Hellenistic Theatre

+ Then Came the Romans“Veni! Vidi! Vici!”

146 BC – Mainland Greece becomes a Roman Provence Theatre Dionysus is renovated once again

By Emperor Nero (61 AD) Stage lowered Skene heightened and adorned with sculptures Orchestra surrounded by a stone barricade to

protect spectators from being injured during gladiatorial games.

After the 1st Century AD all existing Hellenistic Greek theatres were converted by the Romans

We know know theatre in Greece during this occupation as Greco-Roman Theatres Still have the Greek layout, but now we have the

architectural prowess of the Romans introduced with the ornate Skene and the ability to hold gladiatorial combat.

+Greco-Roman Theatre

Skene Proskenion

+The Romans

Permanent theatres were not allowed in Rome itself Theatre inspired a sense of Democracy among the people

that went against the Aristocratic form of Roman government.

75 BC – first permanent Roman theatre is built within the Roman Empire, in Pompeii. The people of Pompeii were well out of sight of the central

government in Rome

55 BC – Theatrum Pompeium First permanent theatre built within the city of Rome itself By Roman general Pompey (106 BC-48 BC) Used as an example for all other Roman theatres Had a retractable roof made of linen

+ The RomansContinued

Theatre as a business begins with the building of two more theatres by rivals of Pompey.

Built: 11 BCSeating: 20,000

Built: 13 BCSeating: 12,000

Built: 55 BCSeating: 28,000

+ Theatre as Crowd Control

Romans began to built more theatres throughout the Empire as a means of crowd control If the people are happy the Empire is happy. Roman theatres were free-standing

Roman theatre at Orange Roman Theatre Aspendos Roman Theatre at Bosra

+The Roman Theatre

+The Dark Ages

Spanned from the 6th Century AD to the 13th Century AD.

The fall of the Roman Empire 476 AD sent the world into chaos People relied on the central government in Rome to tell them

what to do With no one to tell them what to do the people lost their way

The Dark Ages Begin 5th Century AD Lack of contemporary written history General demographic decline (no expansion of territory) Limited building activity

No new theatres built Limited cultural achievements

No new plays written

+The Renaissance

Spanned from the 14th Century AD to the 17th Century AD

15th Century AD – First signs of theatre begin to emerge Terence Stages 1486 AD

Named after the Roman Comedy Playwright Pulius Terentius Afer (185 BC -159 BC)

Beginning of theatre in the Renaissance Polygonal building

Small gates with curtains May have been the beginnings of the

proscenium arch Painted scenes behind the building

+Innovators of The Renaissance

16th Century AD Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554)

Italian Architect Designed a typical Ancient Roman Theatre

Used mathematical perspective• Enlarged theatrical illusion• Was established from the seat of the

Monarch• L'œil du prince ("the prince's eye")

Was never built Built many temporary stages in palace halls His designs became known as Hall Theatres

From this position the Monarch

Could see everything perfectly

+ Innovators of The RenaissanceContinued

Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) 1579 – Designed the oldest, still remaining theatre in Europe

after the Roman era Teatro Olimpico

Located in Vincenza, Italy Founded by a literary society Perspective not set by the position of the Monarch

Miniature Roman theatre brought indoors Forced perspective scenery

cannot be acted in because of scale Lit by torches and oil lamps

The cause of many theatre fires in history This why you never yell “Fire!” in a theatre

1585 – Oedipus Rex opens at Teatro Olimpico Inscribed on the building:

“Hoc Opus Hic Labor Est” Meaning: “This is the task and this is the struggle”

+ Teatro Olimpico