Ch. 10 (8th Ed) Ch. 11 (7th Ed) Greek_Roman_Medieval Theater

2
Production of Aristophanes’ The Birds (Early Greek Theater) by the National Theater in London.
© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 We don’t know exactly how theatre
began, or where or when it originated
 We do know that the impulse to create
theatre is universal
 Elements of theatre:
 Storytelling
 Imitation
 Costuming
3© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4
In Mali, West Africa, masked Dogon dancers in a traditional ceremony imitate a long-legged waterbird.
Strong theatrical component of masks, costumes, repeated phrases, music and dance © 2013 The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Theatre and Culture:
Greek Theatre Emerges
 Greek drama was presented in honor of
Dionysus, the god of wine, fertility, and revelry
 Greek drama originated out of the dithyrambic
chorus, a group of fifty men who sang and
danced a hymn praising Dionysus

Greek Theatre Emerges continued
 Thespis, a performer, stepped
out of the chorus and became an actor
▪ Thespian: a synonym for “stage performer”
▪ Chorus: In Ancient Greek drama, a group of
performers who sang and danced, sometimes
participating in the action but usually simply
commenting on it. In modern times, performers in a
musical who sing and dance as a group.

Greek Theatre Emerges continued
 Theatre and Religion
 Greek theatre was intimately bound up with Greek
religion

 Greek Theatre and Religion continued
 Annual festivals were held in honor of the gods, and theatre
became a central feature
 City of Dionysia – Most important Greek festival in honor of god
Dionysus and first to include drama. Held annually each spring in
Athens
 Included tragic drama in 534 BC and comedy in 487 BC
 Lasted a number of days
 3 days devoted to tragedies, and time set aside for 5 comedies
 Also performed Satyr plays – one of the 3 types of classical
Greek drama (along with tragedy and comedy), vulgar humor
based on Greek mythology or history that included a chorus of
satyrs (mythological creatures that were half man and half goat).
On festival days in Athens, final play after three tragedies.

 Greek Theatre and Religion continued
 Organization of dramatic presentations was
undertaken by the government
 11 months before festival an appointed city-state
official would choose the plays and appoint a
choregus for each playwright.
 Choregus – a wealthy person who financed a playwright’s
work at an ancient Greek dramatic festival (like modern day
producer)
 Theatre and Myth
▪ Myth – story or legend handed down from generation to
generation.

 Greek Tragedy
 Most admired form of drama
 900 tragedies were produced during the
5th century B.C.E.; only 31 survive
 All were from Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides

 Greek Tragedy continued
 Tragic Dramatists: Aeschylus, Sophocles,
and Euripides
▪ Aeschylus
▪ Considered the first important Greek dramatist
▪ Began writing at a time when theatre was performed by a
large chorus of fifty men and a single actor
▪ In his own dramas, he called for a second actor, who could
play different parts when he put on different masks
▪ This made true dramatic exchange between characters
possible
▪ Reduced chorus to twelve men to make it more manageable

and Euripides
▪ Aeschylus (continued)
▪ His dramas dealt with noble families and lofty themes
▪ Praised for their lyrical poetry, intellectual content and
dramatic structure
▪ Master of the trilogy – in ancient Greece, 3 tragedies written
by the same playwright, presented on a single day, that were
connected by a story or theme.
 His best known trilogy was Oresteia (458 BC)

and Euripides
▪ Sophocles
▪ Built on the dramatic form that Aeschylus had begun
▪ Raised chorus to 15 men where it was to stay
▪ Added a third actor
▪ Became adept at dramatic construction
 Good example is his play King Oedipus

and Euripides
▪ Euripides
▪ More of a rebel
▪ Considered the most “modern” of the three
▪ Portrayed female characters sympathetically
▪ Used realism
▪ Mixed tragedy with melodrama and comedy
▪ Treated the gods skeptically

 Tragic Structure
▪ Pattern and Plot in Greek Tragedy
▪ The opening scene
▪ The chorus enters
▪ Episode between characters
▪ First choral song
▪ Alternation between character episodes and choral songs
▪ Final episode
▪ Exit of all characters and the chorus

 Chorus
▪ Was a key and unique element of Greek drama. Characters
portrayed by chorus sang and danced and usually represented
ordinary citizens. Served several functions:
▪ React the way audience might react
▪ Gave background information necessary for understanding
the plot (exposition)
▪ Represented a moderate balance between the extreme
behaviors of the main characters
▪ Frequently offered philosophical observations and drew
conclusions about what had happened in the play
▪ The Plot of King Oedipus

 Greek Comedy
 Part of the seven-day City Dionysia
was devoted to comedy until later in the
5th century, when a separate festival in the
winter was added, devoted solely to comedy

 Greek Comedy continued
 Old Comedy – Classical Greek comedy that pokes
fun at social, political, or cultural condition and at
particular figures.
▪ Always makes fun of social, political, or cultural
conditions
▪ Characters are often recognizable personalities
▪ Modern counterpart: political satire
▪ Only surviving Old Comedies were written by
Aristophanes

 Old Comedy – cont’d
 Unlike tragedies, Old Comedies do not have climactic
structure.
▪ Also have two scenes not found in tragedy:
▪ Agon – a scene with a debate between the two
opposing forces in a play
▪ Parabasis – scene where chorus talks directly the
audience members and makes fun of them

 New Comedy – Hellinistic Greek and Roman
comedies that deal with romantic and domestic
situations
▪ Began in the 4th century B.C.E.
▪ Dealt with romantic and domestic problems
▪ Roman comedy is a direct outgrowth of this

© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 21
Parodos – In
classical Greek
drama, the
scene in which
the chorus
enters. ALSO,
the
entranceway,
or aisle for the
chorus.
 Theatre Production in Greece
 Greek drama was staged in amphitheatres – large oval, circular,
or semi-circular outdoor theatre with rising tiers of seat around an
open playing area;
Orchestra – A
circular playing
space in ancient
Greek theaters; in
modern times, the
ground-floor seating
in a theater
auditorium.
Theatron – where
the audience sat.

GREEK MECHANE AND EKKYKLEMA – a conjectural reconstruction of Greek stage machinery. On the left, a crane used for flying in
characters located on a side wing (paraskenion) of the scene building. On the right, a mecane higher up on the roof of the skene. The
ekkyklema below was a platform on wheels used to bring out characters from inside the building

 Dramatic Criticism in Greece: Aristotle
 Aristotle wrote The Poetics – first significant work of
dramatic criticism. Said tragedy deals with reversals in fortune
and eventual downfall of a royal figure.
▪ Describes six elements of drama:
1) plot (arrangement of dramatic elements)
2) character (people represented in the play)
3) thought or theme (ideas explored)
4) language (dialogue and poetry)
5) music
6) spectacle (scenery and other visual elements)

 Later Greek Theatre
 Two centuries after Aristotle referred to as Hellinistic age –
had several developments
▪ No longer original dramas – instead revivals of plays from the
past
▪ Original drama less important and now focus on actor and
acting
▪ Bigger masks, exaggerated headdresses and platform shoes
made performers taller
▪ 277 B.C.E. – Artists of Dionysus formed
▪ Numerous theater buildings built and now were permanent –
made of stone instead of from less permanent wood
▪ Theater continued to flourish, but no longer just Greek. Now
influenced by Roman civilization.

 Background: Rome and Its Civilization
continued
 Roman theatre borrowed freely from Greek
theatre, particularly Greek New Comedy
 The festival Ludi Romani, dedicated to Jupiter,
became the first major Roman festival to
incorporate theatre

 Theatre and Culture in Rome
 Popular Entertainment in Rome
 Romans enjoyed a variety of entertainments
▪ Chariot racing, equestrian performances, acrobatics,
wrestling, prizefighting, and gladiatorial combats
▪ Romans constructed stadiums to house these
spectacles

A unique Roman stage presentation was:
Pantomime – Originally a Roman form of entertainment
in which a narrative was sung by a chorus while the story
was acted out by dancers.
Now used loosely to cover any form of presentation that
relies on dance, gesture and physical movement without
dialogue or speech.

28
The Roman Colosseum, an amphitheatre originally built in 70 to 82 C.E. that still stands today. The scene of
many spectacular events including bloody combats. These large arenas housed gladiator battles, chariot
races and animal battles. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Roman Comedy: Plautus and Terence
 Plautus
▪ Dealt exclusively with domestic situations,
particularly the trials and tribulations of romance
▪ Characters are recognizable
▪ Most of the dialogue was meant to be sung
▪ His comedies are farces

 Roman Comedy: Plautus and Terence
continued
 Terence
▪ Style is more literary and less exaggerated
▪ Most of the dialogue was meant to be spoken
▪ Less farcical, with more emphasis on verbal wit

 Roman Tragedy: Seneca
 Most notable tragic dramatist
 His plays are different from Greek Tragedy in
that:
 Chorus is not integral to the dramatic action
 Emphasized violence on stage
 Supernatural beings often appear in his plays
 Had an influence on Shakespeare and other
writers

 Dramatic Criticism in Rome: Horace
 Wrote “The Art of Poetry” on his theory of
correct dramatic technique and said:
 Comedy and tragedy must be distinct genres
 Tragedy should deal with royalty
 Comedy should depict common people
 Drama should not just entertain, but teach a
lesson

 Theatre Production in Rome
 Roman festivals were under the jurisdiction of
a local government official, who hired an
acting troupe
 Dominus – leader of a Roman acting troupe
who bought plays, hired musicians, got
costumes, etc.

 Theatre Production in Rome
 Acting companies had at least six members
 Acting technique emphasized detailed
pantomime and broad physical gestures
 Stressed beautiful vocal delivery
 Admired performers who specialized in one
type of role and refined stock characters
 Facial expressions unimportant because wore
full masks. Only mimes didn’t wear masks

 Theatre Production in Rome continued
 Ground Plan of a Typical Roman Theatre
Scaena –
stage house
in a Roman
theater

 Roman Theaters different from Greek Theater
buildings:
 Freestanding structures – all one building – with stone
stage house connected to the seating area
 Orchestra was a semicircle instead of round – used
for govnernmentt officials or flooded for sea battles
 Stage house several stories high with an elaborate
facade

 Decline of Roman Theatre
37
A Roman mosaic depicting a gladiator battling a leopard. Such battles between humans and
animals were popular during Roman Empire.
© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Decline of Roman Theater
 330 B.C. Emperor Constantine made two capitols –
Rome in West and Constantinople in East.
Constantinople became more important
 476 C.E. Roman emperor overthrown by barbarian
ruler and official downfall of Roman empire.
 Rise of Christianity – opposed theater because:
▪ Connection between theater and pagan religions
▪ Thought evil characters taught audiences to be bad
▪ Sexual content offended them

 Background: Medieval Europe
 Middle ages or medieval era: 500 to
1500 C.E.
 The church had suppressed theatre
 Important to note that theater did
continue in eastern Roman empire
(Byzantium) until 1453
 They preserved different forms of
popular entertainment and important
manuscripts of classical Greek
drama

 Theatre and Culture in the Middle
Ages
 Liturgical drama – early
Medieval church drama, written in
Latin and dealing with biblical
stories
 Vernacular drama – drama from
the Middle Ages performed in
everyday speech of the people
and presented in town squares or
other parts of cities

 Medieval Drama: Two types of religious
vernacular plays were popular:
Mystery and Morality Plays
 Mystery, or cycle, plays
▪ Dramatized a series of biblical religious events.
Short dramas based on events of Old and New
Testaments; Entertaining and often organized into
historical cycles. Plays like Second Shepherd’s Play
 Morality plays
▪ Used religious characters and religious themes
to teach a moral lesson. More about the lesson.
Plays like Everyman

 Standard Dramatic Technique of Medeival
Plays:
 Take things out of their actual time period
 Mix different types of drama – comedy and
serious
 They were the seeds of Episodic Plot
Structure – numerous episodes, and
expansive in terms of time, place and number
of characters

 Medieval Theatre Production
 Large-scale productions of mystery plays took place in
Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and
England
 Mansions – individual scenic units used for staging of
religious dramas in the Middle Ages
 Wagon-stages – low platform mounted on wheels by
means of which scenery is moved on and off stage
 Performers were amateurs
 Some plays lasted for long periods of time

 Medieval Theatre Production
 Pageant master – During Middle Ages, one who
supervised the mounting of mystery plays
 Platform stage – neutral elevated stage with no
proscenium (part of stage in front of curtain)
Toward end of Middle Ages decline in religious
theater because:
1) Weakening of Church
2) Secular qualities of drama finally overcame the
religious material

46
One form of staging for medeival religious plays was the pageant wagon, which could be rolled into a town or a
nearby field. The wagon , or wagons, could be used as a stage, contained scenery and had a background area
for costume changes. This might be what they looked like with the wagon having a platform with a cloth covering
its lower part (where characters could emerge). © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Ch. 10 (8th Ed) Ch. 11 (7th Ed) Greek_Roman_Medieval Theater

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