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    History of Theatre - Greek

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    JC South
    Greek theatre began as religious festivals honoring Dionysus. Thespis made theatre individual by giving one actor lines apart from the chorus. Competition and original plays developed in Athens. Major playwrights included Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides for tragedies, and Aristophanes for comedies. Plays were performed in large outdoor amphitheatres with the orchestra for the chorus and skene building as a backdrop.

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    History of Theatre - Greek

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    JC South
    147 views14 pages
    Greek theatre began as religious festivals honoring Dionysus. Thespis made theatre individual by giving one actor lines apart from the chorus. Competition and original plays developed in Athens. Major playwrights included Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides for tragedies, and Aristophanes for comedies. Plays were performed in large outdoor amphitheatres with the orchestra for the chorus and skene building as a backdrop.

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    Greek theatre began as religious festivals honoring Dionysus. Thespis made theatre individual by giving one actor lines apart from the chorus. Competition and original plays developed in Athens. Major playwrights included Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides for tragedies, and Aristophanes for comedies. Plays were performed in large outdoor amphitheatres with the orchestra for the chorus and skene building as a backdrop.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    147 views14 pages

    History of Theatre - Greek

    Uploaded by

    JC South
    Greek theatre began as religious festivals honoring Dionysus. Thespis made theatre individual by giving one actor lines apart from the chorus. Competition and original plays developed in Athens. Major playwrights included Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides for tragedies, and Aristophanes for comedies. Plays were performed in large outdoor amphitheatres with the orchestra for the chorus and skene building as a backdrop.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 14

    History of Theatre

    Greek Theatre
    The beginning and basis of
    theatre as we know it
    The Development of Acting
    Theatre began as a a religious
    festival to honor the god of wine and
    fertility known as Dionysis.
    In ancient Greece the small towns
    and villages held yearly festivals in
    the fall in conjunction with the
    harvest.
    Thespis
    Before Thespis all Thespis changed
    the citizens of the this by giving one
    towns participated member of the
    in the festivals as chorus individual
    members of the lines
    chorus. This individual
    The chorus recited created a character
    lines in unison or that acted and
    chants reacted with the
    chorus
    Thespians
    Withthe development of individual
    actors Dialogue began.

    Wecredit Thespis with being the first


    actor.

    We honor this development by calling


    all actors Thespians.
    The Development of an
    Audience
    From the beginning of Some of the
    Greek performances citizens became
    all members of the the observers or
    town performed as a the audience
    part of the festivals in while others were
    the chorus. performers.
    The cities grew too
    large to have all of the
    citizens participate
    Ancient Greek Theatres
    The Original
    The Development of Original
    Plays
    Formany years the Authorsbegan to
    religious rituals of write new songs and
    the Greeks were chants for the
    performed exactly chorus each year.
    the same.
    Soon entire new
    AfterThespis plots began to
    changed the format, develop.
    the festivals changed
    too with addition of Eventuallynew
    new scripts. plays were written.
    The Development of Competition
    for Theatre
    The next logical The Athens festival
    step in the was the largest and
    formation of most respected of
    theatre as we know these competitions.
    it was to evaluate
    the plays with Plays were performed
    formal competition
    rules.
    in groups of three
    tragedies (trilogy)
    followed by a satyr
    Each city had their play (comedy)
    own competition
    Major Playwrights in Greece
    Aeschylus (525 B.C.- 456 Major

    B.C.)
    Philosophers
    Best known for tragedies
    Socrates (470 B.C.- 399
    B.C.)
    Sophocles (496 B.C.- 406 Wrote about theatre
    B.C.) without giving personal
    Oedipus Plays opinion
    Euripides (485 B.C.- 406 B.C.) Aristotle (384 B.C.- 322
    Emotional plays and vivid B.C.)
    female characters Wrote The Poetics
    Aristophanes (448 B.C.- 385 B.C.) Loved theatre
    Comedies Plato (427 B.C.- 348 B.C.)
    Menander (324 B.C.- 292 Wrote The Republic
    B.C.) Hated theatre
    New Comedies
    Developed Greek Theatres
    Plays were performed The individual actors
    in enormous outdoor performed on the
    amphitheatres built at back portion of the
    the bottom of a hill. orchestra section on
    The audience sat on a raised platform
    the hillside called called the Skene
    Theatron platform
    The chorus performed The Skene was a
    in a large flat circular narrow building used
    area called the as the backdrop.
    orchestra.
    Components of Greek
    Theatres
    Orchestra
    Skene
    Theatron
    Mechane (Machina or Deux Machina)
    hoist like machine to make
    characters appear to fly
    Ekkyklema platform on wheels
    Ancient Greek Theatres
    Fully Developed
    Performances in Greek
    Theatres
    Actorsperformed wearing masks (made of
    linen, wood, cork, or leather).
    The masks had large openings for eyes and
    mouth (like a megaphone) to make it easier for
    the audience to see and hear the actors
    Actors often wore platform shoes to make
    their size comparable to their masks.
    Actors made long speeches and had little
    movement because the stage size was
    limited.
    Greek Plays
    Tragedies retold legends and history and
    explained how well-known people met
    their fates at the hands of the gods.
    Comedies Broadly satirical and often
    vulgar plays that made fun of well known
    people and historical characters.
    New Comedies Menander wrote these
    plays in which the chorus and the long
    speeches were eliminated, and the stories
    switched to contemporary life rather than
    that of kings and heroes. Also spoken in
    the language of the average person.

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