Classical Civilisations: The Theatre and The Great Dionysia

• 15 men
  • Tragedies
• 24 men
  • Comedies
• Gave audience information at the beginning of the play to let them know what's been happening.
• Trained to speak, dance and chant together.
• Hired, paid and trained by the Choregos.
• Chanted verse between main episodes of the play.
• Ordinary citizens of Athens.

• No women actors, only men.
• Needed to be very fit.
• Needed a strong voice that would carry in the large theaters.
• Needed to be very versatile - had to play women.
• Winning actor got a wreath and a prize of money.
• Protagonist
  • Main actor.
  • Usually only played 1 role.
• Deuteragonist and Tritagonist.
  • Would play a variety of roles.

• Fitted over whole head with life-like hair.
• Exaggerated features so the audience could see what the characters represented.
• Made of stiffened cloth or a thin layer of clay over a wooden frame.
• Paid for by Choregos.
• Made it easier for men to play women.
• Made it more important for actors to speak clearly and loudly.

Tragedies

• Long, dignified robes covered by shorter cloak.
  • Long sleeves made it easier to play women.
• Costume was stiff and heavy.
  • Would have restricted movement.
• Boots.
  • Made of soft leather.

Comedies

• Body stocking with padding.
• Wore a short tunic over padding.
• Large paunch, bottom and mock phallus.
• Female characters wore longer robes.

Satyr

• Same as tragedies.

• Chorus - half man, half goat/horse.
  • Wore hairy shorts.
  • Long horse tail.
  • Artificial penis.

• Seating Area.
• Built into natural curve of hillside.
  • Provided superb acoustics.
• Seats were wooden at first, then replaced with stone.
• Seating for up to 20,000 people.
• Broad gangways divide the area into sections to make it easier to enter and exit.

• Enclosed by Theatron.
• Chorus performed here and actors often joined them.
• 20 meters across.
• An altar to Dionysus in the centre.
  • A reminder of the religious function of the festival.

• A passageway of arches on either side of the orchestra.
• Chorus and audience entered through here.

• Backstage building.
• Located at the back of the stage.
• Only roofed part.
• A wooden structure on stone foundations.
• Actors changed and put on masks here.
• A storage area for props.
• Roof could be used to show the appearance of a god or goddess.
• Sometimes painted to look like a palace or forest or wherever the action of the play took place.
  • However the scenery was very simple.
  • Audience was used to listening to stories and using their imaginations to picture the settings.

• A system of ropes and pulleys.
• Allowed characters to fly through the air.
• Used particularly in Comedies.
• Would have been difficult to control and was almost certainly dangerous.
• However it's used in many plays so must have been a favorite effect.

• Used to show bodies of people who had killed themselves or been killed offstage.
  • Necessary as violent action was not portrayed onstage.
• Used in different ways in comedies.
• Either a large platform on wheels which could be pushed out through a wide doorway in the Skene.
• Or a section of the wall of the Skene which pivoted.

• Evidence for these comes from vase paintings.
  • Swords
  • Shields
  • Drinking cups
  • Cooking pots
  • Sunshades
  • Rolled up carpets.

• Clapping two wooden cups together for horses' hooves.
• Peas or pebbles moving in an earthenware pot for rain.
• Crumpling thin pieces of wood for crackling flames
• Chorus were expected to make sounds like waves booming on the shore, frogs croaking or doves cooing.

Aeschylus

• He lived from 526 to 456 BC.
• He was the first great tragic playwright.
• He wrote over 80 plays.
  • 7 survive complete today.
• When he began writing plays he used a large chorus and 1 actor. In later plays he used a second and then a third actor and reduced the numbers in the chorus.

Sophocles

• He lived from 484 to 406 BC.
• He wrote over 100 plays.
  • 7 have survived completely.
• He won the drama contest 24 times.
• His most famous plays are Oedipus the King and Antigone.

Euripedes

• He lived from 484 to 406 BC.
• We have 18 of his plays.

Aristophanes

• Circa 448 to 385 BC.
• The only comic dramatist whose plays survive from this period.
• Lysistrata is his best known work.

• 10 men are chosen from each tribe in the city.
• Before the first play, a magistrate draws 1 name out of each urn containing the 10 names.
• These 10 men would then swear solemnly that they would judge fairly.
• After the last play, each judge wrote on a tablet his chosen order of merit for the 3 playwrights, and these were put in an urn.
• 5 tablets were drawn out of the urn.
• The writer who had the most votes was declared the winner.

• Winning actor and playwright received a wreath and a prize of money.
• The prestige of winning was more important than the prizes.
• The sponsor who had financed the winning plays could set up a monument to record his victory.
• After the festival, the citizens held an assembly to discuss the way everything had been handled. If they felt that the festival had been of a poor standard the archon responsible could be fined.

• He was in charge of the festival.
• His role included:
  • Selecting 3 writers of tragedy and 3 or 5 writers of comedy.
    • He would usually select men who had won prizes at the previous festival.
    • If a writer wished to take part in the Great Dionysia, he had to apply ahead of time to the Archon.
• The Archon would allot a wealthy sponsor (Choregos) to each playwright.
• Chose the leading actors (protagonist).

• The sponsor.
• He welcomed this role because he could show off his wealth.
• He was responsible for:
  • Paying the wages of the chorus.
  • Hire the musician that accompanied the Chorus.
  • Provide a room for the Chorus to rehearse in.
  • Pay all the expense involved in their costumes and masks.
  • Hire a professional to train them.
  • Pay for any special effects or scenery.

• A ceremony held a few days before the festival.
• Playwrights and their sponsors would appear (perhaps in the market place) and give details of the plays to be performed to arouse interest.

• Choral recitations.
• Performed by men and boys.

Day 1 There would be processions and a competition for reciting dithyrambs.

Day 2 A performance of 3 tragedies and a satyr play, followed by a comedy.

Day 3 The same as day 2.

Day 4 The same as day 2.

Day 5 Judging and prize giving.

• A colourful procession in honour of Dionysus.
• Procession brought the statue of Dionysus into the theatre.
• A pig or bull would be sacrificed to purify the theatre.
• Wine would be poured on the ground to please the god.
• A parade to show off the wealth of Athens as this festival was used as the occasion when cities and islands which owed tribute sent the money due.
• A public holiday was declared for the time of the festival so that everyone could go to the plays.

• The boys whose fathers had been killed in battle and who had been educated at the state expense paraded in the theatre.
• Those who had just reached manhood wore the suit of hoplite armour.
• A herald proclaimed they were now independent.