Introduction to Theatre
Greek Theatre
The City Dionysia Festival
A 5 day spring festival / competition celebrating Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine.
A competition and religious celebration for the god of fertility and wine.
3 Tragedies, 5 Comedies and 3 or more Satyr plays for after the Tragedies.
Tragedies were usually about historical figures, gods and kings and half gods. They were based on myths, legends and histories.
A catharsis was expected from a well written tragedy. Playwrights competed with one another in order to win the best in tragedy.
Comedies were usually about political figures and poked fun at universal frustrations with governing bodies. Occasionally the actors would even enter the theatron (audience area) and single out individuals for a laugh.
Satires involved half goat half man characters with huge phallus who reveled in the more animal instincts of man.
Thespis: First actor to receive an award for his acting and considered the first known actor.
Choregus: Rich town member who funded the playwright / directors, the huge chorus’s rehearsals and the 3 actors.
The three actors wore Masks, Robes and Elevated Clogs. They played all the parts not chorus and played the women’s roles. Each main role had a mask.
No women allowed at the festival.
The theatre was carved into a hillside in a circular fashion.
The audience seating was called the theatron.
In the center was a circle for the chorus (Strophe and Antistrophe) to congregate.
The chorus entered through open ramped isles stage right and stage left of the skene (stage structure). This entrance was called the parados.
The chorus presented the audience’s questions and differing points of view.
The functioned as a theoretical debate team concerning the subject matter of the play being presented.
They played instruments, danced and sang.
These chorus members where all male and trained for most of the year to prepare for the performance.
The skene (stage) was long and rectangular with a low building upstage. The low building had three doors.
Ghosts would typically enter through the door of the dead far stage left and kings and gods would typically enter from the stage right door. Gods would also be lifted by a crane and enter from on high from behind the skene house, sometimes landing on the skene house and performing from that vantage.
A link to an overview of the structure of the amphitheater and the performances:
http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/tragedy_theater.html
A link to Cambridge Universities book on Greek Theatre
A link to an overview of Greek, Roman and Medieval theatre known facts.
http://www3.northern.edu/wild/th100/chapt11.htm
A link to another well written overview of Greek Theatre.
http://kenney-mencher.com/pic_old/classic_early_christian_byzantine/bacchaenotes.htm
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Greek Theatre Vocabulary
Greek Chorus – Group of men that train for many months to perform in the play competitions by representing and debating differing points of view with the actors on the stage.
Strophe – One division of the chorus.
Antistrophe – The other half of the chorus.
Thespian – The first recorded actor and he was also a playwright.
Dionysus – The god of fertility and wine.
City Dionysia – The huge theatre competition with 3 tragedies and 5 comedies and satyr plays all in dedication to Dionysus.
Satyr Play – A satirical comedy with half man / half goat characters that deal with domestic humor.
Greek Tragedy – The highest form of theatre celebrating heroes and kings and creating a catharsis of emotion.
Catharsis – release of emotion typically a strong, controlled emotion.
Greek Comedy –Political typically and poking fun at rulers and politicians.
Choregus – The wealthy Greek patron that paid for that year’s City Dionysia competition.
Orchestra – Large circular space in front of the Greek Amphitheater stage where the chorus would gather.
Parodos – The two ramped alleyways the chorus spectacularly entered through to approach the orchestra and arrange themselves for the play.
Skene – The three door , one story staging house at the back of the parados of the Greek parodos.
Greek Theatre Assignments
1. Read aloud on stage 10 lines from a Greek play.
2. Costume the three lead characters from Greek play.
3. Research the different types of scenery and special effects used in Greek theatre.
4. Make a model of a typical Greek amphitheater.
5. Take the lines from a Greek plays strophe and antistrophe debate, divide into two teams and try to win your
point of view with the lead actors using voice, movement, dance, music and emotion.
Created for OER Collective Commons Copyright Valerie Brugh VWCC