About Greek Theater

Every form of entertainment featuring actors that is popular today dates back to the ancient Greeks. Television, film and especially theater has its roots in the kind of drama developed in Greece during the 6th century B.C. What is even more amazing is that many of the texts of Greek drama are still regularly performed today, thousands of years after they were first introduced.

Origin

The origins of Greek theater are rooted in tragedy and tragedy is rooted in a ritualistic dance performed to honor the Greek god Dionysius, the god of the arts. This dance was called the dithyramp and was accompanied by a hymn. The dance was to be performed with intense emotion and the atmosphere in which it was performed tended to be quite disorderly due to the drunkeness of the participants.

Solo Performers

The dithyramb eventually developed among the Dorians of Sicyon; this is the role of the speaker, who usually assumed the role of a priest. He would introduce the dance ritual and then continue speaking a dialogue against the backdrop of the dancers and singers. By the end of the 7th Century B.C. the dithyramb had spread across much of Greece and was beginning to gain prominence.

Drama

Another hundred years would pass until a poet named Thespis would transform the dithyramb into actual drama. Thespis, from whom we get the word thespian, decided that the current state was just too chaotic and so began writing scripts. These early literary texts were the forerunners of the classic Greek dramas and comedies that are still being performed today.

Theaters

Greek plays were performed in outdoor theaters that were surrounded by spectators on three sides. The chorus, a group of actors who would communicate directly with the audience, were located in a circular area known as the orchestra. The actors on stage would perform behind the chorus, but to the front of a building known as the Skene. Skene would later become the root word for the word scenary.

Actors

Actors in Greek drama differ substantially from actors today. Realism was not the rule of the day, instead theater was heavily stylized. Actors performing tragedies wore robes and boots that elevated their stature. Masks, the main element of Greek theatre, were also used. Masks were huge and contained a single distinctive emotional expression. Whenever an actor took on another role, he would simply change the mask. Only three actors were used at a time and each was male.

Tragedy

Classic Greek tragedies include those in the Oedipus cycle by Sophocles and the Oresteia by Aeschylus. Greek tragedy was comprised of two distinct elements: the protagonist's so-called fatal flaw which led to an angry god pursuing him and his ultimate downfall which brought devastation to those around him.

Comedy

The masks for theater include the comedy mask as well as the one symbolizing tragedy. Although less famous than tragedy, the Greeks also invented comic theater as well. The representative dramatist of Greek comedy is Aristophanes. His, as well as the works of lesser writers, set the template for comedy to come. Greek comedy is constructed upon the concepts of the continuity of order and a happy ending, which stands in direct opposition to the disorder and unhappy ending associated with tragedy.