Greek Theater

GREEK THEATER

City States

http://sillysoft.net/ael/screenshots/?name=Ancient%20Greece&image=AEL%20Greek%20City%20States

Playwrights Aeschylus(c. 525–456 BCE)

The Persians (472 BCE) Seven Against Thebes (467 BCE) The Oresteia (458 BCE)

Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides.

Sophocles(c. 495-406 BCE) Theban plays, or Oedipus cycle:

Antigone (c. 442 BCE) Oedipus the King (c. 429 BCE) Oedipus at Colonus (401 BCE, posthumous)

Ajax (unknown, presumed earlier in career)

Euripides(c. 480–406 BCE) Medea (431 BCE) Sisyphos (415 BCE) Herakles (421-416 BCE) The Trojan Women (Troades) (415 BCE) Helen (412 BCE) The Cyclops (c. 408 BCE)

Aeschylushttp://wdict.net/word/aeschylus/

Sophocles From : http://www.greektheatre.gr/sophocles.html

Born 497 BCE in Colonos, Athens Possibly from an aristocratic family

Some sources say he was the son of a knife-maker

As a young man, considered handsome, and a great athlete

Competed against Aeschylus in drama competitions

Attained the rank of General in the Athenian military

 Wrote the Oedipus cycle as three separate plays rather than an intentional trilogy

Increased the number of hypocrites (actors) from 2 to 3, and the chorus from 12 to 15watson.org

Aristotele said that "honey was dropping from his mouth" due to his harmonic writing

At the end of his life he was dragged before the jury by his son Iofon, charged for dementia. In the court he recited a part of his latest work, "Oedipus at Colonus". The judges admired his spirit and found him innocent

Died in Athens in 405 BC at the age of 92 Wrote 123 dramas, of

which only 7 are saved

http://www.all-art.org/world_literature/sophocles1.htmSophocles

Greek Theater Theater’s purpose

was to honor the god Dionysus

Annual drama competitions were held

Actors were limited Originally, the

playwright was the only performer!

Sophocles pushed the number of actors all the way to threeDionysus: God of Wine, fertility and

the pleasures of civilizationhttp://www.gods-heros-myth.com/godpages/dionysus.html

Chorus The Chorus was

important because the number of actors was limited (partly due to the competition rules)

Shows how an ideal audience will react Also comments on

themes and gives background info.

Usually sang their roles

http://mythologywithcrampton-crampton.blogspot.com/2010/10/greek-drama-for-today-october-6th-2010.html

Masks were typically worn so that audiences could see expressions from a distance

Chorus stood at ground level, actors somewhat higher near the “Skene” (back wall of the stage)

Death was always behind the Skênê, hidden from the audience

Mechane a crane that gave the

impression of a flying actor (thus, deus ex machina).

Trap doors lift people onto the

stage Pinakes

pictures hung to create scenery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Epidaurus_Theater.jpg

Wikipedia.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_greek_theater_%28en%29.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GriechTheater2.PNG