GREEK THEATER
Feb 24, 2016
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