- Contained three doors: central doorway and two other stage entrances, one at the left and the other at the right, representing the country and the city respectively.
- Parados (Pl. Paradoi): passageways by which actors made their entrances and exits
- Theatron: Where the audience sat to view the performance
- Greatest Greek theatre: The Theatre of Dionysus
- The specifics of Greek theatre productions
- During daytime, no floodlights or other lighting for nigh viewing
- Only men performed
- Two main subjects: tragedy and comedy
- Performed in festivals (twice a year)
- Very competitive, state awarded prizes
- Not repeated, unless demand for a specific play was high
- Women allowed in audience during a tragedy, but seldom for comedy (this view is contested vigorously)
- Three actors
- She same men in the same had to play multiple parts
- Masks were used to accentuate characteristics of the actors
- In large theaters facial expressions could not have been identified
- Fifteen members in the chorus
- Dialogue of the actors became increasingly important, as time passed, whereas role of chorus was reduced gradually
- Music: Flute, drums and trumpets often used: but these were secondary to dialogues
- Scenery, in the form of props were also
- A dummy was often used to depict Dionysus using a pulley system
- Most comedy was frank, indecent and sexual
- performers were coarse and obscene
- Used satire to depict important contemporary moral, social and political issues of Athenian life
- Cost of attendance was at first free, later on it cost two obels or twenty-five cents
- The role of the chorus in Greek drama
- Approx. 15 men in the chorus (point strongly contested)
- Often interact with audience
- Reflect audience reaction
- Underscore the ideas of the plays
- Provide point-of-view, and focus on issues of the play
- Give implications of actions and participate in the action
- Establishes ethical framework, sets up standard by which action will be judged
- Sets mood and heightens dramatic effects
- Adds movement, spectacle, song, and dance
- Had a vital role at the beginning of Greek Theatre, this role was later on reduced as actors were introduced
- The comedies of Aristophanes (including conventions of comedy)
- Only some of the comedies of Aristophanes have been preserved, approx. eleven out of forty
- Have varied topics
- His greatest works:
- The Clouds, is a fuming attack on the philosopher Socrates who is portrayed as a sophist leading the young to make fun of their elders
- The Frogs, assaults the tragedian Euripides as also corrupting the younger generation
- The Birds, is a fantasy of some Athenians, disgruntled with the lawsuits and contentions of their daily lives, who try to live with the birds and set up an ideal Birdland.
- The Wasps: An attack was formulated on the failures of Athenian democracy, featured actors dressed in black and yellow stripes who swarmed the stage stinging each other
- Comedies combine lyric poetry, wordplay and shocking obscenity in a blunt manner seldom equaled in later ages
- Three man eras of comedy
- Aristophanes was part of the era of old comedy
- Often combined with themes of:
- Man and God
- Destiny and fate
- Freedom and Responsibility
- The production history of Lysistrata
- Lysistrata means “releaser of war”
- Originally performed in 411 BCE (during the time of the war)
- Before Athens’s defeat
- Hope among the city’s citizens either for peace or an Athenian victory
- Often reproduced by various groups and organizations
- One of the most frequently performed Aristophanic comedy
- The Lysistrata Project: In 2003; 1000 readings of Lysistrata were held worldwide to protest Iraq War
- Performed in Wales by Mid Powys Youth Theatre
- Converted into a musical by Chris Tilley
- Converted to a rock opera called “Lysistrata’s War”
- Another version by the ART company
- Another version by Indiana University: Department of Theatre and Drama
- Your plans for a modern production of Lysistrata
- Provide a stark contrast to the ancient Greek versions of Lysistrata
- Performances by men and women
- Performed on a modern stage, with curtains, sound and light effects
- All people can view the performance
- Performances should use modern versions of sexual innuendos
- The setting should be World War III: The Struggle for Resources, instead of The Peloponnesian war.
- Costumes should be obscene and revealing (as was the case during that time period), but depicted in a modern way
Works Cited
"Ancient Greek Theater." 27 Jan. 2008 <http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/Theater.html>.
"Aristophanes, Comedy and Greek Theatre." IU Theatre and Drama Center. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.indiana.edu/~thtr/2002/lysistrata/theatre.html>.
Gill, N S. "Aristophanes Lysistrata." About. The New York Times Company. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/lysistrata/a/lysistrata.htm>.
"Lysistrata." ART. 29 Jan. 2008 <http://www.amrep.org/lysistrata/>.
"MPYT Perform Lysistrata." BBC. 29 Jan. 2008 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/arts/pages/mpyt_lysistrata_photos.shtml>.
"Origins of Greek Theatre." ESSORTMENT. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://wv.essortment.com/originsofgreek_rqgx.htm>.
"Study Guide for Aristophanes' Lysistrata." Temple. 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.temple.edu/classics/lysistrata.html>.
"Theatre of ancient Greece." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan 2008, 14:02 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Jan 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theatre_of_ancient_Greece&oldid=186587366>.
"The History of Greek Theater." 27 Jan. 2008 <http://www.cyberessays.com/Arts/5.htm>.
"Theatre of Dionysus." Chart.
