Nalin dissanayake
Greek theatre:
In our first lesson we learned about the three famous Greek playwrights, Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus, and the first ever theatres called ‘amphitheatre’s’. Greek theatre began by honouring the god Dionysus; people would perform and sing songs in tribute, however the plays were only presented at the City Dionysia festival. Early Greek plays permitted three people on stage at one time, however later a few non-speaking roles were allowed to perform on stage. We learned that the ‘chorus’ would play a very active role in Greek theatre as some of the audience in the amphitheatre wouldn’t have been able to clearly to see what was happening on stage, so the chorus made sure people could understand what was happening, they were the modern day equivalent to amplifiers. Another tradition of Greek theatre the usage of masks, the masks carried different emotions; e.g. a mask used in a tragedy had mournful and saddened faces. The masks also amplified the actors’ voice so his voice was easier to hear. The ancient Greeks were very clever with the design of the amphitheatre as they worked out how sound waves travel, and designed the amphitheatre based on that, which maximises the sound and volume of the actor’s voice, so he didn’t have to shout so the back can hear him.
