The Greek Theatre

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The amphitheatres of Ancient Greece were located on hillsides. A bowl shape was dug into a north facing slope for maximum sunlight. The amphitheatre complex contained the koilon, orchestra, proscenium, skene and parados. The koilon was the semi-circular, stacked seating area for the audience and was split into two sections; upper and lower diazoma. The area closest to the stage of the lower diazoma was reserved for priests, members of the council and officials. The upper diazoma operated under a free seating scheme. This communicated to the audience that official people should be respected and have certain perks. This might have made ordinary people work harder and aspire to hold a position of power.  

In front of the koilon was the orchestra: a circular piece of land approximately 60m in diameter. The orchestra was used by the chorus for their choral odes and stasimons. The chorus were a group of fifteen amateur performers who acted as a united group. The chorus entered at the beginning of a play chanting a song and marching at a slow pace. The acting then commenced from professional actors. After a section of acting had taken place the chorus performed a stasimon; commenting on what has just been seen. Stasimons included singing and dancing which added movement and spectacle to the play. For example in the first stasimon “ode to man” the language is mostly in the verb form indicating Sophocles was indicating movement should be included. Music was added to stasimons by musical instruments such as reed flutes and harps and would have kept the chorus in tempo as well as in tune with the music.

As the chorus were trying to be a unified group the way they dressed would have been identical. The typical costume was a chiton and a hemateon. The chiton was made from two pieces of silk which were draped over the body and worn long. A belt helped keep the pieces of material in place. The hemateon was a type of jacket and was made of wool. As the chorus were quite regal I believe that they would have worn plain white chiton on their bodies and loose fitting leather boots. To add to the image of unity and stature, identical masks would have also been worn. Masks were made from materials of the time: wood, feathers, ceramic or material. As the chorus had to have fifteen masks I believe they would have opted for a durable yet easily workable material such as wood with little or no decoration.

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In front of the orchestra was the proscenium which was followed by the skene. The proscenium was an elevated stage upon which the main actors would act. The actors differed from the chorus as they represented one character instead of a group meaning they did not have to sing their lines but speak them. Music was therefore not needed for songs but was used to set the mood of an act. As “Antigone” is a tragedy, the music would have indicated sadness so the music would be slow in tempo and played in a low key. An example of ...

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