Introduction to Greek Theater

Theater of Dionysus, Athens, Greece. Photo by De'Lara Stephens, Mar. 2006 Drama in ancient Greece was closely associated with Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry (Roberts and Jacobs 857; Hamilton 73-4). The Dionysian festivals were held each spring and began with the sacrifice of a goat or tragos. Dramatists submitted tragedies and comedies for judging in the open air theater of Dionysus which could seat 17,000 viewers (Kirszner and Mandell 1121).

The theater was composed of an orchestra or "dancing place" where the chorus, originally choragos, stood, a group of young men who danced and chanted comments to the audience about the action on stage (Kirszner and Mandell 1121). Above the orchestra lay a raised stage (Kirszner and Mandell 1121-2) which contained a small building, the skene, where actors could rest or dress for the next scene. Behind the skene stood a collonade of roofed pillars (Kirszner and Mandell 1122). Each actor wore a stylized mask or persona which revealed the character's emotional state. All roles in a play, both male and female, were performed by male actors who struck stylized poses and gestures to express their roles (Kirszner and Mandell 1122).

The Greek play was divided into five parts:

• Prologos prologue - provided the background for the play (Kirszner and Mandell 1122),
• Parados, chorus commentary on the prologue (Kirszner and Mandell 1122-3),
• Episodia, episodes during which the actors perform the action of the play (Kirszner and Mandell 1123),
• Stasimon, choral odes, which contained further commentary on the play (Kirszner and Mandell 1123),
• Strophes, divisions of the odes into stanzas, which the chorus recited or sang moving from right to left (Kirszner and Mandell 1123; Holman 29),
• Antistrophes, divisions of the odes into stanzas which the chorus recited or sang while moving in the opposite direction of the strophes (left to right) so as to return to their original positions (Kirszner and Mandell 1123; Holman 29), and
• Exodus, or the final scene (Kirszner and Mandell 1123)

According to tradition, the first playwright to use an actor separate from the chorus was Thespis, and he is considered the father of Greek drama. "For the first time, an actor stood in opposition to the choral leader, engaging in dialogue that could lead to true dramatic conflict, the essence of effective theater" (Harris and Platzner 532). The term thespian is still used to refer to an actor.

Works Cited

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown, 1942. Print.

Harris, Stephen L. and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004. Print.

Holman, C. Hugh. A Handbook to Literature. 4th ed. Indianapolis: ITT Bobbs-Merrill, 1985. Print.

Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 4th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 2001. Print.

Roberts, Edgar V. and Henry E. Jacobs. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 3rd compact ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2006. Print.

HUM 2130 World Mythology