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2/4/10 Festival Theatre in Ancient Greece The Akropolis Theatre of Dionysus - Greek god of wine/god of fertility -sits about 14,000 people Time Line: 534 BCE Tragic competitions at the City Dionysia festival - 335-323 BCE Aristotle?s Poetics Aristotle?s Definition of Tragedy: ?The imitation of a good action, which is complete and of a certain length, by means of language made pleasing for each part separately; it relies in its various elements not on narrative but on acting; through pity and fear it achieves the purgation (catharsis: releasing of an emotion) of such emotions.? Aristotle?s tragic elements: -Plot -Character -Thought -Diction -Music -Spectacle, visual element Diagram of stage space Audience sits in a half of a circle around the altar. The altar is directly in front of the Orchestra. Behind the orchestra is the Skene/scene house. *Theatron (place where the audience sits) - refers to the Theatre or the people in your section that you would be sitting with *Orchestra (not a group of musicians) -dancing place -circular area where the chorus performed -probably originated in the ?Agora? *Skene ?scene house? (where people change) -area behind performers, originally constructed of wood *Paradoi (singular parados) -passageways on either side of the Skene for choral entrances *Stage machinery -Ekkyklema (for dead bodies) -Mechane (crane type thing) *Actors -All male -Set at 3 for tragedy and 4 for comedy -underwent major vocal training -initially the playwright was the ?didaskolos? (didaktic = teacher) -the chorus (sang and danced) was also all male (well-trained amateurs), first 50 then 12-15 Costume and Mask in Tragedy How does the use of a mask affect the performance? -approach to character -projection -?the quick change? Musicians -principal instrument was the flute, but also lyre, trumpet, percussive effects -musicians wore wooden shoes so that they could make noise on the bleachers Review -size of the theaters (really big) -use of masks/doubling up roles -all male actors and chorus -use of song and dance -audience base -author/direction/actor (until Euripides) Terms to Remember -City Dionysia: festival that occurs in the spring -Catharsis -Agora ? Theatron -Orchestra -Skene -Parados -Mechane -Ekkyklema