Greek Drama Research

● Jessica Kenneweg - Powerpoint Research:

○ Deus ex machina- God From the Machine
○ The festival of dionysus-
■ Poets competed for prizes by presenting 3 tragic dramas
■ They had 12-15 dancers and 2-3 actors who presented the dialogue
■ They performed in an amphitheater and sometimes performed to an
audience of 10,000
○ Aeschylus
■ Wrote 90 plays only 7 survived
■ Added a second actor to the stage
■ Agamemnon tells of taking the Greeks across the sea for the Trojan war.
This is one of the most famous plays.
○ Sophocles
■ Wrote 123 plays only 7 survived
■ Added a third actor to the stage and increases the size of the chorus from
12 to 15
■ He added scenery
○ Euripides
■ Wrote 92 plays and won 5 times
■ Pacifist and free thinker
■ Lived alone in a cave and got ripped apart by dogs
■ Medea
○ Meander
■ Wrote over 100 plays only one complete script survived
■ Invented situation comedy
○ Aristophanes
■ Wealthy aristocrat who invented satire
■ Lysistrata, The Frogs
○ Masks
■ Actors wore masks of each character
● 1 character could have 7 different mask for their expressions
■ Had built in megaphone to amplify voice
 ■ Wore Cothurnus (platform shoes) to be seen more clearly
○ Performed in an amphitheater
○ No women could act
○ No violence on stage only off stage
○ Costumes
■

● Nile Birch - Basic Drama Projects Book:

○ Drama was born out of the dance out of the dance of primitive people, when
instinctive rhythmic movements and desire to imitate evolved into pantomimes
that told, showed, or mimicked something
■ Such dances that were around during the time were dances to transition
boys into manhood, imitate hunts or battles, or religious dances to
appease gods.
● From these dances often evolved rituals. A representative for the
gods (such as the medicine man, shaman, witch doctor, or priest
chanted while the tribe assisted or watched.
○ Greek theatre had its beginnings in the Dionysian rites that paid homage to
Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility.
■ Out of these dithyrambic rituals developed tragedy, which literally means
goat song. Scholars disagree as to why it is called this.
■ Greeks had four Dionysian festivals. The festival took place in Athens. It
lasted five or six days.
● Theatre production and acting was restricted to males.
● Each day a different dramatist was featured, offering four plays: a
trilogy (three tragedies around one theme), a satire (provided
comic relief).
○ Plays were performed out-of-doors.
○ Costumes of both the actors and the chorus consisted of standard Greek attire.
These costumes were often colorful and had patterns embroidered on them.
○ Drums were used for thunder

● Rachel Prusso - Online Research:

○ The greeks often had festivals to celebrate Dionysos, the god of theater.
○ Before the greeks, there was only one actor on the stage, but they introduced
having two or three actors.
○ Used open air amphitheaters
○ Comedies, drama/tragedies,
○ Painted plays onto vases
○ Dancing and chanting
○ Dialog instead of monologue
○