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Ritual
Masks are universal in just about every human culture. So are rituals. Why? What are they for? Two elements of theatre are storytelling and imitation. What religious ceremonies also share these elements?
The Parthenon is the best-known surviving building of Ancient Greece and is regarded as one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. The building has stood atop the Acropolis of Athens for nearly 2,500 years and was built to give thanks to the Greek goddess Athena.
Golden age
Great inventions of the Greeks:
Democracy Philosophy Pythagorean theorem (math) Hippocratic oath (medicine) Art, architecture (amazing sculpture & buildings)
Homer
Greek poet, lived around 800 B.C.E. Wrote the Iliad (account of the war between the Greeks & Trojans, remember Helen of Troy? Achilles?) Wrote the Odyssey (voyage of Odysseus) Provided the greatest source of material for all classical tragedy
Greek Masks
All performers wore them Later they had devices like megaphones built in
Greek Chorus
Really important Theater element Usually represented ordinary citizens
Reacted the way people in the audience might Gave background info necessary to understand the plot (exposition) Represented a moderate balance between the extreme behaviors of the principle characters Made philosophical observations & drew conclusions about what was happening
Tragedy
Weve gone over dramatic structure & tragedy - look over pgs 214-218 (structure of Oedipus Rex) Most admired form of Greek drama lets meet the 3 famous Greek tragedians
Aeschylus
525-456 BCE Called for 2nd actor, reduced size of chorus from 50 to 12 Master of the trilogy (3 tragedies that make up a single unit) Oresteia - saga of Agamemnon, hero of the Trojan war, when he returns he is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra, who is killed by their children, Electra and Orestes (whew!)
Sophocles
496-406 BCE Added third actor, raised chorus to 15 Adept at dramatic construction (well-made play) Oedipus Rex (King Oedipus) Antigone
Euripedes
You pay for dese 484-406 BCE A rebel for the following innovations:
Sympathetic portrayal of female characters Increased realism Mixture of tragedy w/melodrama Skeptical treatment of the gods Medea The Bacchae Electra
The Frogs
Enter Dionysus on foot dressed in the skin of the Nemean Lion, and the club of Heracles in his hand, and Xanthias heavily laden on a donkey. Xanthias: Master, should I tell one of those usual jokes which always make the audience laugh? Dionysus: By Zeus, say what you want--except I'm hard pressed - Forget that one, it's really quite annoying. Xanthias: Nothing else witty either? Dionysus: Anything but What a strain! Xanthias: What then? Can I say the really funny one? Dionysus: Of course,Go right ahead--but don't let me catch you saying this. Xanthias: What's that? Dionysus: That you must shift your pack to ease yourself. Xanthias: Well, can't I say I've got such a load on me,unless someone takes it off, I'll bust a gut? Dionysus: Please don't, unless you wish to make me sick. Xanthias: So why should I have to carry all this stuff,without doing any of the jokes that Phrynichusand Lycis and Ameipsias always makethe baggage-carriers say in all their comedies? Dionysus: Just don't. Since when I'm in the theater and hear any of these stupid jokes,I go away just older by a year.