Examine the Theatre of Dionysius's layout and how it affected productions of ancient Greek drama and democracy
Examine the Theatre of Dionysius's layout and how it affected productions of ancient Greek drama and democracy
The ancient Greeks created drama, and the Theatre of Dionysius was their vessel.
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Transcript
BERNARD KNOX: This ruined site in the center of Athens is where the theater of the Western world began. The Athenians invented the theater as well as democracy. It wasn't, as you can see, like our theaters today. It was an open-air theater. And a huge audience sat on rows of stone benches, one above the other, like benches in a football stadium.
It was different from our theaters in other ways, too. You couldn't go to the theater in Athens whenever you felt like it. It was active only once a year, in the early spring, when the festival of Dionysus took place. When the Athenians did go to the theater, it was an important event. They went there at sunrise and sat through a program which included three tragedies, like "Oedipus the King," all written by the same poet. They did this for three days running, watching the work of three different dramatists.
The playwright didn't make any money out of his play, nor did the producer, who was a wealthy man paying the expenses of the performance as a public service. There was a charge for admission, but it was very small, and citizens who could not afford to pay it were given free tickets. The audience, then, was not a select group, rather it was the whole population. The Theater of Dionysus, in its original state, had seats for 14,000.
The performances they saw in the Theater of Dionysus were in some ways very different from what we expect to see in our theater. One of the big differences was that the actors wore masks, like this one. With masks, one actor could play more than one part. This was very useful, for trained actors, who could speak clearly enough to be heard by 14,000 people in the open air, were scarce. But with the masks, the same actor could come on in a later scene in a different part. In fact, all the speaking parts in "Oedipus the King" were taken by three actors.
The masks were not the only survivor of an earlier stage of the drama. There was a chorus, a group of dancers who also sang and took part in the action of the play. The chorus, like the masks, was a legacy from the past. But it, too, had its uses for the dramatists. For example, it could be used to represent the common people to comment on or react against the speeches of the actors, who usually represented their kings and rulers.
Now here is a model of a Greek theater. I'm going to use it to give you an idea of how the opening scene of the play "Oedipus the King" was first performed. You can see the rows of benches on which the huge audience sat, the circle in the middle, which is where the chorus danced, and the stage building in front of which the actors performed.
It is early morning and the audience has filled the benches. There is a trumpet call and everyone falls silent. There are no lights to go on and no curtain to go up. Round the corner of the stage building, moving out to a position in front, comes a procession of priests carrying branches of olive which they put down on the altar in front of the stage building. Then the doors of the stage building open and a man comes out to meet the priests. He asks them why they are seated at the altar, what it is they want from him? He asks the question which we in the audience are asking ourselves, too. The play has begun.
The audience does not yet know who this actor is supposed to represent. There is no program as there is in our theater to tell them the time and place of the action and the cast of characters. The audience has to be given all this information in the first few minutes of the play by the characters in the play themselves, and they are; at the end of their first short speech the actor identifies himself, "I myself," he says, "world famous Oedipus." The audience recognizes the name. It is a name they know, and they know the story, too. The Greek dramatists, unlike our modern dramatists, presented stories which the audience already knew.
It was different from our theaters in other ways, too. You couldn't go to the theater in Athens whenever you felt like it. It was active only once a year, in the early spring, when the festival of Dionysus took place. When the Athenians did go to the theater, it was an important event. They went there at sunrise and sat through a program which included three tragedies, like "Oedipus the King," all written by the same poet. They did this for three days running, watching the work of three different dramatists.
The playwright didn't make any money out of his play, nor did the producer, who was a wealthy man paying the expenses of the performance as a public service. There was a charge for admission, but it was very small, and citizens who could not afford to pay it were given free tickets. The audience, then, was not a select group, rather it was the whole population. The Theater of Dionysus, in its original state, had seats for 14,000.
The performances they saw in the Theater of Dionysus were in some ways very different from what we expect to see in our theater. One of the big differences was that the actors wore masks, like this one. With masks, one actor could play more than one part. This was very useful, for trained actors, who could speak clearly enough to be heard by 14,000 people in the open air, were scarce. But with the masks, the same actor could come on in a later scene in a different part. In fact, all the speaking parts in "Oedipus the King" were taken by three actors.
The masks were not the only survivor of an earlier stage of the drama. There was a chorus, a group of dancers who also sang and took part in the action of the play. The chorus, like the masks, was a legacy from the past. But it, too, had its uses for the dramatists. For example, it could be used to represent the common people to comment on or react against the speeches of the actors, who usually represented their kings and rulers.
Now here is a model of a Greek theater. I'm going to use it to give you an idea of how the opening scene of the play "Oedipus the King" was first performed. You can see the rows of benches on which the huge audience sat, the circle in the middle, which is where the chorus danced, and the stage building in front of which the actors performed.
It is early morning and the audience has filled the benches. There is a trumpet call and everyone falls silent. There are no lights to go on and no curtain to go up. Round the corner of the stage building, moving out to a position in front, comes a procession of priests carrying branches of olive which they put down on the altar in front of the stage building. Then the doors of the stage building open and a man comes out to meet the priests. He asks them why they are seated at the altar, what it is they want from him? He asks the question which we in the audience are asking ourselves, too. The play has begun.
The audience does not yet know who this actor is supposed to represent. There is no program as there is in our theater to tell them the time and place of the action and the cast of characters. The audience has to be given all this information in the first few minutes of the play by the characters in the play themselves, and they are; at the end of their first short speech the actor identifies himself, "I myself," he says, "world famous Oedipus." The audience recognizes the name. It is a name they know, and they know the story, too. The Greek dramatists, unlike our modern dramatists, presented stories which the audience already knew.