Part 2: Varieties of Theatrical Experience

Awareness of past theatrical practices:

Enriches current and future practices

Enlightens us to cultural assumptions and

values of various times and places

Chapter 4: Festival TheatreGreek, Roman, and Medieval Theatrical Experiences

Until the 16th century, Western Theatre: Performed primarily at festivals

Financed by community

Performed by community

Occurred for brief periods each year

Presented as offering to a god

Presented for enjoyment of general public

Flourished in Greece, Rome, medieval Europe

The Theatre of Ancient Greece

Origins of Western Theatre traced to Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek Beliefs:• Humans can make significant decisions• Democracy• Not all people are equal: Greeks kept slaves and

denied women any public role in society• Happiness depends upon harmony between human

and supernatural forces• Numerous gods: conceived of as immortal human

beings with flaws

The Theatre of Ancient Greece

Greek Drama:• Emphasizes attempts of humans to control own destinies• Tragedies often focus on results of attempting to escape

fate• Presented exclusively at festivals honoring the god

Dionysus = god of wine and fertility

Festivals:• By 5th century, Athens held 4 festivals per year in honor of

Dionysus• 3 of 4 festivals included theatrical performances• Major Festival = City Dionysia

City Dionysia Religious and Civic celebration

534 B.C. first recorded contest for Best Tragedy• Winner Thespis

Competition • 3 dramatists compete• Each presents 3 tragedies and 1 satyr play

• satyr play = short, comic play poking fun at a Greek myth using a chorus of satyrs (half-man/half-goat characters)

5 days of performances• Performances started at dawn and probably lasted all day• Plays open to everyone, but primary audience - men and boys

City Dionysia• 3 tragedies x 3 playwrights = 9 tragedies per City

Dionysia

• 9 tragedies x 100 years = 900 tragedies during 5th century B.C.

• 32 plays have survived• All 32 plays written by 3 dramatists:

• Aeschylus (523-456 B.C.)• Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)• Euripides (480-406 B.C.)

• Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex often considered the best

The Theatre of Dionysus

Location: slope of hill beneath Athenian Acropolis

Theatron = “seeing place” Stadium-like stone seats

Capacity = 14,000-17,000 Orchestra = “dancing place”

Main performance space Circular 65 ft. in diameter

The Theatre of Dionysus

Thymele = alter to Dionysus Originally located at center of orchestra Scholars believe it was later moved to behind the skene

Skene = hut or tent Located on side of orchestra, opposite the audience May have been used for costume changes Gradually developed into large structure

75-100 ft. long Possibly 2 stories high Possibly had 3 doors

The Theatre of Dionysus

Paradoi = spaces between skene and auditorium Used for choral entrances and exits

Eccyclema = wheeled platform Used because acts of violence could not be shown

onstage Rolled or pushed into the performance space to show

consequences of violent acts (such as slain characters) Machina = crane-like device

Used to “fly” gods into the performance space Deus ex Machina (God from the machine) = contrived

ending

The Performers

4 Categories of Performers:

1. Actors

2. Chorus

3. Supernumeraries

4. Musicians

The Performers

Actors:

• All performers were male

• By 430 B.C., only 3 speaking actors allowed in competition

• Actors played multiple roles

• Each playwright was assigned a Principal Actor

• Principal Actor eligible to win “Best Tragic Actor”

The Performers

The Chorus

• Composed of 15 men• Playwright applied to government official for a chorus• Playwright was assigned a choregus

• choregus = wealthy citizen who paid for training and costuming; high civic honor; wealthy citizens required to take turns serving as choregus

• Chorus assigned approximately 11 months prior to festival• Trained like athletes

The Performers

Choral Conventions:

• Chorus as one of the distinctive features of Greek Theatre• Usually performed in unison• Sometimes broke into 2 subgroups that responded to

each other• Chorus leader sometimes had solo lines• Chorus entered after Prologue• Chorus performed Choral Odes

The Performers

Functions of the Chorus:

• Formed a collective character who expressed opinions, gave advice, and occasionally threatened to interfere in the action

• Often seemed to express the author’s point of view• Served as the ideal spectator, reacting as the author

wanted the audience to react• Helped to establish mood and to heighten dramatic

effects• Added color, movement and spectacle through singing

and dancing

The Performers

Musicians:

• Principal musician = flute player• Entered before chorus and remained onstage

throughout performance• Used a clapper on one sandal to keep time• Was likely the composer of the music

• Virtually no music has survived

The Performers

Masks:• All performers except musicians wore masks• Distinctive convention of Greek Theatre• Masks covered entire head and included hair/headdress• Function of Masks:

• Facilitated rapid change of roles• Enabled male performers to embody female characters

more easily• Helped actors to assume different types of roles• Assisted communication by capturing and emphasizing

essential character qualities

The Performers

Costumes:

• Variety of clothing used• Costume likely determined by

appropriateness to role• Use of chiton = ankle-length

or knee-length garment that served as usual dress in Greece

• Soft, flexible, high-topped boots

Formalized Conventions of Greek Theatre

• Group of performers formed chorus

• One actor often played multiple roles within same play

• Men played both male and female roles

• Performers wore masks and character appropriate dress

• Performers sang, chanted and danced much of the text

• Theatre’s scale prevented small details from being seen

Oedipus Rex and its Performance

Play Structure:• Prologue: devoted to exposition• Parados: chorus enters• 4 Episodes: move forward in present, while continuing

to reveal elements of exposition• Choral Odes: used to separate episodes• 5th Episode: divided into 2 parts

• Messenger Scene• Final Scene

Actor #1

Oedipus

Actor #2

Creon

1st Messenger

Actor #3

Priest

Tiresias

Jocasta

Shepherd

2nd Messenger

Oedipus Rex and its Performance

Characterization & Acting:• Concerned primarily with Psychological and Ethical

aspects of character• Characterization drawn with a few bold strokes All speaking roles performed by 3 actors

• Probable distribution of roles:

Oedipus Rex and its Performance

Characterization & Acting:• 3 speaking actors • Chorus size = 15• Many supernumeraries

required• Total cast size = 35

minimum

Oedipus Rex and its Performance

Themes: Themes of the play have universal relevance

• Uncertainty of human destiny

• Limited ability of humans to control their fate

• Blindness versus sight (physical sight and inner sight)

• Finding a scapegoat

Concern with moral taboos: incest, patricide

Greek Comedy

• Became official part of festivals about 50 years after tragedy

• Performed at 2 festivals: City Dionysia and Lenaia

• 5 playwrights competed annually at Lenaia, each presenting 1 play

Greek Comedy

Conventions:• Usually concerned with current issues• Sometimes used mythological material• Chorus size = 24

• Not always identical in appearance• Sometimes depicted as citizens, sometimes as

nonhumans• Male characters made to appear ridiculous

• Costume suggested partial nakedness• Wore large phallus• Wore masks

Greek Comedy

Plays:• Only 11 Old Comedy plays have survived• All surviving plays by Aristophanes• Old Comedy plots revolve around a “happy idea”• Time and place may change frequently• Unity through idea rather than through causally related

events• Characters may speak to or about the audience

Greek Comedy

Play Structure:• Prologue: introduction of “happy idea”

• Parados: entrance of chorus

• Agon: debate over merits of the “happy idea”

• Parabasis: choral passages

• Episodes: showing “happy idea” put into practice

• Komos: exit to feasting and revelry

The Roman Theatre Experience

Ludi = “games”• Religious festivals that included theatrical performances

• Theatrical performances honored several gods• Theatrical performances considered diversions, like sports• Borrowed from Greek drama, but adapted it to Roman tastes• Romans preferred variety entertainments

• short comic plays• dancing, singing• juggling, acrobatics• gladiatorial contests

The Roman Theatrical Context

Production Expenses: paid by state Performance Spaces:

• Tiered seating, capacity of several thousand• Semicircular orchestra, not used by performers• Long, narrow stage, 5 ft. high• Stage enclosed by scaenae frons = façade

• 3 doors on back wall; 1 door at either end• Second story with windows• Open seating, free admission• Costumes: Greek costumes and masks; color symbolism• Performers: all male

Roman Comedy

Plays:• Surviving comedies = 26

• All surviving plays by Plautus and Terence

• Deal with everyday domestic affairs

• Plots turn on misunderstandings

• Most famous character = “clever slave”

• Include music; some characters sing

The Menaechmi

• Written by Plautus

• Perhaps most popular surviving Roman Comedy

• Basis for Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors

• Characters as types rather than individuals

• 10 roles, performed by 6 actors; doubling of roles was common

Other Roman Drama and Theatre

Roman Tragedy:• Surviving tragedies = 9• All surviving plays by Seneca

Mime:• Favorite form of entertainment• First time women were permitted to perform• No masks• Dramatic action centered on sexual encounters

Blood Sports:• Gladiatorial contests

liturgical drama

vernacular drama

The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages:

Early = A.D. 900-1050

High = A.D. 1050-1300

Late = A.D. 1300-1500

The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages

Liturgical Drama• 2 Types:

Performed primarily in churches or monasteries• Earliest example = A.D. 970• Dramatizes Biblical episodes• Text sung in Latin• Financed by church

Religious plays performed outside of church = A.D. 1200

The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages

Vernacular Drama• Religious drama independent of church = A.D.

1375• Written in vernacular language• Text spoken• Financed by community

Trade Guilds and the Corpus Christi Festival

• Outdoor religious dramas in England

• Connected to Trade Guilds

• Church created new feast day in 1311: Corpus Christi

• All Biblical events could be connected with this festival

Trade Guilds and the Corpus Christi Festival

• Central feature: procession through town, like parade= Processional Staging

• People of all ranks and professions involved

• Plays dramatizing the Bible from creation to doomsday = Cycle Plays

Conventions of Medieval Theatre

Time:• Contrast of eternal versus

earthly time Stage:

• Depicts heaven at one end and hell at the other end

• Could be fixed or mobile• Scenic structures to indicate

place = mansion• Undifferentiated space = platea

Conventions of Medieval Theatre

Costumes:• Distinguish inhabitants of Earth, Heaven, Hell• Earthly characters = contemporary clothes• Heavenly characters = church garments

Special Effects:• Gruesome hell mouth• Realistically staged miracles

The Wakefield Cycle

• Manuscript contains cycle of 32 plays: Creation through Last Judgment

• Playwrights: multiple, anonymous

• Production as community effort, involving: town council, church, trade guilds

• Processional staging, using pageant wagons that each carried one or more mansions

• All actors were male

• Guilds were assigned plays related loosely to their professions

The Wakefield Cycle

• Performance started at 5:00 am

• Performance required all daylight hours for completion

• All work suspended on performance day

• Most spectators stood to watch performance

• Atmosphere as festive but reverent

Noah and His Sons

• 3rd play in Wakefield Cycle• Story of Noah and the Ark• Action divided into 3 parts:

• Opening scene: exposition• Noah and wife bickering• Ship building and onboard

• 9 roles: 3 major, 6 minor• One mansion required: ship• Simple costumes

Other Medieval Theatre and Drama

Morality Plays:• Allegories of moral temptations• Most famous play: Everyman• Served as transition between medieval religious drama and

secular drama of Shakespeare’s time Farces:

• Secular comic drama: emerged 13th century• Not encouraged officially• Emphasized ridiculous aspects or human behavior • Example: Pierre Patelin

Interludes:• Nonreligious, serious or comic; performed between parts of

celebration