THET110 Notes October 15 2012 What are the difficulties in studying theater history We are focusing on Western Theater We make large generalizations about time and geographies Theater is ephemeral There is limited extant in existence material Sources of information about Greek Theater Extant texts Archeological remains Visual art in Greece primarily statues and vase paintings Commentaries such as Aristotle Shakespeare s The Globe Theater De witt Van Buchell drawing of The Swan Theater 1596 Origins of Western Theater Ritual Theories o Origins of Tragedy Dithyramb o Choral odes to honor Dionysus o Origin of comedy Phallic processions Gerald Else s Great Man Theory Ancient Greece Political structure o Democratic o City states Polis Example Athens artistic center Sparta military center Delphi magic center Religion o Polytheistic o Gods interacted with humans Cultural Values o Competition o Wisdom and reason Dionysus and Theater God wine fertility revelry o Actor Thespis stepped out of dithyramb chorus to enact role of god thespians o Playwright Aeschylus introduced second actor Theater Practice in Ancient Greece Occasional and competitive o Tragedy means goat song Festivals o 534 BC first festival specifically devoted to theater o After each year three major festivals Largest festival was City Dionysia o Five days o Day 1 processional o Days 2 4 playwrights presented a package 3 tragedies and 1 satyr play o Day 5 comedy Audience whole polis unsure about women slaves Theater as a Civic Duty Choregus o Houses feeds and trains chorus actors Theoric fund o Free tickets for poor Athenians Three Types of Plays Tragedy Comedy Satyr play from 4 playwrights There were thousands of plays written but only 32 tragedies and 12 comedies survive Based on Oedipus what are the qualities of tragedy Part of a trilogy Based on historical or mythic stories Hero has a flaw hamartia that leads to his her downfall Teaches the audience a lesson and allows them to release their emotions catharsis Feature kings queen gods Comedy Everyday people The main character faces a difficult situation and has happy idea Humor comes from sex jokes scatological potty jokes and satires of famous people Features the satyr part man part goat Satyr Play Parodies mythical stories Only 1 extant satyr play Cyclops Thespis First actor Euripides wrote 90 plays medea 1st prize five times Aeschylus earliest play existing introduced 2nd actor Sophocles introduces 3 actors never have more than 3 on the stage
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