Greek theatre is a religious ritual which grew out of the
dithyramb – the sung hymn. It began as Choral singing and dancing on what was
probably the threshing floor – and developed to first include one actor with
separate parts and then by the time of Aeschylus around, 480BCE, two actors.
Sophocles uses three actors and Euripides occasionally appears to use four (but
this is disputed).
The some of the performance was probably sung – a little
like modern opera –but there were also spoken and chanted sections;
particularly where characters were interacting.
In the Greek theatre design the original dancing floor is
maintained – its called an Orchestra and is the wide circlular space in front
of the slightly raised rectangular stage. It is where the Chorus would have
danced. This dancing was an important part of the performance – in some
translations of the plays you will see strophe and antistrophe indicating the
movement across the stage of the two halves of the Chorus as they sang. It is
what Aristotle is mainly referring to when he discuss Spectacle as an aspect of
Greek theatre – though he also means the highly elaborate costumes.
Plays were presented as part of an annual competition – the
City Dionysia or Festival of Dionysus. They are specifically Athenian. The
Dionysia is a competition for Tragedies, there was a separate competition for
comedies. Three playwrights were chosen to compete, each on a separate day.
They presented three tragedies and a fourth play called a satyr play – a
light-hearted romp. The four plays were usually linked thematically or about
the same myth. The only complete set of three plays we have is Aeschylus’ Oresteia which is three plays about
Agamemnon’s homecoming from Troy, his murder by his wife Clytemnestra, her
murder by her son Orestes (and daughter Electra) and Orestes forgiveness by the
goddess Athena and the people of Athens.
The Chorus is always a central part of the plays, in
particular the Choral odes which include hymns. The Chorus are usually
ourselves as audience in some way and act as a kind of moral compass, generally
telling us as an audience how we should be responding to the action. Sometimes
the playwrights subvert this.
Plays should create catharsis in the audience – the
experience of strong emotions peaking and being released.
The Three Theban Plays
This is the name given to three separate plays written by
Sophocles at different times in his life. They are NOT a trilogy and were not
written to be performed together but they all deal with aspects of the Oedipus
myth – what is often referred to as the Theban cycle – because that’s where it
happens – the city of Thebes.
In the order of the story the plays are the Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) which
deals with the hubris of Oedipus and his ability to meet his fate with dignity;
the Oedipus at Colonus which deals
with the last days of Oedipus’ life having been in exile with his daughter
Antigone and the Antigone which deals
with the fratricidal war in Thebes between Oedipus’ two sons and the subsequent
punishment of his daughter Antigone for burying her brother.
They were written in the order of The Antigone, The Oedipus Rex
then The Oedipus at Colonus.
The Oedipus Myth
Oedipus, the son of the King and Queen of Corinth, is told
there is an oracle that says he will kill his father and marry his mother. To
avoid this terrible fate he runs away from home, as far away as he can imagine,
to the city of Thebes. On the way he kills a wealthy man on the road who
refuses to let him pass. In Thebes he hears of the terrible Sphinx that is
harassing the town, so he visits it, solves its riddle and as a reward is
wedded to the Queen Jocasta (her husband, it seems, has mysteriously gone
missing…).
The play Oedipus Rex
picks up the action about ten years later when a terrible plague is killing the
Thebans. Oedipus agrees to find the pollutant that is causing it. His
investigations first find that it was the King of Thebes he killed on his way
to the city. But he goes further, discovering that the King of Thebes had been
given a prophecy before his son’s birth that the child would kill its father
and marry its mother. He thus had the child exposed on the hillside – but a
kindly shepherd saved it and took it to the childless King and Queen of Corinth
to be raised as their own. And that’s where our story began!
The play ends with the distraught Jocasta hanging herself
and Oedipus taking her cloak pins and putting out his own eyes. In a device
common to most Greek drama this climatic and gruesome action is described to
the horrified Chorus and audience by a Messenger. Oedipus then reappears and
accepts his punishment – exile from Thebes. His brother in law Creon takes the
throne and Oedipus leaves Thebes to wander Greece with his loyal daughter
Antigone.
In the Oedipus at
Colonus Oedipus finds his way to the Athenian suburb of Colonus (this is
the deme that Sophocles belonged to and this part of the story is a
construction by Sophocles to have the important figure of Oedipus associated
not just with Athens but with his specific part of Athens. This re-shaping of
myth to suit contemporary purposes is part of Greek drama. There is no cannon
in Greek myth and so the playwrights could do whatever they liked with the
basic stories. The same playwright would often write a range of versions of the
same myth depending on their purpose.) Oedipus is accepted by the people of
Athens and dies there, bringing luck to the city and the deme of Colonus in
particular. Antigone returns to Thebes.
The Antigone is
the final part of the Oedipus story. After his death his two sons began a
fratricidal war. The war is covered in a play called Seven against Thebes. The war ends just before the play begins with
the two young men impaling one another on their spears simultaneously and
dying.
For the second time Creon takes the kingship and must
restore order to the city. He denies burial to Polynices, who he claims was a
traitor. Antigone, using an argument similar to one made by a queen in
Herodotus (Sophocles probably borrowed the idea for this part of the play from
here) says it is repugnant to not have her brother buried and despite Creon’s
law, spreads soil over her brother’s rotting corpse.
The god’s appeased she accepts her fate – which is to be
buried alive! She goes to her death speaking of the grave as if it were a
bridal bed – this is a trope in much Greek drama – the young woman who
associates marriage and death or who dies just before or on her wedding day.
Her finance, the son of Creon tries to rescue her – but too late – she’s hung
herself in her walled up cave. So of course he then falls on his own sword.
Creon’s wife kills herself when she hears of all this. Creon is left totally
bereft – a little unfair given he was trying to do the right thing and restore
law and order.
There are several aspects of Greek theatre its useful to
understand:
Structure : Prologue – an introductory scene – often a
monologue, often by a god, sets the scene
Parode (sometimes called Parados) – the entry of the Chorus
– the most awaited part of the play – a highlight for the audience as the
costumes of the Chorus were always spectacular.
Episode – of which there were several, usually involving the
actors and sometimes including choral odes.
Stasimon – ends each episode and is a choral ode but one
sung stationary, without dancing.
Exode – the Chorus’s final song as or just before it exits.
There is almost never actual violence on the stage – violent
events are reported, in graphic and usually very beautiful verse, generally by
a Messenger.
All parts are played by men. There are no professional
actors, though some scholars assume that given the skill required to perform
many of the parts, there were only limited men who could play the speaking
parts. The playwrights sometimes performed. We don’t know if women even went to
the theatre. There is no reliable evidence either way. Given it was a religious
ritual, its possible that women attended but also given the nature of Athenian
society, its possible they didn’t.
The Chorus is 12 or possibly 15 – they speak as “I” even
when they are all speaking. There is sometimes a Chorus leader. They are all
the same – all “people of Thebes” or “citizens of Colonus” or whatever
collective the playwright wants us as audience to connect with.
All Greek tragedy is based in the myth cycles (the one
exception is a play called The Persians by Aeschylus about the battle of
Salamis). The plays though are usually about contemporary issues or concerns in
Fifth century Athens.
The City Dionysia included sacrifice to and feasting in
honour of Dionysus. His temple is opposite the Theatre of Dionysus at the base
of the Acropolis, where the plays were all staged.
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