Greek theatre. Theater history

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The world around in the view of the ancient Greeks is a theater stage, and people are actors who came from heaven in order to play a role and then go into oblivion. On the basis of this postulate with signs of cosmology, the Greek theater arose, which fully reflects the religion of the Hellenes. At first, the performances were deeply religious in nature, but gradually the plays became closer to the real life of ordinary people.

Popularity

The emergence of the Greek theater is associated with the religious cult of Dionysus, the god of vegetation, viticulture, winemaking. The performances were based on plots dedicated to this celestial being, and were permeated with reverent veneration of the deity. Greek theater appeared in the VI century BC. and immediately became a part of the life of the people of Athens. Its popularity can be judged by the grandiose structures on the slopes of the hills in the form of an amphitheater, accommodating up to 30 thousand spectators.

Dramaturgy of the past

The ancient Greek theater began to expand in terms of the variety of performances, numerous troupes of actors appeared, who played not only dramas and tragedies associated with Dionysus. The great tragedians of antiquity - Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles -wrote plays from the life of Greek society, which enjoyed constant success. The audience especially liked the comedies of Aristophanes.

The entire history of the theater of ancient Greece consists of performances that are opposite in meaning. Tragedies usually reflected myths and legends, in which the gods acted as an invincible formidable force. The heroes of the play fought with the celestials, died, but did not give up. Comedies, on the contrary, were funny and had a sharply satirical character. The actors of the Greek theater did not show any reverence for the gods, and sometimes even ridiculed them. The heroes of comedies were ordinary people, artisans, merchants, officials, slaves, housewives.

Theatrical performances usually took place at the feast of the Great Dionysius. The performance was arranged on a round platform in the lower part of the amphitheater, which was called the "orchestra". There was a choir of singers who were supposed to accompany the action. The singers moved in a circle, and among them was an actor playing his part. Initially, all the roles in the play were assigned to one performer. In order to somehow stand out from the surrounding choir, the actor put on shoes on a high platform - the so-called cothurns, thanks to which he became 15 centimeters taller.

Structure of the play

Soon the Athenian tragedian Aeschylus introduced a second actor and thus made the action more dynamic. Decorations appeared on the orchestra, sound machines imitating thunder and lightning, the howl of the wind and the sound of rain. Then the tragedian added another character. However, the roles became more and more, witheven three actors could not cope with them. Then masks were introduced, each of which represented a certain image. For reincarnation, it was enough to change the mask and go on stage in a new guise.

In the background, behind the orchestra, there was a special room - a skene, where the actors could change their mask, imperceptibly for the audience, which was made of multi-colored clay and reflected a certain expression on the hero's face and his mood. The specificity of the mask was usually pronounced, when looking at it, the viewer immediately understood what the actor wanted to say and what feelings he was trying to express.

Masks as the basis of theatrical art

The color of the mask was of particular importance: a swarthy shade spoke of calmness and good he alth of the character, illness or malaise personified yellow, red spoke of cunning, indignation and anger were represented by a crimson mask. The expressiveness of the masks was at the heart of the whole performance; all theatrical action was based on this. The actor only needed to reinforce the impression with gestures and body movements. Greek theater masks also acted as a mouthpiece, enhancing the power of the actor's voice.

Competitiveness

Greece has long been considered a country of competition. The theater has not escaped this tradition either. In the days of the Great Dionysius, all performances were subject to fire - competitiveness. During the holidays, three tragedies and one satirical comedy were staged. At the end of each performance, the audience determined the best actor, the beststaging and so on according to all the signs that characterized the performance. On the last day of the Great Dionysius, the winners received prizes.

The fathers of drama of that time - Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles - competed with each other. Aeschylus, preaching morality, moral responsibility for the evil committed, thanks to his works ("Oresteia", "Prometheus", "Persians", etc.) won 13 times. Sophocles was recognized as the best tragedian 24 times, this was helped by the images he created in the tragedies "Electra", "Antigone", "Oedipus". The youngest playwright - Euripides - tried to catch up with the older mentors, his characters - Medea, Phaedra - are deeply psychological.

The antique comedy of Aristophanes is represented by the following works: "Wasps", "Horsemen", "Frogs", "Lysistrata", "Peace", "Clouds". The plots of satirical plays echoed the political situation in Greece at that time. Compared to dramaturgy based on legends, Aristophanes' comedies reflected reality.

Greek theater, its device

Hillsides and open skies. The Greek theater of the ancient period was built according to the following principle: a stepped amphitheater in the form of a truncated circle rises up from a round platform-stage. If you mentally continue the flat design, you get a closed figure, consisting of regular concentric circles. Each circle is made of roughly hewn stone blocks. The surface of the stone is rough, and itsthe contours are so correctly calculated that the joints are almost invisible. Behind the tiers of the Greek amphitheater in Athens is the titanic work of hundreds of thousands of slaves who worked without rest day and night. The 78 rows of seats are divided into several wedge-shaped segments. The Greek theater necessarily had a front row with backs for important people, priests, officials and guests of honor. Separately, there is a stone chair with openwork carvings, this is the place of the priest of Dionysus.

The round platform, the theater stage, the so-called orchestra, is separated from the amphitheater by a low fence. In its center is the altar- altar of Dionysus; musicians sat on its steps during performances. The orchestra is connected to the outside world by passages - parody. The site was regularly covered with fine gravel or sand. Later it was paved with paving stones.

Behind the orchestra was a proskenium - a platform for gathering actors on the eve of the performance. And behind it was a skene or, in modern terms, a dressing room, where the performers of the roles picked up their masks and prepared to enter the orchestra. On the sides of the skene there were two small outbuildings, where theatrical props and masks were kept. These rooms were called "paraskenii".

Communication before the performance

The centuries-old history of the Greek theater is marked by one unshakable tradition. The audience gathered long before the start of the performance, people walked in a long line through the crowds and sat down in empty seats. The early arrival was partly due to the desire to get a better place. In addition, it was taken beforeperformance to communicate with neighbors, learn the news and share your thoughts. The ancient Greek theater was a kind of communication center for the inhabitants of the capital. Usually people came with whole families.

Greek Modern Theater

At the very beginning of the 20th century, the theater "New Stage" was created in Athens, the name of which spoke for itself. The repertoire of "Nea Skini" included works by both Greek playwrights and authors from other countries. Ibsen's play "The Wild Duck", "The Freeloader" by Turgenev, "The Secret of Countess Valeria" by Xenopoulos and many others were played and included in the repertoire.

The founder of the troupe, K. Christomanos, sought to create an ensemble of actors of the latest generation without regard to the traditional ancient Greek theater of masks, with conditional heroes and not quite defined roles. In general, he succeeded, but still some nuances from the past slipped into the productions. Some scenes were not complete without a frozen expression on the actor's face, reminiscent of a mask. Sometimes facial expressions did not allow expressing feelings in the way that a mask could. Thus, the connection of centuries was traced.

Stagnation

From 1910 to 1920, Greek theatrical art fell into decline. The tense situation in society in connection with the First World War and the general economic stagnation affected. People were not up to spectacles. Almost all theaters switched to a commercial basis, which meant a complete revision of the repertoire, the replacement of classical works with base boulevards. Change was inevitable, as rollicking personalities began to come to the auditoriums, who preferred to see half-naked actresses on stage, and everything else did not interest them. All attempts to restore on stage classical performances based on the plays of Sophocles and Aeschylus ended in failure. Another time has come, and modern theater has taken its place.