History of the Theatre

Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. Second Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1974.

Chapter 1: The Origins of the Theatre

Other Theories of Origin

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Another theory, only recently advanced, suggests that in some instances theatre may have developed alongside ritual out of performances which supplement the sacred and traditional rites. In some African societies, for example, the sacred rites are performed at night under carefully controlled circumstances and another more public performance, often using different costumes and conventions, is given on the following day. In some instances, the public performances use material related to that found in the sacred rites but treated quite differently. Thus, they provide more secularized and popularized versions of the beliefs and events that underlie ritual. therefore, it may be that, rather than growing out of ritual, theatre developed along parallel but independent lines. That in these instances both theatre and ritual have made use of the same subject matter helps to explain why the theory of ritual origin has gained such wide acceptance.

Chapter 2: Theatre and Drama in Ancient Greece

Tragedy in the 5^th Century

Euripides began many practices which were developed more fully in the 4^th century. He often turned to minor myths for his subjects or severely altered the major ones. Such works as Ion, Helen, and Iphigenia in Aulis, which pass over into tragicomedy and melodrama, are often cited as signs that Greek tragedy was in the late 5^th century already abandoning profundity for intrigue and startling reversals.

The Satyr Play

Out of the hundreds of satyr plays written, only one complete example has survived, Euripides’ Cyclops. In addition, a large part of Sophocles’ The Trackers and fragments of other plays are extant. Because of the limited evidence, it is difficult to generalize about the form.

The satyr play takes its name from the chorus, which was made up of the half-beast, half-human companions of Dionysus. The leader of the chorus was Silenus, the father of the satyrs. Sometimes the story of a satyr play connected it in theme or subject with the tragedies it accompanied, but more often it was entirely independent.

Essentially a burlesque treatment of mythology (often ridiculing gods or heroes and their adventures), the boisterous action occurred in a rural setting and included vigorous dancing and indecent language and gesture. In structure, the plays resembled tragedy, since the action was divided into a series of episodes separated by choral odes. Language and meter deviated form those typical of tragedy by tending toward the everyday and colloquial. Serving as afterpieces to the tragedies, the satyr plays provided a kind of comic relief form the serious plays that had gone before.

The Dramatic Festivals of the 5^th Century

A days before the festival began, each dramatist appeared with his actors at a proagon and announced the subject of his plays. After another preliminary event (the reenactment of Dionysus’ coming to Athens), there was a procession, which included public officials, the choregoi (sponsors of the plays), and many others, who carried gifts or escorted sacrificial animals for the god. This procession would through much of Athens, stopped for dances at various altars, and ended wit the presentation of offerings and the sacrifice of a bull at the altar of Dionysus.

Next come the dithyrambic contests. During the 5^th century, ten 50-member choruses, one from each tribe, competed annually. Then come the plays. Each of three dramatists presented three tragedies and one satyr play, the works of one playwright consuming a whole day. After 487-486, each of five comic writers presented a single play (except during the Peloponnesian War, when the number of comedies was reduced to three). The comedies were probably all given on the day preceding the tragedies, but the precise arrangement is unclear. Until 449, prizes were offered only for plays; after that time prizes were also given to actors. two days after the festival ended, an assembly was convened to consider the conduct of the officials in charge of it and to receive complaints about misconduct by citizens during the festival.

The Lenaia was celebrated near the end of January under the supervision of the archon basileus, the principal religious official of Athens. It has been suggested that originally the Lenaia was identical with the Rural Dionysia, and that its date and nature were changed only after Athens lost its rural character. No deme (or subdivision) of Attica celebrated both the Lenaia and the Rural Dionysia, and the Lenaia was observed only in the city. As the seas were considered unsafe in January, the Lenaia was primarily a local festival. Consequently, more freedom of expression was permitted, and the Lenaia came to be associated especially with comedy, in which Athenian officials and political affairs were often severely ridiculed.

Dramatic activities were not officially recognized at the Lenaia until about 442, although plays may have been presented there on an informal basis before that date. By the late 5^th century the plays were being performed in the Theatre of Dionysus…

Contests at the Lenaia were at first only for comic dramatists and actors, but in 432 others for tragic playwrights and actors were added. As a the City Dionysia, five comic writers competed each year (except during the Peloponnesian War), but only two tragic dramatists (who offered two plays each) participated. Satyr plays and dithyrambs were never presented.

The Rural Dionysia was celebrated in December, although not necessarily on the same day in all demes. The principal feature of the festival was a procession in which a giant phallus was carried aloft on a pole, apparently with the purpose of reviving fertility at a time when the sun was at its weakest. It is unclear when dramatic performances became a part of this festival.

Possibly the Rural Dionysia served as a tryout theatre, or as an outlet for plays not accepted for the City Dionysia or Lenaia, or as a place where works already seen in the city were revived. The rural Dionysia probably had little effect on the development of Geek drama, but its activities suggest how intense was the interest in drama and show that the theatre was not confined to Athens.

Actors and Acting

Originally the actor and the dramatist were one. The separation of the two did not begin until early in the 5^th century when Aeschylus introduced a second actor. Playwrights continued to act in their own plays, however, until the time of Sophocles, who about 468 abandoned this practice and introduced a third actor. It seems likely that when the contest for tragic actors was inaugurated (around 449) the separation of actor from playwright was complete.

The difficulties presented by this three-actor convention (at least by modern standards) has led many scholars to question whether such a rule ever existed.

The Chorus

Since satyr plays were presented in conjunction with tragedy, the satyr chorus was probably governed by the same basic conventions as those used for the tragic chorus. Because it was less serious than tragedy, the satyr play permitted many deviations toward the comic. The chorus of Old Comedy was composed of 24 members.

Music and Dance

Music was an integral part of Greek drama. It accompanied the passages of recitative and was an inseparable part of th choral odes. Only rarely was it used apart form words…

The musical accompaniment for drama was played on a single flute, in tone resembling a modern oboe or clarinet. Other instruments, including the lyre, the trumpet, and various forms of percussion, were used occasionally for special effects.

Costumes and Masks

Other evidence cited for a conventionalized garment is the statement of several ancient commentators (writing long after the 5^th century) that robes designed by Aeschylus for his actors were later adopted by the priests at Eleusis.

Relatively little attention has been paid by historians to the costuming of satyr plays. The satyrs are thought to have worn goatskin loincloths, to which were attached the phallus in front and a horse-like tail in the rear; other parts of the body appeared to be nude, but in the theatre this probably meant some kind of flesh-colored garment. Silenus, the leader of the chorus, is usually depicted as wearing shaggy or fleecy tights under an animal-skin cloak. Since the characters in satyr plays are usually mythological personages, the costumes probably were somewhat ridiculous variations on tragic costumes.

All performers during the 5^th century, with the possible exception of flute-players, wore masks. This practice seems to have evolved during the 6^th century, for in the rituals which predate tragedy masks were sometimes but not always worn. Consequently, Thespis had two traditions to draw upon and, according to ancient commentators, he experimented with several types of disguise for the face—such as smearing it with wine dregs and dangling leaves in front of it…

The masks for comedy were extremely varies. The choruses often represented birds, animals, or insects, all of which were identified by appropriate though not necessarily realistic masks.

When actors portrayed well-known Athenians, such as Socrates in The Clouds, “portrait masks” were used.

Members of the satyr chorus are usually depicted as snub-nosed with dark, unkempt hair and beards, and pointed, horse-like ears. Sometimes they are shown as partially bald and at others they are given horns. Silenus is portrayed as having grey hair and beard. It is assumed that the actors wore masks similar to those used in tragedy.