A new blog for a new project, this time we are focusing on Ancient Greek plays. In a couple of weeks’ time we are going to be performing the Greek play ‘Antigone’ using multimedia to help us. This session we are stuck inside the library doing research, so unfortunately no practical work today. But this lesson will give me a chance to really dig deep into the world of Greek theatre and help me understand the context of the project more. I have a feeling that this blog post will be pretty long! Here are a lot of questions we had to answer to start off:
Task 1
1. When were ancient Greek plays performed?
Ancient Greek plays were performed on special occasions and religious festivals, and the plays were performed in open-air theatres.
2. How many years ago was this?
This was around the time of 700 BC. Tragedy was in the late 5th century BC and comedy was in 490 BC.
3. What different types of plays were performed?
The different types of plays performed were comedy, satyr plays, and most importantly, tragedy. Comedies were mainly satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness. The first master of comedy was playwright Aristophanes, but later Menander started writing comedies about ordinary people, almost like sitcoms. Tragedies dealt with big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and Gods. Typically the main protagonist commits a terrible crime without realizing how foolish he had been. Once he slowly realizes his error, the world around him crumbles apart. The three great playwrights of tragedy were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Satyr plays are short plays that were performed between the acts of tragedies and made fun of the plight of the tragedy’s characters. The satyrs were mythical half-human and half-goat figures.
4. What is a traditional Greek Theatre called?
A traditional Greek Theatre is called an Amphitheatre and some famous Greek Theatres are: Theater of Dionysus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus and Theatre of Zea.
5. What shape was the theatre?
The shape of the Theaters were a semi-circular shape. The Greeks enjoyed singing and dancing and at first they were only used for festivals. They were built on hillsides in the open air and could often hold more than 18000 spectators. the seats were built from stone, around the edge of the stage.
6. Find a picture of a traditional Greek Theatre for your blog.
 |
| Traditional Greek Theatre |
7. Why were the theatres built this way?
The theatres were built this way so that even the spectators in the back row seats could see everything that is happening. So ultimately i was so every member of the audience had at least a decent view of the stage.
8. What different scenic elements are there?
The different scenic elements in Greek theatre were at first none, because theatre was still very young in evolving, the audience had to rely on their imagination to set the scene. Sometimes in open-air theatres, the scene was what was around the theatre, so the wildlife and nature. A skene started to appear (AKA ‘scene house’) where it stored props, served as a changing room and allowed actors to enter and exit through multiple entrances. The first traditional scenery appeared around the time of Sophocles. At first the images were painted on the walls of the skene, which soon led to panels called pinakes and eventually to periatoki, a three-sided pivoting triangle with a different scene painted on each side. The deus ex machina (‘god out of the machine’) was a crane used to lower an actor into the scene. Later productions introduced the eccylema, wheeled platforms that carted furniture or even ‘dead’ bodies onto the stage.
9. Who sat on the seats at the front?
The seats at the front were reserved for the priests, especially the seat of honour was reserved for the high priests of Dionysus.
10. Could women take part in, or attend the plays?
Only Greek men were allowed to take part in and attend the plays unfortunately.
11. Name some of the Greek playwrights and their plays.
Sophocles (497 - 405 BC) wrote Antigone (442 BC), Electra (410 BC) and Philoctetes (409 BC).
Aeschylus (525 BC - 456 BC) wrote The Seven against Thebes (467 BC), Agamemnon (458 BC) and Eumendis (458 BC).
Euripides (480 BC - 406 BC) wrote Alcestis (438 BC), Heracles Children (430 BC) and Hecuba (424 BC).
Aristophes (452 BC - 358 BC) wrote The Wasps (422 BC), The Clouds (419 BC) and The Thesmophoriazousse (411 BC).
12. What did the audience throw at the actors who performed badly?
If the actors performed badly, the audience would throw rotten vegetables. However, if the actors performed well, the audience would throw money and stomp their feet and clap.
13. What did the actors wear?
The actors wore costumes and masks all the time. If it was a tragedy they would wear really dark colours, but if it was a comedy they would wear bright colours like red and green. They would wear wooden boots with thick heels (cothornous) to appear taller on stage. Padding was used inside costumes if a character needed to look bigger than the others.
14. How did the audience sat at the back of the large theatre hear anything?
The acoustics in an open-air theatre are extraordinary. The key to great sound is the arrangement of the stepped row of seats. They suppress the low frequency sound of the major component of the background noise, while passing on the high frequencies of the performers’ voices.
15. Who is Dionysus?
Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in Greek mythology. His parents are Zeus and Semele.
16. Why is he important to Greek Theatre?
Dionysus is important to Greek Theatre because he fosters intoxication, which can lead both to positive release and to self-destructive passions and actions. Dancing is a major part in the worship of Dionysus, which shows a celebration of freedom from self-consciousness and constraint. He has a dual nature, on one hand he brings joy and divine ecstasy, and on the other he is brutal and unthinking. (Showing both sides of the effects of wine). He is important to Greek Theatre because he brings joy and entertainment to the people.
17. What is a Greek chorus?
A Greek chorus is a homogeneous non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action.
18. What purpose to the Chorus have in the performance?
The chorus offers a variety of background and summary information to help the audience follow the performance. It comments on themes, and shows how an ideal audience might react to the drama.
19. How and why were masks used?
The masks were used to show a change in character as a lot of the time, there were very few actors performing the play. They were also used to show a physical change in a character. The masks were also made to help project the voices of the actors.
20. What were the masks made of?
The masks were made of light weight, organic materials like stiffened linen, leather, wood or cork, with the wig consisting of human or animal hair.
- As 'Antigone' is a tragedy, Sophocles wanted the audience to feel connected and relatable with the characters, so they would feel pity for the protagonist as they slowly get worse throughout the performance.
- 'Antigone' is seen to be the original inspiration for someone fighting against the system.
- The protagonist is a young woman so that does make a change, it is refreshing even still to this day.
- The directors (when composing 'Antigone' in 2012) didn't want the play to move away from the political context/thriller.
- They made the play contemporary by making the main setting in an underground bunker, and for that they got lots of inspiration from taking trips to many bases, like army camps and abandoned warehouses.
Task 2
Multimedia in performance is the use of different technology being used in a piece of theatre to make it more unique and dynamic.
TYPE OF MEDIA
|
EXAMPLE OF USE IN PERFORMANCE
|
POSITIVES OF USING IT…
|
NEGATIVES OF USING IT…
|
VIDEO CAMERA
|
PROJECTING FILMS ON THE BACK WALL
|
EASY WAY OF CHANGING THE SCENERY
|
IT COULD GLITCH, THE VIDEO MAY NOT WORK
|
MOBILE PHONE
|
USING THE FLASH LIGHT AS THE ONLY SOURCE OF LIGHT
|
PORTABLE, EVERYONE HAS ONE FOR MORE EFFECT
|
IT COULD RUN OUT OF POWER
|
PHOTOGRAPHY
|
A SLIDESHOW PLAYING A SERIES OF PHOTOS
|
DIFFERENT TO USING FILM, UNIQUE, ARTISTIC
|
MIGHT JUST LOOK LIKE AN ART GALLERY
|
LIVE FEED
|
DURING A DRAMATIC/EMOTIONAL SCENE
|
GIVES AN EFFECT TO THE AUDIENCE BECAUSE OF THE MULTIPLE SHOTS
|
COULD BE QUITE BORING TO LOOK AT SOMETIMES
|
CARTOON ANIMATION
|
PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND OF A SCENE
|
FUN TO WATCH, INTERESTING, DIFFERENT
|
MIGHT TAKE AWAY THE REAL ELEMENT OF THEATRE
|
LIGHTING
|
MANY PURPOSES
|
GIVES AN ATMOSPHERE
|
MIGHT BE DISTRACTING FROM THE ACTUAL ACTORS
|
---
| --- | --- | --- |
A Theatre performance I have seen that has a lot of technology used in it was 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Mark Haddon. The main multimedia tool it included was sound and especially lighting. The lighting was very planned out and specific and it matched all the physical theatre in the show. The sound really helped give us an idea of what it is like to have aspergers as the music would get very loud and then quiet. Here are some photos from the performance for a visual reference:
- You may have to work together on one character, like someone is speaking your role for you and then someone is being your hands for you.
- It's like making a film live. The audience are watching the film that the actors are making then and there on the stage.
- You are using both sides of your brain, the creative and the technical.
- There is no script.
- It's very filmic, you perform everything to a camera in small acting, it's very internal.
- It's weird when you back to conventional acting again.
Task 4
After reading the synopsis of 'Antigone', I'm really looking forward to actually start rehearsing because this tragedy is pretty huge and dramatic and I've never done anything like it before. I think Sophocles wrote this play as a way of teaching the spectators the consequences of being arrogant. I think the Greek audiences might have wanted to see this play because it is about politics and the plot in the story might have been relevant and relatable to that present day.
I was asked to read the first scene from 'Antigone' and these are my answers to the questions: At the beginning of the scene, Antigone tells Ismene that Creon has passed the law that the 'traitors' who died fighting against the state will not be buried, but will be left to rot. Both of their brothers have just died and only one is going to be buried. Antigone plans to bury Polynices in secret out of respect because she doesn't like Creon's new law, and she doesn't find it fair. Ismene doesn't plan to join Antigone because she is afraid of Creon. The chorus tell the story of the battle, the Argive army attacked 7 gates of Thebes all at once during the middle of the night.
I think it's safe to say that this is enough research notes! I'm looking forward to putting on this tragedy with the multimedia element!
-Matilda ^_^
