Part 2: Varieties of Theatrical Experience Chapter 4: Festival Theatre

Part 2: Varieties of Theatrical Experience
Awareness of past theatrical practices:
– Enriches current and future practices
– Enlightens us to cultural assumptions and values of
various times and places
Chapter 4: Festival Theatre
Greek, Roman, and Medieval Theatrical Experiences
Until the 16th century, Western Theatre:
• Performed primarily at festivals
• Financed by community
• Performed by community
• Occurred for brief periods each year
• Presented as offering to a god
• Presented for enjoyment of general public
• Flourished in Greece, Rome, medieval Europe
The Theatre of Ancient Greece
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Origins of Western Theatre traced to Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek Beliefs:
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Humans can make significant decisions
Democracy
Not all people are equal: Greeks kept slaves and denied
women any public role in society
Happiness depends upon harmony between human and
supernatural forces
Numerous gods: conceived of as immortal human beings
with flaws
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The Theatre of Ancient Greece
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Greek Drama:
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Emphasizes attempts of humans to control own destinies
Tragedies often focus on results of attempting to escape fate
Presented exclusively at festivals honoring the god Dionysus
Dionysus = god of wine and fertility
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Festivals:
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By 5th century, Athens held 4 festivals per year in honor of
Dionysus
3 of 4 festivals including theatrical performances
Major Festival = City Dionysia
City Dionysia
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Religious and Civic celebration
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534 B.C. = first recorded contest for Best Tragedy
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Competition =
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Winner = Thespis
3 dramatists compete
Each presents 3 tragedies and 1 satyr play
satyr play = short, comic play poking fun at a Greek myth using a
chorus of satyrs (half-man/half-goat characters)
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5 days of performances
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Performances started at dawn and probably lasted all day
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Plays open to everyone, but primary audience = men and boys
City Dionysia
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3 tragedies x 3 playwrights = 9 tragedies per City Dionysia
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9 tragedies x 100 years = 900 tragedies during 5th century B.C.
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32 plays have survived
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All 32 plays written by 3 dramatists:
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Aeschylus (523-456 B.C.)
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Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)
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Euripides (480-406 B.C.)
Sophocles’ Oedipus often considered the best
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The Theatre of Dionysus
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Location: slope of hill beneath Athenian Acropolis
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Theatron = “seeing place”
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Stadium-like stone seats
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Capacity = 14,000-17,000
Orchestra = “dancing place”
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Main performance space
Circular
65 ft. in diameter
The Theatre of Dionysus
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Thymele = alter to Dionysus
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Originally located at center of orchestra
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Scholars believe it was later moved to behind the skene
Skene = hut or tent
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Located on side of orchestra, opposite the audience
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May have been used for costume changes
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Gradually developed into large structure
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75-100 ft. long
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Possibly 2 stories high
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Possibly had 3 doors
The Theatre of Dionysus
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Paradoi = spaces between skene and auditorium
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Used for choral entrances and exits
Eccyclema = wheeled platform
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Used primarily since acts of violence could not be shown
onstage
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Rolled or pushed into the performance space to show
consequences of violent acts (such as slain characters)
Machina = crane-like device
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Used to “fly” god characters into the performance space
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Visible to audience
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The Performers
4 Categories of Performers:
1. Actors
2. Chorus
3. Supernumeraries
4. Musicians
The Performers
Actors:
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All performers were male
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By 430 B.C., only 3 speaking actors allowed in competition
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Actors played multiple roles
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Each playwright was assigned a Principal Actor
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Principal Actor eligible to win “Best Tragic Actor”
The Performers
Chorus:
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Composed of 15 men
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Playwright applied to government official for a chorus
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Playwright was assigned a choregus
• choregus = wealthy citizen who paid for training and
costuming; high civic honor; wealthy citizens required to
take turns serving as choregus
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Chorus assigned approximately 11 months prior to festival
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Trained like athletes
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The Performers
Choral Conventions:
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Chorus as one of the distinctive features of Greek Theatre
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Usually performed in unison
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Sometimes broke into 2 subgroups that responded to each other
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Chorus leader sometimes had solo lines
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Chorus entered after Prologue
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Chorus performed Choral Odes
The Performers
Functions of the Chorus:
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Formed a collective character who expressed opinions, gave
advice, and occasionally threatened to interfere in the action
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Often seemed to express the author’s point of view
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Served as the ideal spectator, reacting as the author wanted the
audience to react
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Helped to establish mood and to heighten dramatic effects
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Added color, movement and spectacle through singing and
dancing
The Performers
Musicians:
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Principal musician = flute player
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Entered before chorus and remained onstage throughout
performance
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Used a clapper on one sandal to keep time
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Was likely the composer of the music
Virtually no music has survived
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The Performers
Masks:
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All performers except musicians wore masks
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Distinctive convention of Greek Theatre
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Masks covered entire head and included hair/headdress
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Function of Masks:
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Facilitated rapid change of roles
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Enabled male performers to embody female characters more
easily
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Helped actors to assume different types of roles
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Assisted communication by capturing and emphasizing
essential character qualities
The Performers
Costumes:
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Variety of clothing used
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Costume likely determined by appropriateness to role
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Use of chiton = ankle-length or knee-length garment that served
as usual dress in Greece
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Soft, flexible, high-topped boots
Formalized Conventions of Greek Theatre
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Group of performers formed chorus
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One actor often played multiple roles within same play
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Men played both male and female roles
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Performers wore masks and character appropriate dress
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Performers sang, chanted and danced much of the text
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Theatre’s scale prevented small details from being seen
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Oedipus the King and its Performance
Play Structure:
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Prologue: devoted to exposition
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Parados: chorus enters
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4 Episodes: move forward in present, while
continuing to reveal elements of exposition
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Choral Odes: used to separate episodes
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5th Episode: divided into 2 parts
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Messenger Scene
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Final Scene
Oedipus the King and its Performance
Characterization & Acting:
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Concerned primarily with Psychological and Ethical aspects of
character
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Characterization drawn with a few bold strokes
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All speaking roles performed by 3 actors
Probable distribution of
roles:
Actor #3
Priest
Tiresias
Actor #2
Jocasta
Actor #1
Creon
Herdsman
Oedipus
1st Messenger
2nd Messenger
Oedipus the King and its Performance
Characterization & Acting:
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Many supernumeraries required
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Chorus size = 15
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Total cast size = 35 minimum
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Oedipus the King and its Performance
Themes:
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Themes of the play have universal relevance
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Uncertainty of human destiny
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Limited ability of humans to control their fate
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Blindness versus sight (physical sight and inner
sight)
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Finding a scapegoat
Concern with moral taboos: incest, patricide
Greek Comedy
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Became official part of festivals about 50 years after
tragedy
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Performed at 2 festivals: City Dionysia and Lenaia
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5 playwrights competed annually at Lenaia, each
presenting 1 play
Greek Comedy
Conventions:
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Usually concerned with current issues
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Sometimes used mythological material
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Chorus size = 24
• Not always identical in appearance
• Sometimes depicted as citizens, sometimes as nonhumans
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Male characters made to appear ridiculous
• Costume suggested partial nakedness
• Wore large phallus
• Wore masks
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Greek Comedy
Playscripts:
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Only 11 Old Comedy plays have survived
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All surviving plays by Aristophanes
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Old Comedy plots revolve around a “happy idea”
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Time and place may change frequently
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Unity through idea rather than through causally related events
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Characters may speak to or about the audience
Greek Comedy
Play Structure:
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Prologue: introduction of “happy idea”
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Parados: entrance of chorus
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Agon: debate over merits of the “happy idea”
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Parabasis: choral passages
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Episodes: showing “happy idea” put into practice
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Komos: exit to feasting and revelry
The Roman Theatre Experience
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Ludi = “games”
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Theatrical performances honored several gods
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Theatrical performances considered diversions, like sports
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religious festivals that included theatrical performances
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Borrowed from Greek drama, but adapted it to Roman tastes
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Romans preferred variety entertainments
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short comic plays
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dancing, singing
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juggling, acrobatics
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gladiatorial contests
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The Roman Theatrical Context
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Production Expenses: paid by state
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Performance Spaces:
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Tiered seating, capacity of several thousand
Semicircular orchestra, not used by performers
Long, narrow stage, 5 ft. high
Stage enclosed by scaenae frons = façade
• 3 doors on back wall; 1 door at either end
• Second story with windows
• Open seating, free admission
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Costumes: Greek costumes and masks; color symbolism
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Performers: all male
Roman Comedy
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Plays:
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Surviving comedies = 26
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All surviving plays by Plautus and Terence
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Deal with everyday domestic affairs
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Plots turn on misunderstandings
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Most famous character = “clever slave”
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Include music; some characters sing
The Menaechmi
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Written by Plautus
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Perhaps most popular surviving Roman Comedy
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Basis for Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors
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Characters as types rather than individuals
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10 roles, performed by 6 actors; doubling of roles as
common
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Other Roman Drama and Theatre
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Roman Tragedy:
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Surviving tragedies = 9
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All surviving plays by Seneca
Mime:
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Favorite form of entertainment
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First time women were permitted to perform
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No masks
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Dramatic action centered on sexual encounters
Blood Sports:
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Gladiatorial contests
The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages
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Middle Ages:
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Early = A.D. 900-1050
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High = A.D. 1050-1300
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Late = A.D. 1300-1500
liturgical drama
Early
vernacular
drama
High
Late
1500
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1050
1000
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The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages
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Liturgical Drama:
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Performed primarily in churches or monasteries
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Earliest example = A.D. 970
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Dramatizes Biblical episodes
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Text sung in Latin
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Financed by church
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Religious plays performed outside of church = A.D. 1200
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Vernacular Drama:
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Religious drama independent of church = A.D. 1375
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Written in vernacular language
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Text spoken
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Financed by community
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Trade Guilds and the Corpus Christi Festival
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Outdoor religious dramas in England
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Connected to Trade Guilds
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Church created new feast day in 1311: Corpus Christi
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All Biblical events could be connected with this
festival
Trade Guilds and the Corpus Christi Festival
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Central feature = procession through town, like parade
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People of all ranks and professions involved
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Plays dramatizing the Bible from creation to doomsday
= Cycle Plays
Watch a simulation of the procession and the plays
performed.
Conventions of Medieval Theatre
Time:
• Contrast of eternal versus earthly time
Stage:
• Depicts heaven at one end and hell at the other end
• Could be fixed or mobile
• Scenic structures to indicate place = mansion
• Undifferentiated space = platea
Costumes:
• Distinguish inhabitants of Earth, Heaven, Hell
• Earthly characters = contemporary clothes
• Heavenly characters = church garments
Special Effects:
• Gruesome hell mouth
• Realistic miracles
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The Wakefield Cycle
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Manuscript contains cycle of 32 plays: Creation through Last
Judgment
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Playwrights: multiple, anonymous
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Production as community effort, involving: town council,
church, trade guilds
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Processional staging, using pageant wagons that each carried one
or more mansions
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All actors were male
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Guilds were assigned plays related loosely to their professions
The Wakefield Cycle
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Performance started at 5:00 am
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Performance required all daylight hours for completion
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All work suspended on performance day
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Most spectators stood to watch performance
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Atmosphere as festive but reverent
Noah and His Sons
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3rd play in Wakefield Cycle
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Story of Noah and the Ark
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Action divided into 3 parts:
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Opening scene: exposition
Noah and wife bickering
Ship building and onboard
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9 roles: 3 major, 6 minor
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One mansion required: ship
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Simple costumes
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Other Medieval Theatre and Drama
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Morality Plays:
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Allegories of moral temptations
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Most famous play = Everyman
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Served as transition between medieval religious drama and
secular drama of Shakespeare’s time
Farces:
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Secular comic drama: emerged 13th century
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Not encouraged officially
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Emphasized ridiculous aspects or human behavior
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Example: Pierre Patelin
Interludes:
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Nonreligious, serious or comic; performed between parts of
celebration
Making Connections:
Chapter 4 covers Greek, Roman, and Medieval Theatre. These theatre
experiences were both similar and different.
Activity:
1. Make a list of some characteristics shared by Greek,
Roman, and Medieval theatre.
2. Make a list of some differences between these three
types of theatre.
Making Connections:
Activity, continued:
Similarities:
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Occasional
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Ceremonial
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Financed by state, by organizations, or by wealthy citizens
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Open to all audiences
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All male performers
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Use of musical accompaniment
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Large audience spaces
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Formalized scenic backgrounds
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Masks
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Making Connections:
Activity, continued:
Differences:
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Music:
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Roman: music throughout play, associated with actors
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Medieval: music followed no fixed plan
Theatre Structures:
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Greek: chorus sang and danced
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Architecture and scenic components varied
Function:
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Greek: moral values and significant issues
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Roman: popular entertainment
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Medieval: Christian teaching
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