Egyptian theater: history, characteristics, and cultural significance

Ancient Greek Theater

In Greece, it was during the so called 'Golden Age', that is, around 500 to 300 BC, that drama, as we know it today, was first written and performed. Plays in general were written for a yearly festival, and were meant for performance in honor of the God Dionysus, and these plays would either be comedies or tragedies. Since all the actors or performers of the plays were male, they wore masks, and when they changed the masks, it meant that they were playing another role within the same play, and in this manner, a few actors would play multiple roles in the same play. It is an interesting fact that the very symbols for 'Theatre' as we know it today are the masks that were worn by the ancient Greeks at that time, to represent comedy or tragedy. (Ancient Greek Theater)

The word 'Drama' as such has originated from the Greek words that mean 'to do', or 'to act'. When a story is acted out, it becomes a 'play', and this was the medium used by the ancient Greeks to act out their stories, which were either humorous and were about funny situations in their everyday lives, or they would be great tragedies, which would act out some important episode or period of their lives at the time. The speech and actions of the play would therefore, recreate human lives and its flow. It can be stated that ancient Greece was in fact the real birthplace of the future 'drama' of the Western world. In Greece, these plays or dramas were presented on stage twice a year, in honor of the God Dionysius, and there would be choruses made up of men who would be dressed up in goatskins, and who were meant to represent 'satyrs' or those mythical creatures who were partly goat, and partly man.

As a matter of fact, this is where the word 'tragedy' is supposed to have originated from: 'tragos' which meant goat, and 'ode' which meant song. There was a 'Greater Dionysian Festival' held every year, and in this festival there would be held competitions. The contests were meant for dramatists, and they would be judged for the best comedy, the best tragedy, and for the best 'dithyramb', which was nothing but a choral form of ode that would be sung on stage by a great many singers, about fifty in number. It is often assumed that it was because of these competitions that a great many dramatists of ancient Greece were able to showcase their talents, and form this arose some of the world's best plays. It is indeed a sad fact that most of these plays have not survived the ravages of time. (Ancient Greek Theater)

There were three very important elements in a 'Greek Tragedy', and these were the prose, the lyrics, and the dancing. The performance of a tragedy would generally begin with the entrance of the 'chorus' of singers on to the stage, and these people would be singing an 'ode', called 'Parados'. For the lyrics, the actors used the forms of 'Parodos', 'Stassima', 'Monodies' and 'Diodies'. The prose of the drama would be composed of 'Prologos', which was the part of the play which would be performed even before the entrance of the chorus on to the stage. The plot of the play would unravel with the 'Epeissodes', and would in general finish with the so called 'Exodus'. (The Form of the Play)

It can be said that the formation of a tragedy usually depended on all the three elements listed above, and as far as Greece was concerned, it reached its peak in epic poetry with Homer and his works. It was however, in the middle of the sixth century BC that the practice of writing dithyrambous for the purpose of dionyssiac worship came to reach another different level, when one poet had the inspiration to write some verses in another meter, which he managed to insert into the dithyrambous. This became quite suitable for recitation, and this was how the Greeks conceived the form of acting when an actor would actually reply to the questions that the chorus or the group of performers would be asking him, and this became an important form of drama. The actor became someone who would reply to the chorus, and he came to be known as a 'Hippocrit'. (The Origins of Ancient Theater and its relation to Dithyrambous and Dionyssous)

The origins as such of Ancient Greek Theatre are quite vague, and this is indeed a controversial issue. However, certain ancient sources allow one to construct a basic timeline based on them, and this is a gist of it: it was in 7th BC that Arion of Methymna produced the concept of 'dithyrambic choruses' at Corinth. Later, in the 6th century BC, Cleisthenes managed to shift the focus of 'tragic choruses' to Dionysus. During the years 540 to 527 BC, Pisistratus founded the Festival of the Greater Dionysia. Thespis later introduced Tragedy at the Festival of the Greater Dionysia in Athens, in the years from 536 to 533 BC. Aeschylus, the great name in Greek Tragedy, was born in the year 525 BC. (Ancient Greek Theater, The theater of Dionysus, Athens (Saskia, Ltd.))

The first satyr play was introduced in Athens in the year 500 BC by Phlius. Aeschylus came up with a drama for his first competition in the years from 499 to 496 BC. The year 496 also saw the birth of another great in Greek drama, Sophocles. It was later, in the year 468 BC that Sophocles managed to achieve a great victory, which was against Aeschylus, in a dramatic competition. 450 BC saw the birth of Aristophanes, the Parthenon was started in the year 447 BC. It was during the next few years, from 458 BC to 428 BC that the great Greek plays such as Ajax, Agamemnon, Antigone, Alcestis, Medea, Oedipus the King, and Hippolytus were written. It was not until the fourth century BC that Aristotle and Plato managed to write their separate treatises on Greek tragedies and Greek comedies. (Ancient Greek Theater, The theater of Dionysus, Athens (Saskia, Ltd.))

This is what Aristotle had to say: Greeks claim that comedy began in Greece, and by the Megarians in Sicily that it originated in Sicily before it did in Greece. However, this cannot be proved, and when one thinks about the actual Greek plays, one must remember that the plays were divided into two different kinds, based on the individual types of character. What this means is that while persons of a serious nature tended to write tragedies based on the actions of noblemen, others tended to base their plays on baser characters of their time, perhaps on commoners. The more serious poets therefore began to compose hymns, while the others began to compose lampoons, and this meant that the former became composers of heroic verse, while the latter became proponents of iambic verse.

Among the first people to bring about changes in the existing genre of tragedy was Aeschylus, who changed the number of performers from one to two, and also made the chorus somewhat less important, thus giving more importance to dialogues. Sophocles was responsible for adding a third actor, and also for introducing painted scenery on to the stage. It was around this time that there came about a change in the very nature of the drama, and it showed a shift from the ludicrous to the serious, and the verses changed from being mere sentences to the more dignified iambic triameter. (Ancient Greek Theater, The theater of Dionysus, Athens (Saskia, Ltd.))

The charm and the beauty of a Greek play was that is was always performed in the great outdoor theaters. It must be noted here that the real early Greek theaters must have been little more than open spaces in the center of the city, or near hillsides, where the audience could sit or stand, and listen to the chorus singing the various praises of one hero or another. However, it was from the late sixth century BC that there was a gradual shift towards a bit more elaborate structures where actors could perform, but however magnificent the theater, the basic plan or structure remained the same through quite a few centuries. Important components of a Greek play were the orchestra, the theatron, the skene, and the parados. (Parts of a Greek Theater)

The orchestra meant the 'dancing place', and this was where the chorus could dance and sing and perform and also interact with the actors of the drama. This was a flat circular space, and while the earliest orchestras were made simply out of packed earth, in later years, it was made of marble or stone. An altar would be placed in the center of the orchestra. The theatron literally meant 'the viewing place', and this was where the spectators would sit. While in earlier times, the audience would sit on cushions or on boards, in later years; they would have marble seats made especially for them. The skene or 'tent' was the building that was directly behind the stage, and this was where the actors of the drama could enter or exit from. It would usually be decorated as a temple or a palace, and it would have at least one set of doors from where actors could enter the stage. At times, there would be access to the skene form the roof, so that actors who were playing roles of Gods could enter form the roof if necessary. The paradoi meant 'passageways', and these were paths by which the actors and the chorus playing roles of messengers or persons returning from a trip could enter or exit. The audience could also use these passageways to enter and exit. (Parts of a Greek Theater)

The ancient Greeks, as everyone knows, were a truly unique people, and it was their firm belief that an individual was free, as long as all his actions were within the Greek laws. This was an important factor, because this was what made them excel in whatever they wanted to, including drama, arts, sports, philosophy, and so on. This was perhaps the reason why even today one must acknowledge the excellence of the ancient Greeks in whatever they chose to do. As far as drama was concerned, the Greeks built a beautiful Theatre in order to give better performances of their plays. This was how the Theatre of Dionysia came to be built. Named after the Greek God of wine, this was where the greatest events of every year were performed, and generally, this was a religious festival held in honor of the Greek Gods. (The Ancient Greeks: The Athenians of Ancient Greece)

The Athenians would fill this theater when there were performances, which would generally last for a period of ten days, and all of them would have a particular playwright or a particular poet as their very own favorite, and they would make sure that they would not miss any of their favorite playwright's or poets' performances. For ten days, there would be three tragedies, followed by three comedies, which would generally be followed by a satyr farce. All the actors, as mentioned earlier, would be males, and women were not allowed to take part, although they were allowed to watch their favorite performances. All the actors would wear masks, and elaborate and intricate costumes during their performances, and they would play the role of the male as well as that of the female. Although the cost of viewing a performance was generally two 'obols', those who could not afford to pay could enter anyway. (The Ancient Greeks: The Athenians of Ancient Greece)

One of the better known playwrights of ancient Greece was Aeschylus. He was the son of Euphorion, and he was initially occupied in a vineyard, and some people opine that this must have brought about his love for the God of Wine, and this was why he wanted to offer his contributions to the theatre which was dedicated to the God of wine, Dionysus. He was indeed 'the Father of Tragedy', and one of his famous works was the Trilogy, which included the Agamemnon, the Choephorae, and the Euminides. Some more famous works were the 'Prometheus Bound', the 'Seven against Thebes', 'Oresteia' and so on. (Aeschylus and his Tragedies)