Greek lecture
Transcript of Greek lecture
HOMERThe Illiad
and The Odyssey7th century
B.C.
What was needed to create theater in Greece:
A middle class to create/attend the plays.
A sense of partiotism.Spare time.Relative peace and relative prosperity.A stable economy.A public sponsor and public
encouragement.Appreciation for learning.
PISISTRATUS – 560 BCE to 510 BCE
PERSIAN EMPIRE IN 5TH CENTURY B.C.E.
Greece,Circa 500 B.C.E.
PERICLES495 B.C.E. to429 B.C.E.Ruled from460 B.C.E. to429 B.C.E.
'All kinds of enterprises should be created which will provide an inspiration for every art, find employment for every hand... we must devote ourselves to acquiring things that will be the source of everlasting fame.'
Parthenon at the Acropolispaid for, in part, by the Delian League
ATHENA AND NIKE
Nashville, Tennessee
NASHVILLE RECREATION
ARCHAIC6th Century BC
SEVEREEarly 5th Century BC
CLASSICALMid 5th Century BC
HELLENISTIC4th Century BC
CONJECTURALMASK OFDIONYSUS
DIONYSUS
DIONYSUSStatue made 4th
Century B.C.E.—Roman copy of Greek original.
Modern Production at Epidaurus
MASKS OF TRAGEDY POSSIBLY CAST FROMMASKS WORN BY GREEK ACTORS.
STRUCTURAL CONCEITS OF GREEK TRAGEDY
• Prologue (exposition)
• Parados (entrance of the chorus)
• Episode (two person scene)
• Staisma (comment on the episode)– Episode and Staisma continue.
• Exodos (resolution and exit)
Inciting Incident
Point of Attack
Rising Action
Climax
FallingAction
Resolution
GENRES INVENTED BY THE GREEKS
• TRAGEDY– Character based, ends with the death or destruction
of a single main character. Based on mythology.• SATYR
– Plot based, bawdy parody of serious stories from mythology.
• OLD COMEDY– Character based critiques of the social norms. New
story ideas.• NEW COMEDY
– Plot based, formulaic plays about young lovers being kept apart by their parents – aka domestic comedies.
THE POETICS BY ARISTOTLE
• Written after the fact (circa 330 B.C.E.)
• Praises Sophocles over Euripides
• Three Unities– Space– Time– Action
• One character – single action• No subplots
Satyr – modern depiction
SATYR MASK
Vase Painting ofA Satyr Play.
THE GREAT GREEK PLAYWRIGHTS
• Aescylus (523 to 456 BC) Tragedy and Satyr• Sophocles (490 – 406 BC) Tragedy and Satyr• Euripides (480 – 406 BC) Tradedy and Satyr• Aristophanes (445 to 385 BC) Old Comedy• Menander (342 – 292 BC) New Comedy
AESCHYLUS523 B.C.E. to
456 B.C.E.
Orestes kills Aegisthus, Clytemnestra flees
Apollo cleanses Orestes with pig’s blood.
Clytemnestra tries to awaken furies.
Modern production of The Oresteia
Oresteia at Thick Description, San Jose
SOPHOCLES496 B.C.E to406 B.C.E.
Oedipus Rex
Contemporary production of Oedipus Rex
TYRONE GUTHRIEOEDIPUS REX
Jocasta
Expressionistic production of Oedipus Rex
Euripides480 BC to 406 BC
Medea with two doomed children.Roman copy, 2nd
Century C.E.
Media’s chariot
Jason and Medea
JASON AND MEDEAAUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION
MEDEA AT ANTIOCH
ARISTOPHANES445 B.C.E. – 385 B.C.E.
Vase Painting, possibly of THE BIRDS
Possible depiction of THE BIRDS
Comedy Mask ofOld Man
MASKS OF COMEDY
Modern set design for The Birds
Modern mask and costume for The Birds
LYSISTRATA at Mt. SAC
MENANDER342 B.C.E to292 B.C.E.
Menander and masks
Menander with masks
Greek Architecture and Stagecraft
Greek Theater, plan view
Deus ex Machinaor Mechane:
conjectural drawing
Deus ex MachinaConjectural drawing
Ekkeklema
TWO MODERN CONJECTURES FOR THE EKKYKLEMA
PINAKES
Periaktoi
This Roman statue maydepict a Greek tragic actor.There is scant evidence thatKothurnae were worn in5th Century B.C.E., but possibly they were used in 4th Century B.C.E.
Modern Depictions of Cothurnae
Oedipus Rex
Contemporary production of Oedipus Rex
TYRONE GUTHRIEOEDIPUS REX