Basic Elements of Classical Drama

Drama
o From the word dran, to do or to Act
o It has the potential to be enacted
o It is a special way of imitating human behavior and human events.
o It sets forth physical and psychological experience
o Both literary and performance text
Beginnings of Drama
o Theater is a ritualistic art form
o Dionysus, god of wine and procreation, was honored at the dramatic festivals.
o Legendary kings and heroes were often portrayed as well.
o Aristotle, first theorist of drama
Drama imitated human experience, involving plot, action, character, language,
universal meanings, and visual effects.
Plays performed such as tragedy, comedy and satyr plays.
o Drama direct response to humanitys deep need to imitate experience.
Aristotles Poetics
o Imitation mimesis, dramaturgs attempt to select and arrange events, words, and
images.
o Action praxis, how the Greeks understood it.
o Catharsis purgation, emotions of pity and fear.
Theater and the Common Man
o Business and activities were suspended during the week-long festivals held three times
per year.
o It was considered a CIVIC DUTY for people to participate in the productions in some way.
o The plays were to give a lesson to the people - DIDACTIC PURPOSE
The Physical Structure of the Greek Theater
o The theatron held benches on which the audience sat. The semi-circular theatron was
specifically built in to a hillside to provide good views of the action.
The orchestra was the circular dancing place for the chorus.
o The parados were two broad aisles which allowed the chorus to enter the theater.
Parados is also the term for the entrance song of the chorus.
o The skene was a rectangular building with three doors which provided a generic
backdrop for entrances and exits of the characters.
o The proskenion was a small platform in front of the skene to give actors more visibility to
the audience.
o Approx. 15,000 people fit in the Theater of Dionysus in Athens.
o No sets, props, etc.
o Actors lines marked the passage of time and the setting.
o Design of theatron was important for acoustics no microphones.
The Players
o Because Greek tragedy and comedy originated with the chorus, the most important part
of the performance space was the orchestra, which means 'a place for dancing' (orchesis).
o A tragic chorus consisted of 12 or 15 dancers (choreuts), who may have been young men
just about to enter military service after some years of training.
o
Athenians were taught to sing and dance from a very early age. The effort of dancing and
singing through three tragedies and a satyr play was likened to that of competing in the
Olympic Games.
Performance Characteristics
o Plays were initially held with just the chorus singing/chanting the lines.
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In 534 BCE Thespis was credited with creating the first actor (thespians). The character
spoke lines as a god.
This begins the concept of DIALOGUE the character interacts with chorus.
Members of chorus were amateurs
chorodidaskaloi - chorus directors
12-15 members
function: to comment, respond, witness, compare, make public, make sense of events,
NOT to advance the plot
moved in military formation
koryphaios - chorus leader
parados - entrance to orchestra

The Role of the Actor

o Aeschylus earliest Greek tragedy writer brought idea of second actor.
o Sophocles brought third actor no more than three actors on stage ever in a Greek
tragedy.
o Euripedes also used three actors after Sophocles.
o Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripedes each wrote a version of the Oedipus tragedy,
but Sophocles version is the most famous.
o Actors needed to be LARGER THAN LIFE and thus easy to see.
o Size was symbolic of their social status.
o Chiton a long, flowing robe, padded at the shoulders for width, selected in symbolic
colors
o Cothurni platform shoes for added height
The Greek Actor
o Participation is a civic duty; many volunteered for the chorus.
o Experienced speakers became actors (often govt. officials or imp. businessmen)
o Actors were revered and exempt from military duty.
o Women were excluded from acting and had to sit in the higher seats in the theatron.
o Unlike the proto-dramatic rites and pageants, Greek drama is secular in nature
o City Dionysia (Theatre festival since ca. 550 BC)
o Pompe (formal procession)
o choregos (wealthy citizen in charge of financing and organizing the training of a chorus)
o archon (city/state official in charge of organizing the festival)
o odeon (building adjacent to the theatre)
o Day 1: five comedies; days 2-4: three tragedies and one satyr play by the same poet
and choregos.
o hypokrites (actor(s)
o protagonist (star)
o deuteragonist (second fiddle)
o tritagonist (third rate)
o kothornoi (high elevated boots or
buskins)
o onkos (vertically elongated mask
with a high head piece)
Masks
o The large size of the theatre (in its final form it seated 20,000 people) and the distance of
even the nearest spectators from the performers (more than 10 meters) dictated a nonnaturalistic approach to acting.
o All gestures had to be large and definite so as to 'read' from the back rows. Facial
expression would have been invisible to all but the closest members of the audience.
o The masks worn by the actors looked more 'natural' than bare faces in the Theatre of
Dionysus. The masks of tragedy were of an ordinary, face-fitting size, with wigs attached,
and open mouths to allow clear speech.
Declamatory Acting Style
o Actors could not move easily, so lines were delivered in a speech style.
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Broad sweeping gestures.

General movements to express emotions: Bowed head grief; beating chest mourning;
stretching arms prayer.
Minor props scepter king, spear warrior, elderly cane.

Paradox of the Mask

o The most distinctive feature of the mask was its ability to limit and broaden at the same
time.
o It identified a specific character, but it also had generalized features which gave an
Everyman quality. This allowed the audience to get the personal message intended
for each member of the audience.
Types
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of Drama
Tragedy
Comedy
Farce simplified dramatic form derived from comedy and the human psychology that
seeks out fun for funs sake, along with the fulfillment of socially unacceptable fantasies.

Drama: Elements and Conventions

o Plot order of events arranged by the author; may be simple, complex, compressed or
diffused.
Exposition beginning, introduction of characters with their past and present
situations.
Complication
Reversal (peripeteia) heros fortune changes from good to bad; anagnorisis
(ignorance to knowledge)
Resolution
o Crisis complication, wherein the outcome of the plot is irreversibly determined.
o Climax point where tension is at its highest peak
o Recognition a central characters realization that his/her fortune has decisively turned,
and that he/she is responsible for that change.
o Drama: Elements and Conventions
o Character storys personalities.
o Setting Scenery and physical elements that appear on stage to vivify the authors
stage directions.
o Dialogue Speeches used to advance action.
Soliloquy uttering thoughts aloud, a revelation of personal feelings.
Aside short speech made by a character to the audience which the other
characters onstage cannot hear.
Drama: Elements and Conventions
o Movement the stage directions that gives information where the characters are, when
they move, or its significance.
o Music occasional dramatic element, may be sung or as a background accompaniment .
o Theme central action
o Spectacle visual elements used: sets, costumes, special effects, etc.
o Other Elements
o Stage Directions
Found in brackets [ ]
Describe scenery and how characters speak
C, Center Stage
L, Stage Left
R, Stage Right
U, Upstage or Rear
D, Downstage or Front
Playwright - the author of a play
o Actors - the people who perform
o Acts - the units of action
o Scenes - parts of the acts
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Characterization - playwrights technique for making believable characters

Props - Small movable items that the actors use to make actions look real

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