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History of Theatre 1 - From Ritual to Theatre

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    History of Western Theatre
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    From ritual to theatre
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    The origin of theatre . .
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    might be found in the ritual circle or rectangle:
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    the orchestra or dancing place, laid out at the foot of a hill.
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    Here, Dionysus was celebrated,
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    the Greek God of fertility and wine, . . .
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    said to be born out of the thigh of Zeus. . .
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    The worship of Dionysus was ecstatic by nature. . .
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    In the sixth century Before Christ
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    the celebration became formalized and ritualized.
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    Women were not allowed anymore to participate.
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    Nearby the orchestra,
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    a temple of Dionysus was built,
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    and in the middle of the orchestra
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    a thymele, or altar was placed, . .
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    and it is thought
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    that the celebration started
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    with the sacrificing of a goat
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    called ‘Tragos’. , ,
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    A probably uniformly dressed chorus of up to fifty men
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    sang, accompanied by perhaps more or less Oriental sounding music
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    a socalled Dithyramb, . .
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    a hymn in honor of Dionysus. . .
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    Symbolic gestures of the chorus dance
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    seem to have been closely related
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    to the words that were sung.
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    Allegedly,
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    the poet Arion
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    was the first to transform the dithyramb . .
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    into a literary compostion. . .
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    With Arion, the beauty of language entered the ritual celebration.
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    In the late fivehundreds Before Christ
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    in Athens,
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    a democratic discourse arose,
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    striving to give all male inhabitants . . .
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    of middle and lower classes . . .
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    a voice in state-affairs.
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    In that period.
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    a singer of dithyrambs,
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    named Thespis, . . .
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    is credited with innovating a new way of performing
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    the dithyrambs,
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    in which a solo actor
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    impersonated the characters of the songs.
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    He used masks
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    to distinguish between different characters.
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    He became the answerer or hypokrites.
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    By wearing a mask of, for instance, a god,
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    he, as it were, steppped out his normal being:
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    the extase,
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    and came in a state of divinity
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    the enthoustase.
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    The actor spoke and acted as if he was divine,
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    and interacted with the leader of the chorus and its members,
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    who acted as narrators and commentators.
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    This new style of performance,
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    based on a written text, and
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    not to forget,
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    in the presence of an audience,
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    may have marked the birth of theatre
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    as we know it today.
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    It is claimed that Thespis travelled about on a cart with plays.
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    This could mean that he performed in several Greek towns.
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    This itinerant theatre
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    is kept up until long after the middle ages.
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    In 534 Before Christ,
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    during an annual festival, . .
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    called: 'The City of Dionysia' . .
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    a competition for the best tragedy was instituted by the ruler of Athens at that time:
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    Peisistratus,
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    and Thespis won this first documented competition.
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    Thespis’ pupil, Phrynichus,
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    was credited with introducing into drama female characters,
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    played by men, wearing female masks.
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    He also introduced contemporary subjects.
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    he won the competion with the Phoenissae,
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    who celebrated the defeat of the Persian king: Xerxes
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    at the Sea-battle of Salamis.
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    However,
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    none of his works,
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    nor that of any other dramatist from the sixth century BC,
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    have survived.
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    In the fifth century
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    the 'City Dionysia Festival'
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    became very popular in Athens.
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    Temporary wooden tiers of benches
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    were built up on the side of the Acropolis.
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    Note the rectangular shape of this orchestra.
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    During the festival a rectangular building,
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    called the skene, . .
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    meaning tent or hut, . .
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    was erected behind the orchestra,
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    where the actor,
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    who played several rolls,
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    could change his costume and mask.
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    Perhaps the skene itself
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    served to represent the location of the plays,
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    usually set in front of a temple, palace or house.
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    Typically, there were two or three doors in the skene
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    that led out onto the orchestra,
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    and from which the actor probably could enter and exit.
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    Only much later,
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    in the fourth century BC,
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    the skene became a permanent stone structure.
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    Of all the hundreds of tragedies
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    known to be written in the fifth century
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    thirty-two tragedies of only three playwrights have survived.
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    The first of these playrights was Aeschylus. . .
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    He diminished the importance of the chorus,
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    and reduced it to twelve men.
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    He probably innovated a second actor,
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    thus making dialogue between characters possible.
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    Each of the two actors
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    usually played more than one roll,
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    including female characters.
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    They wore always painted masks made of perishable linen,
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    cork or lightweight wood.
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    In particular on vase paintings,
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    these tragic masks and costumes are depicted,
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    But. in most cases these vases
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    are from a period later than the fifth century.
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    Tragic actors in costume
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    Members of the chorus with mask
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    Tragic actors in costume.
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    Aeschylus has written about eighty plays,
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    only seven have survived.
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    Now we see a brief summary
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    of a TV recording of his tragedy: 'Agamemnon',
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    in which the actors wear masks.
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    Note that the performance is indoors.
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    In Aeschylus times the actors played in the open air,
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    with thousands of spectators.
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    so in those days
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    the delivery was probably more declamatory than realistic.
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    The play starts with a Prologue.
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    This watchman is standing on the roof of the skene,
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    representing the palace of Agamemnon.
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    He is waiting for a signal,
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    announcing the fall of Troy to the Greek armies.
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    >> WATCHMAN: The torch place that means that Troy is finally taken.
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    Next comes the Parodos, or the entrance of the chorus,
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    made up of old citizens,
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    telling and singing the story of the Trojan war.
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    >> CHORUS: This blood king Agamemnon
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    The Queen Clytemnestra appears,
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    and the Chorus hears from her
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    that Troy has fallen.
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    >> CHORUS: Clytemnestra
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    >> CLYTEMNESTRA: The Greek armies have taken the city of Priam.
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    A herald appears, and confirms the tidings.
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    >> HERALD: King Agamemnon, welcome him warmly.
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    King Agamemnon enters in his chariot with Cassandra,
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    a Trojan Princess
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    whom he has taken as his slave and concubine.
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    >> AGAMEMNON: First I greet Argos
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    and the Gods of this blood clan.
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    Clytemnestra welcomes him,
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    professing her love.
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    >> CLYTEMNESTRA: I am not ashamed to confess in your prensence my love, for my manlord...
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    Agamemnon acts coldly toward her.
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    >> AGAMEMNON: Your words, like my absence, lasted too long.
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    and eventually he walks on a carpet
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    of purple robes
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    and he enters the palace.
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    >> AGAMEMNON: If it means so much...
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    Cassandra tells the chorus
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    that they will see their king dead.
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    >> CASSANDRA: One strokes for the slave girl, butchered defenceless.
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    The Chorus' fears grow,
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    and they hear Agamemnon cry out in pain from inside the palace.[scream of Agamemnon]
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    Clytemnestra appears,
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    standing over the corpses of her husband and Cassandra
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    She declares that she has killed him to avenge Iphigenia,
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    their daughter who was sacrificed so that the Greek fleet could sail to Troy.
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    >> Clytemnestra: A rebel in glory
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    Then the queen is joined by her lover Aegisthus.
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    They take over the government.
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    >> AEGISTHUS: A dose of the strong arm will soon get you docile.
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    The Chorus declares that Clytemnestra's son, Orestes, will return from exile to avenge his father.
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    >> CHORUS: He will kill this couple.
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    >> AEGISTHUS: You and I, we will rule this house.
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    Exodus: departure of the chorus
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    With this tragedy, part of the trilogy: Oresteia, followed by a satyr play, Aeschylus won in 453 BC the annual competition of the 'City of Dionysia'.
Title:
History of Theatre 1 - From Ritual to Theatre
Description:

On the origins of Western theater, ancient Greek theatre. More on this subject - Mark Damen:
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/021origins.htm
Personae:
Dionysus, Zeus, Arion, Thespis, hypokrites - the answerer, Peisistratus, Phrynichus, Xerxes, Phoenician women, Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Cassandra, Aegisthus.
Terms:
thymele - altar, tragos - goat, dithyramb - hymn in honor of Dionysus, chorus, extase, enthoustase, The City of Dionysia Festival in Athens, tragedy, Trojan war, skene, prologue, parados, exodus.
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Video Language:
English
Duration:
10:23
Amara Bot added a translation

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