![]() ![]() The performance of tragedies at the City Dionysia may have begun as early as 534 BCE official records ( didaskaliai) begin from 501 BCE, when the satyr play was introduced. As contestants in the City Dionysia's competition (the most prestigious of the festivals to stage drama) playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays (though the individual works were not necessarily connected by story or theme), which usually consisted of three tragedies and one satyr play. The origins of tragedy remain obscure, though by the 5th century BCE it was institutionalised in competitions ( agon) held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysus (the god of wine and fertility). We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. No tragedies from the 6th century BCE and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in during the 5th century BCE have survived. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE (from the end of which it began to spread throughout the Greek world), and continued to be popular until the beginning of the Hellenistic period. ![]() Īthenian tragedy-the oldest surviving form of tragedy-is a type of dance-drama that formed an important part of the theatrical culture of the city-state. The actors (always men) wore masks appropriate to the characters they represented, and each might play several parts. Since the words were the most important part, good acoustics and clear delivery were paramount. The stage consisted of a dancing floor (orchestra), dressing room and scene-building area (skene). The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10,000–20,000 people. The origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to Aristotle (384–322 BCE), the first theoretician of theatre, are to be found in the festivals that honored Dionysus. ![]() The theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Actors were either amateur or at best semi-professional. The Greeks also developed the concepts of dramatic criticism and theatre architecture. Civic participation also involved the evaluation of the rhetoric of orators evidenced in performances in the law-court or political assembly, both of which were understood as analogous to the theatre and increasingly came to absorb its dramatic vocabulary. Participation in the city-state's many festivals-and mandatory attendance at the City Dionysia as an audience member (or even as a participant in the theatrical productions) in particular-was an important part of citizenship. It was part of a broader culture of theatricality and performance in classical Greece that included festivals, religious rituals, politics, law, athletics and gymnastics, music, poetry, weddings, funerals, and symposia. The city-state of Athens is where Western theatre originated. They were influential to the development of musical theatre see those articles for more information.Ī depiction of actors playing the roles of a master (right) and his slave (left) in a Greek phlyax play, circa 350/340 BCE The art forms of ballet and opera are also theatre and use many conventions such as acting, costumes and staging. Modern theatre includes performances of plays and musical theatre. Theatre artist Patrice Pavis defines theatricality, theatrical language, stage writing and the specificity of theatre as synonymous expressions that differentiate theatre from the other performing arts, literature and the arts in general. Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. ![]()
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