Ancient Greek Theater

Ancient Greek Theater is the first historical record of "drama," which is the Greek term meaning "to do" or "to act." Beginning in the 5th century BC, Greek Theater developed into an art that is still used today. During the golden age of the Athenians plays were created, plays that are considered among the greatest works of world drama. Today there are thousands of well-known plays and films based on the re-make of ancient drama.

Theater originated from the religious rites of ancient Greek tribes. Located in northern Greece, a cult was formed to worship the God of wine and fertility, Dionysus. The cult held religious celebrations which included large consumptions of alcohol, animal sacrifices, and sometimes massive orgies. Theater was thought as a ritual to release powerful emotions and create pure ecstasy. The cult spread south into Greece and by 500 BC annual festivals in honor of Dionysus were held every spring.

A main part of Dionysus' rites was the dithyramb. It means a "choric hymn" and it was completely religious describing Dionysus' adventures. The performance would have a group of dancers, a chorus in costumes, an orchestra of drums, lyres, and flutes, and a leader/director. It all took place around an altar for Dionysus. Soon after the dithyramb became popular at Athenian festivals where poets would compete to create their own unique dithyramb. Soon the dithyramb ceased to be about Dionysus and his adventures. Famous poets chose subjects from several different periods of Greek mythology. Over time, the dithyrambs formed into stories to be performed thus creating drama.

During the golden age of Greece, city-states were developed, the most prominent being Athens with a population of at least 150,000. Here is where the rites of Dionysus created what we now call theater. We have the leader, the chorus, the dancers, and the orchestra. So where did actors come from? Around 525 BC a man from Attica named Thespis, added an actor into the dithyramb to interact with the chorus. The actor was called the protagonist and means "the main character of a drama." This addition turned the chorus into theater. Thespis went down in history and is where "thespians" got there name.

About 534 BC was when the Dionysian Festivals were changed to add drama competitions. The first competition was won by Thespis himself in 534 BC. For the following years the annual competitions became quite popular events. The government chose wealthy patrons who financed the plays and the competitors who performed in them. During this time period, providing for the productions meant tax exemption for the individual and his family that year.

Once plays started being written, the number of interested spectators increased. In order to satisfy the Greeks amphitheaters were constructed all over Greece. Three well-known theaters were the theater at Delphi, the Attic Theater and the theater of Dionysus built at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens. During their prime time, the plays attracted crowds of 30,000 and more. The stands were built around the orchestra and up hillsides; somewhat like a baseball stadium today. This made it possible to seat more than 17,000 spectators at a time.

The Dionysian Festivals lasted for several days along with the drama competitions. The performances were always done during the day and the drinking at night! Little or no makeup was worn by the actors, instead they wore masks with exaggerated facial expressions. Actors were always male and played more than one role, so the masks helped portray different characters, races, and sexes. Not much scenery was used and usually the majority of the play took place in the orchestra. When attention was shifted to the actors, however, the action was played on stage.

The plays were lit by sunlight, seeing as they were always performed in the daytime. Sometimes torches were lit and used to help portray power and/or change the appearance of a character or passage. Due to the size of the audiences, normal movement and facial expressions would have been near invisible past the first few rows. Thus another reason why masks were used. Broad and simple, the masks were designed to be seen from far away. Elaborate costumes were made to be large and