The surrounding world, in the view of the ancient Greeks, is a theater stage, and people are actors who came from heaven in order to play a role and then go into oblivion. On the basis of this postulate with the signs of cosmology, a Greek theater arose, which fully reflects the religion of the Hellenes. At first, the performances were deeply religious in nature, but gradually the plays became closer to the real life of ordinary people.
Popularity
The emergence of the Greek theater is associated with the religious cult of Dionysus, the god of vegetation, viticulture, winemaking. Representations were based on plots dedicated to this celestial, and were permeated with reverent veneration of the deity. Greek theater appeared in the VI century BC and immediately became part of the life of the population of Athens. Its popularity can be judged by the grandiose structures on the hillsides in the form of an amphitheater, accommodating up to 30 thousand spectators.
Dramaturgy of the past
The ancient Greek theater began to expand in terms of the variety of performances, numerous troupes of actors appeared who played not only the dramas and tragedies associated with Dionysus. The great tragedies of antiquity - Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles - wrote plays from the life of Greek society, which enjoyed constant success. The audience especially liked the comedies of Aristophanes.
The whole history of the theater of ancient Greece consists of opposing performances. Tragedies usually reflected myths and legends in which the gods appeared as an invincible formidable force. The heroes of the play fought with celestials, died, but did not give up. Comedies, on the other hand, were ridiculous and witty. Actors of the Greek theater showed no reverence for the gods, and sometimes even ridiculed them. The heroes of comedies were ordinary people, artisans, traders, officials, slaves, housewives.
Theatrical performances were usually held at the festival of the Great Dionysius. The performance was held on a round platform in the lower part of the amphitheater, which was called "Orchestra". There was a choir of singers who were supposed to accompany the action. The singers moved in a circle, and among them was an actor playing his part. Initially, all roles in the play were assigned to one performer. In order to somehow stand out from the surrounding choir, the actor put on shoes on a high platform - the so-called katurns, thanks to which he became 15 centimeters higher.
Performance structure
Soon, the Athenian tragic Aeschylus introduced a second actor and thereby made the action more dynamic. At the orchestra, scenery appeared, sound machines imitating thunder and lightning, the howling wind and the sound of rain. Then the tragedian added another character. However, the roles became more and more, even three actors could not cope with them. Then masks were introduced, each of which represented a certain image. To transform, it was enough to change the mask and go on stage in a new guise.
In the background, behind the orchestra, there was a special room - a skene, where the actors could discreetly change the mask of the mask, which was made of multi-colored clay and reflected a certain expression on the hero's face and his mood. The character of the mask was usually pronounced; when looking at it, the viewer immediately understood what the actor wanted to say and what feelings he was trying to express.
Masks as the basis of theatrical art
The color of the mask was of particular importance: the dark shade spoke of calm and good health of the character, illness or malaise represented the yellow color, red spoke of tricks, indignation and anger seemed like a crimson mask. The expressiveness of the masks was the basis of the whole performance, all theatrical action was built on this. The actor needed only to reinforce the impression with gestures and body movements. Masks of the Greek theater also played the role of a mouthpiece, enhancing the sound power of the actor’s voice.
Adversarial
Greece has long been considered a country of competition. The theater did not escape this tradition. In the days of the Great Dionysius, all performances were subordinated to fire - competition. On holidays, three tragedies and one satirical comedy were arranged. At the end of each performance, the audience determined the best actor, the best production, and so on for all the signs that characterized the performance. On the last day of the Great Dionysius, the winners received prizes.
The fathers of the dramaturgy of that time - Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles - competed among themselves. Aeschylus, who preaches morality and moral responsibility for perpetrated evil, won 13 times thanks to his works (Oresteia, Prometheus, Persians, etc.). Sophocles was recognized as the best tragedian 24 times, this was helped by the images he created in the tragedies of Electra, Antigone, Oedipus. The youngest playwright - Euripides - tried to catch up with senior mentors, his characters - Medea, Fedra - are deeply psychological.
The antique comedy of Aristophanes is represented by the following works: "Wasps", "Riders", "Frogs", "Lysistrata", "Peace", "Clouds". The plots of satirical plays echoed the political situation in Greece of that period. Compared to legendary dramaturgy, Aristophanes' comedies reflected reality.
Greek theater, its structure
Hillsides and open sky. The Greek theater of the ancient period is built according to the following principle: a step-like amphitheater in the form of a truncated circle rises up from a round platform-stage. If we mentally continue the gentle design, we get a closed figure consisting of regular concentric circles. Each circle is made of roughly hewn stone blocks. The surface of the stone is rough, and its contours are so correctly calculated that the joints are almost invisible. Behind the tiers of the Greek amphitheater in Athens is the titanic work of hundreds of thousands of slaves who worked without rest day and night. 78 rows of seats are divided into several wedge-shaped segments. The Greek theater necessarily had the first row with backs for important persons, priests, officials and guests of honor. Separately, there is a stone chair with openwork carvings, this is the place of the priest Dionysus.
The round platform, the stage of the theater, the so-called orchestra, is separated from the amphitheater by a low fence. In its center is the altar-altar of Dionysus, musicians sat on its steps during performances. With the outside world, the orchestra is connected by passages - vaults. The site was regularly covered with fine gravel or sand. It was later paved with paving stones.
Behind the orchestra was a forgiveness - a platform for gathering actors on the eve of the performance. And behind it was a schena or, to use modern terms, a dressing room, where the performers selected their masks and prepared for the orchestra. There were two small wings on the sides of the cliff, where theatrical props and masks were stored. These rooms were called "paraskenia."
Communication before the performance
The centuries-old history of the theater of Greece is marked by one unshakable tradition. The audience gathered long before the start of the performance, people walked a long string of parodies and seated in empty seats. The early arrival was partly due to the desire to take a better place. In addition, it was decided before the performance to communicate with neighbors, to learn news and share their thoughts. Antique Greek theater was a kind of communication center for metropolitan residents. Usually people came in whole families.
Contemporary Theater of Greece
At the very beginning of the 20th century, the New Stage Theater was created in Athens, the name of which spoke for itself. The repertoire of Nea Skini included works by Greek playwrights and authors from other countries. Ibsen’s play “Wild Duck,” “Turgenev’s Freeloader,” “The Secret of Countess Valeria,” Xenopoulos and many others, were played and included in the repertoire.
The founder of the troupe, K. Christomanos, sought to create an ensemble of the last generation without regard to the traditional ancient Greek theater of masks, with conditional characters and not quite defined roles. In general, he succeeded, but nevertheless, some nuances from the past slipped in productions. Some scenes could not do without the frozen expression on the face of the actor, resembling a mask. Sometimes facial expressions did not allow expressing feelings the way a mask could do. Thus, the connection of centuries was traced.
Stagnation
Between 1910 and 1920, Greek theater art fell into decay. Affected by the tense situation in society in connection with the First World War and general economic stagnation. People were not up to spectacles. Almost all theaters went on a commercial basis, and this meant a complete revision of the repertoire, the replacement of classical works with low-grade boulevard. Changes were inevitable, as rollicking people began to come into the auditoriums, who preferred to see half-naked actresses on the stage, and everything else did not interest them. All attempts to restore classical performances based on the plays of Sophocles and Aeschylus on the stage ended in failure. Another time came, and the modern theater took its position.