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Greek theater was the first true burst of performing in medieval times. They started small and ended up influencing the world as we know it today. From Greece arose famous actors, poets, and playwrights that strengthened the art of performance. In Athens was the start of dramas performed in massive, architecturally magnificent theatres. To match the beauty the amphitheaters possessed, intricate and marveling costumes and masks were used in the plays. All of this outrageousness came from the celebration.
The medieval theater was not the beginning of what we know as entertainment.
All kinds of performances have been happening since humankind first evolved on this earth. Ritual performances to bless gods and goddesses have been around a long time, and it only blossomed into something huge in Athens. In the 6th century BC, Athenians were honoring a god called Dionysus. A new leader who came into power in 560 BC named Pisistratus, loved the arts and introduced a new offering at the Dionysus festivals; plays.
Dionysus was the god of wine, music, and drama.
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Dionysus was praised through many different things, now including dramatic competitions at these religious festivals. At the festivals held in the spring, they would complete the celebrations with three to five new plays that would be ranked and judged by a pristine panel. The winning authors and actors were given prizes. Only a select few would perform their plays at the competitions, the best poets and head actors would be funded by the state, and the others had to pay for their production.
These decisions were made by a powerful official from the city because these festivals grew into an important part of giving thanks to Dionysus. The poets who won, not only got a prize but gained a lot of honor and fame amongst the citizens.
Poets who continuously won these competitions quickly became well known. The first of these famous poets and actors was Thespis of Icaria. He won his first prize in around 530 BC for his tragedy performed at the City of Dionysia’s first festival. He is speculated to be the first actor to act off a script on an Athenian stage and is best known for attaching the chorus to the script of the actor. He started to move towards using masks instead of makeup, and he pulled out and strengthened the lead role.
He began something great and has been spoken about all through history. Aristotle has spoken of him as being the first to introduce a separate prologue with the chorus. There were the songs that told the tale and the single actor that presented the important details. It is said that he also brought the lifted platform for performances which changed into a booth and finally into an amphitheater. He changed plays from simple songs that spoke of mythology, to elaborate stories with an actor playing many characters dressed in costumes and masks. Most people loved to see these stories portrayed through dramas, but the ones who didn’t believe that Thespis was spreading lies. They thought he was teaching the Athenians to love lying, but this was smothered by the all-around joy of plays.
Along with the costumes and theater that transformed and evolved, so did the actual performances. After Thespis, another great playwright named Aeschylus transformed the basic structure of Greek tragedies into what we mostly see today. He won competitions and placed his name next to the greats like Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Aeschylus put forward plays with two actors instead of one which made acting more refined and respected. Many actors exeled in fame after this new introduction, and even more so after the adjustments Sophocles made.
Sophocles added another actor and brought individual hardships to the characters. He has made some of the most well-known and restored plays like Oedipus Rex, and has established the form of ancient Greek theater we know today. He and Euripides were often in the same competitions at the celebratory festivals, and he would usually win. He formed the actors into something that was more than a vessel that told a tale, he turned them into something that had a tale of their own. He made plays branch out away from just origin stories, with gods and goddesses, to inner struggles that the character must push through and control themselves, without just being led by gods. A lot of people in his time disparaged his work for not including unrealistic godly figures, but today he is known for being way ahead of his time.
During the rise of theater in Greece, arose two popular dramas; comedy and tragedy. Tragedies were often based on Greek mythology, especially earlier. The plots were serious because they dealt with Greek mythology which was their religion. Because they were portraying their gods and goddesses, they were not allowed to show violence. When a character was supposed to die, they would do so off stage. There were no jokes involved when honoring their beliefs. Though the tragedies definitely relied on masks to depict the gods, comedies went above just relying on masks.
Breakthrough Into the Middle Ages Greek Theater. (2021, Dec 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/breakthrough-into-the-middle-ages-greek-theater-essay
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