Ancient Greek Theatre | Lysistrata

Ancient classical Theatre LysistrataAncient classic family has been a fascination to millions of people across the centuries. Theatre is one of the most important innovations of the Greek civilization. Ancient Greek area which began as a phantasmal ceremony eventually became as expressed by Cohen a mixture of myth, legend, philosophy, social commentary, poetry, dance, music, public participation, and visual splendor (as cited in Phillips, 2000). The well known playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Ari confronthanes and others fork up contributed largely in the teachings of nobleness, morality, courage, and patriotism throughout time. Many of the stories written Oedipus, Medea, Antigone etc. have endured the passage of time. Moreover, audiences contribution was crucial in ancient Greek home because poets success and recognition as good representatives of the Greek culture and civilization largely depended on the audiences negative/positive feedback. From the Antiquity, the role of Greek theatre has not altered. It was and still is used to be entertaining, frivolous, and instructional.Greek theaters were located in outdoor spaces which were known as amphitheaters. The amphitheater was purposely chosen by the Greeks to hold these venues not only because they preferred being outdoors but also becausethey used the construction methods avail up to(p) in their time period to create the most serviceable and efficient space possible to be used in producing the type of entertainment that was popular in their culture as stated by buns Holloway (2010). Greek theatre consisted of four major components the Orchestra which was the circular dancing floor where the chorus would sing, dance, and act together with the actors, Theatron which was the viewing place, Skene which was the tent or the decorated mental synthesis behind the stage, and Parados which was the passageways used by the chorus, actors, and audience as entrances and exits to the amphitheater (a s shown in figure 1).Figure 1Greek TheatreNote. This figure is retreived from http//web lay aside.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cachev9_sNzGD5hsJwww.slideshare.netNevertheless, ancient Greek theatre sacknot be demonstrated without shedding the light on Athens. Athens was a Greek city-state identified for its political, military, and cultural force play. Athens was considered the spunk of Greek culture and theatre. Greek theatre originally initiated with Athens festivals. Athens had four festivals for worshipping the god of fertility and wine Dionysus who was the son of the god Zeus and the earthborn Semele. The Athenians celebrated their annual fertility four tribal festivals known as Festival of the Wine Jugs and Old Dionysia in March with a altogether week of public wine drinking and phallus, penis worshipping religious orgy (Cohen,n.d.Phillips, 2000). The religious rites for these festivals eventually took the shape of poetry that later developed to become plays.Greek play s and drama started as an entertaining event that developed to become a powerful medium of communicating ideas. Theatre played an important role in the ancient Greek civilization because it was reflecting the flaws and values of the Greek culture. It mainly focused on solving the human conflicts and problems of the day but with a supernatural segment (god or goddess). The theatre that focused on exposing societys flaws benefited the audience who would learn from them. It should be noted here that the carcass language used in the Greek theatre played an important role in delivering the message to the spectators. As tell by Heins-Uwe Haus (1995), We feel obliged to visualize the events of the play, if we want to grasp something of the spirit and the root of the dramatic heritage of Sophocles. It was this fusion of the artistic and the political, the formal and the philosophical, that made this experience unique. Therefore, the people in Greece were on intimate relations with the bo dy where they used body language as a major part of the Greek drama.After scrutinizing the Greek drama, it becomes obvious that gods in Greek society were viewed in human terms. For instance, gods can have emotions of sadness, happiness, and emotions of love they can hold grudges, and can fight with each other. The gods in Greek plays were, like humans, uncertain of their destiny. Additionally, humanity was strongly concerned in ancient Greek drama where humans were elevated from animals. Human harmony depended on the interaction between human and divine forces where peace would be jeopardise if disharmony existed (Tripod members, 2004).Figure 2. Theatre MasksNote. Retrieved from http//www.crystalinks.com/greektheater.htmlGreek plays consisted of two major types tragedy and comedy. The two masks, in figure 2, symbolize both the comedy and tragedy aspects of the Greek Theatre. These two masks that represent duality were worn in ancient Greece during the golden age, around 500 300 BC. With respect to tragedy, it was expressed by Aristotle as an simulated of an importantand complete action, which has a specific length, written in an embellished language, with its separate parts set in order and not randomly, in active and not narrative form, tending through pity and fear to the catharsis of passions. The word tragedy was derived from the words Tragos meaning goat and ode meaning song. The reason behind this shadowy origin had to do with two possibilities the first which was related to the choruses who were dressed in lion-skins of goats, and the second which was linked to the prize for best song that was a goat. Ancient Greek tragedy mainly depended on stories of myth or history but with varied interpretations of events. It mainly focused on psychological and ethical attributes of characters instead of animal(prenominal) and sociological ones. Tragedy was dominated by the works and innovations of three well-known playwrights Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.) who wa s known for his tragic trilogy the Oresteia which enlarge the possibilities for dramatics through the communication between two characters in his plays. Aeschylus made use of a third character however, Sophocles (496-406 B.C.) was the one who actually began it. The latter was known for his trilogy Oedipus Rex where his plays decreased the job of the chorus in Greek drama in order to enhance the interaction between characters and the progress of the character itself. The third tragedian was Euripides (480-406 B.C.) who indicated the ultimate form of drama and employed a more(prenominal) naturalistic and human aspects in his plays.An font of tragedy can be the famous speech of Macbeth (Tripod members, 2004)Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,To the pull through syllable of recorded timeAnd all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candleLifes but a walking shadow a piddling player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.With respect to comedy, the word comedy was derived from Comoi which was the name of a god meaning amusement and entertainment. It was usually based on a happy idea that used exaggerated, ridiculous, and sensual pleasures for instance, a peace with a power or sex strike to stop war. Comedy plays commented and criticized contemporary society, politics, literature and Peloponnesian War. Two playwrights were famous in this domain Aristophanes (448-380 B.C.) and Menander (342-292 B.C.). Comedy was not as popular as tragedy at first. However, the popularity of Comedy was accompanied with the diminishing of the popularity of tragedy which highly represented the role of theatre. Therefore, tragedy was at its peak in Greek society when the society was at its height whereas comedy (a means for decreasing frustrations) was at its peak during the decline of Greek government .A good example of comedy can be a funny tale about a strong woman Lysistrata who led a female union to stop the war in Greece. This play, written by Aristophanes, can be a good demonstration of the role of women in ancient Greek time. Women, in this play, were revealed as deceiving, mischievous, strong, smart, cunning, and as being leaders. Lysistratas cunning was shown through her great plan of refusing sex by the wives to their husbands. She knew that by refusing sex, peace would be gained since men would not be able to resist this situation. Moreover, what revealed the cleverness of women was when they took over the Akropolis. Lysistrata was able to give a speech on how to run the government and was capable of changing the situations that she didnt like she was a reliable clever leader.For instance, Lysistrata mentioned If we sat around at home all made up, and walked past them wearing only our see-through underwear and with our pubes plucked in a neat triangle, and our husband s got hard and hankered to ball us, but we didnt go near them and kept away, theyd sue for peace, and pretty quick, you can count on that (as cited in Gruber-Miller, 1987).Also, Lysistrata said The older women are assigned that part while were working out our agreement down here, theyll occupy the Akropolis, pretending to be up there for a sacrifice (as cited in Gruber-Miller, 1987).The Warriors in Lysistrata said (Tripod members, 2004)First Speaker For through mans heart there runs in floodA natural and noble assay for bloodSecond Speaker To form a ring and fightThird Speaker To cut off heads at sightAll in Unison It is our rightYouth Come, listen now to the good old dayswhen children, strange to tell, were seen notheard, led a simple life, in short werebrought up well.Although women were not permitted to engage in ancient Greek plays or even to be with the audience, women made their own festivals in order to gather and argue their issues with each other. Women played an importan t role in the Greek society it was like what people nowadays in our society say behind a great man there is a woman. It was the same case where behind every hero there was a woman.Greek theatre spread its cultural influences to Egypt, the Middle East, Rome, and then the whole world. This indicates how much the Greek theatre has influenced our modern theater. Without ancient theater, the form of entertainment nowadays may not have existed. As indicated by Rebekah Martin (2006)Without the influences of Dionysus festivals and Greek drama, Shakespeare would have no foundation, and Andrew Lloyd Webber would be out of a job. Therefore, the roots of drama have affected everything from radio drama to modern cinema.