GREEK TRAGEDY IN PERFORMANCE

Skene• DEFINITION: a structure facing the audience and forming the

background before which performances were given• Medea- the children die off stage• Hippolytus- Phaedra commits suicide off stage, and so does

Hippolytus• Antigone- Creons wife (Eurydice) and son (Heamon) die off

stage, and Antigone’s attempt to bury her brother is off stage• Oedipus the King – Oedipus gouges his own eyes out, and

Jocasta kills herself off stage.

Ekkyklema

• DEFINITION: a wheeled platform rolled out through a skene in ancient Greek theatre. It was used to bring interior scenes out into the sight of the audience

• Antigone- the corpse of Eurydice is draped over the household altar.

• Hippolytus- Hippolytus' dying body is revealed to the audience in the final scene of the play.

Pinakes

• DEFINITION: pictures hung to create scenery• In Oedipus the King, and Antigone, the play

takes place in front of a place, formed using pinakes.

• Medea- takes place in front of Jason and Medea's house.

• Hippolytus- takes place outside the royal palace in Trozen.

Mechane

• DEFINITION: a crane used in Greek theatre to lift an actor into the air, usually representing flight

• Medea- when “Medea appears above the place in a chariot drawn by dragons”.

- this elevates Medea to a god-like being