The Golden Age The Golden Age of of

Greek DramaGreek Drama500 BC- 400 BC500 BC- 400 BC

•…honoring Dionysius, Greek god of wine and fertility

•The festival took place in the spring.

•Greeks hoped that he would bless them with many children, rich land, and abundant crops.

Playwrights

Sophocles (Oedipus Rex)

Aeschylus (Agememnon)

Euripides (Medea)

Aristophanes (Lysistrata)

Comedy Comedy

TragedyTragedy NotNot

Drama!Drama!

Thebes is suffering from a plague which leaves fields and women barren. Oedipus sends his brother-in-law Creon to find a remedy from the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Creon returns, bearing news: once the killer of the previous king, Laius, is found, Thebes will be cured of the plague. Oedipus begins investigating the death of his predecessor.

The chorus (representing the people of Thebes) suggests that Oedipus consult Teiresias, the blind prophet. Teiresias arrives and seems reluctant to answer Oedipus’s questions, warning him that he does not want to know the answers. Oedipus threatens him with death and finally, Teiresias tells him that Oedipus himself is the killer, and that his marriage is a sinful union.

It is eventually revealed that Oedipus is indeed the killer of Laius and that Oedipus has been married to Jocasta, his own mother.

Jocasta hangs herself.

Oedipus takes Jocasta’s brooch and blinds himself.

Oedipus banishes himself from the city.

•open-air

•built into the side of a hill

•looks similar to today’s football stadiums

•14,000-17,000 people might have attended

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Epidaurus_Theater.jpg

•plays began early in the day

•lasted until the sun began to set

•actors wore lightweight masks

change characters quickly

easier to portray women

•action was song and dance

•performed by men and boys called the chorus

•a member of the chorus stepped forward and recited the first solo lines

•first actor…Thespis

The Greeks gave us the basis of our modern theater. Terms and concepts such as scene, criteria, theater, tragedy, comedy, chorus, thespian, and drama all come from the Greeks. The way we view most of our theatrical events was formed by the Greeks during their golden age.