23/02/15

1.       When were ancient Greek plays performed?

Greek plays were performed only during religious festivals. They took play in a public space, half-circle shaped outdoor theaters. Only the cities citizens (all male) were allowed in the audience.

2. How many years ago was this?

2350 years ago

3. What different types of plays were performed?

The three genres of drama were comedy, satyr plays, and most important of all, tragedy.

4. What is a traditional Greek Theatre called?

Theatre buildings were called a theatron.

5. What shape was the theatre?

The theaters were large, open-air structures constructed on the slopes of hills. They consisted of three main elements: the orchestra, the skene, and the audience.

6. Find a picture of a traditional Greek Theatre for your blog.

7. Why were the theatres built this way?

The shape allowed sound to be transmitted well and you can see the audience from all angles.

8. What different scenic elements are there?

Embracing Minimalism

Setting the Skene

Evolving Elements

Getting Technical

9. Who sat on the seats at the front?

the front seats are reserved for the priests...especially the seat of honour was reserved for the high priests of Dionysos

10. Could women take part in, or attend the plays?

No, only male could take part

11. Name some of the Greek playwrights and their plays.

Sophocles; 497 – 405 BC

Ajax. (440BC)

Antigone. (442BC)

Aeschylus: Born Elefsina  525BC

1.     The Persans (472BC)

2.     The Seven against Thebes (467BC)

Euripides : Born 480BC Halandi, Athens. Died 406BC

1.     Rhesus (450BC)

2.       Alcestis (438BC)

Aristophes: Born Athens 452 BC, Died A gina 385BC

1.     The acharnians

2.     The Knights

12. What did the audience throw at the actors who performed badly?

They would sometimes throw rotten vegetables if there was a bad performance. If it was good however, they might throw money. They also stomped their feet to applaud the actors, rather than clap their hands.

13. What did the actors wear?

Boots if they were playing tragic roles

14. How did the audience sat at the back of the large theatre hear anything?

The shape of the amphitheatre allowed sound to travel directly to every area of the stage and there was a stone wall at the back of the theatre allowing an echo to bounce back and the people at the back would hear.

15. Who is Dionysus?

Dionysus had a strange birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was a mortal woman, Semele, the daughter of king Cadmus of Thebes, and his father was Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus' wife, Hera, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant.

16. Why is he important to Greek Theatre?

He supplied fun to the characters, allowing that balance between staying grounded and having fun or being happy.

17. What is a Greek chorus?

The chorus of Greek plays were made up of twelve people who dance, sing or act in unison.

18.  What purpose to the Chorus have in the performance?

They used the chorus as the lighting, sound and setting. The chorus helped to shape the piece for the audience.

19. How and why were masks used?

Masks were changed alongside the characters emotions, Greek plays used the masks to portray the different emotions to the audience by changing the expression on the mask instead of the character.

20. What were the masks made of?

The masks were made from organic materials like stiffened linen, leather, wood, or cork, with the wig consisting of human or animal hair.

TYPE OF MEDIA	EXAMPLE OF USE IN PERFORMANCE	POSITIVES OF USING IT…	NEGATIVES OF USING IT…
VIDEO CAMERA	You could film the scene and project it on the big screen rather than have it live	It can be more interactive for the audience to find the video rather than have it handed to them.	Some people may not have internet or mobile phones to watch the video so they could miss out on a crucial part of the piece.
MOBILE PHONES	If it was a modern play you could text each other and put the texts on a projector so you can see what people are texting each other.	It will be more realistic than saying the texts out loud which is another option.	It may be hard to get the equipment that has the ability to do that.
RADIO	Use it for sound effects that we would have used tracks for instead.	It can be a part of a scene particularly a house scene when the radio can be in the corner of the room.	Interferences can come through radio and It might be hard to get the sound we want onto a radio and into the scene.
TABLETS/IPADS	Used as the lighting for the piece since they would give off stronger light than a mobile phone	Can help modernize an traditional play as well as create an eerie atmosphere due to bright although lack of light	Battery life on tablets can differ and if one dies it could ruin the atmosphere. Also it might be hard to turn on and off the lights on command.
MAGAZINES	If you’re trying to address a certain topic you can put a magazine on the chair of the audience and get them to see what you see.	Could be a lot simpler than reading it aloud to the audience especially if you’re a poor reader.	People have different reading speeds so it could be hard to get them to all read at the same time.

(a) What do we mean by the phrase 'multimedia in performance'?

It means the use of media in performance such as film and video to help in the creation of a performance.

(b) Try to think of show you have seen at the theatre that has used multimedia. (If you saw summer folk as part of Common Ground then you could write about this...)

What type of multimedia was used?

The multimedia used in summer folk was headphones.

Did it enhance the performance? How and why?

It did enhance the performance because it was as though we were inside the head space of the actors, it was as though they were listening to the music because it reflected their emotions but we could hear it and understand their feelings too. I feel the whole thing really help enhance the relationship between the characters and the audience.

Multimedia in performance: 

Antingone's Family Tree 

1.   After reading the synopsis, I feel the story is really tragic but perhaps a bit unrealistic, although it is understandable that Antigone would kill herself if she’s being trapped in a cave to starve to death and that Haemon would too because of his love, I feel that when the Queen killed herself it was a bit hasty and unnecessary because it becomes frustrating that everyone’s reaction to the events is suicide. Other than that, I think the plot line is very suited to the time era and sounds very interesting to watch or read.

2.   Why do you think Sophocles wrote this play?

I think Sophocles wrote the play so people can realize the impact of their decisions on other people and the suffering it would bring in the end. I think family is a key theme in this play because in the end the king loses his whole family because he was so stuck in doing things his own way, I feel the moral is to be open minded and less stubborn.

3.   Why do you think the Greek audiences might have wanted to see this play?

I think people might have wanted to see this play because of the whole drama aspect of it, from what I know greek lives were very structured and to see such a disorientated family would have appealed largely to that audience