The Roots Of Ancient Greek Theater

3 Pages 804 Words

The roots of ancient Greek theater lie in the cult of Dionysis, the god of wine and fertility. In myth, Dionysis’ followers were satyrs, drunken half-animal, half human creatures and maenads, or mad women. In ancient Greek times, Dionysis’ followers would sometimes assume these roles in their religious rituals resulting in much singing, drinking and dancing in honor of their god. Members of the dionysiac cult would always tell myths centered on their god by singing and dancing out their stories together as a chorus. They always did this until about sixth century BC, when a man named Thespis stepped out of the chorus and took the role of an actor. He acted out a Dionysiac myth through spoken dialogue rather than song creating Greek tragedy. He was considered to be the first actor and the first playwright.
Tragedies were based largely on the myths or stories of the old narrative epic poems. A chorus of twelve members and a maximum of three male actors performed these plays. In order to help the audience figure out who the performers were supposed to be, costumes and masks were used. Costumes generally were designed to show the characters social status or gender, while masks depicted emotions or age. Masks, often made of wood or cork, helped to make the actor’s voice louder as well. Unfortunately, they also completely covered the actor’s facial expressions. This setback forces performers of tragedy to depend on their gestures and voice to convey a message. When a large noisy audience was at the performance, this proved to be an extremely difficult task.
After this new form of performance was introduced to the general public, it quickly gained popularity. Its popularity leads Pisistratus to construct a theater for the performance of tragedy in Dionysus’ honor. Under Pisistratus’ rule, tragedy turned into competition for the best play in 538 BC. Soon thereafter, these theatrical performances gained new importance and meaning,...