Theatre

• Built into the side of a hill with the ground at the foot of the hill levelled out for the stage area.
• Open to the sky: plays staged in daylight.
• Stage possibly slightly raised.
• In front of the stage was the circular orchestra, where the chorus sang and danced.
• A passageway (called the parados) ran either side of the stage to allow performers to enter and exit the orchestra.
• The seating area could hold 15000 people and sloped down to the orchestra.
• Behind the stage was an area for a stage building, called a 'skene'.
• The semi-circular bowl shape of theatres provided good views and amplified sound.
• Stone theatres were built after the 5th century.

• Most plays known today were written and performed in the 5th century BC.
• Plays developed in 6th century Athens from ritual drama performances for Dionysos.
• Plays were performed in competitions between playwrights at the annual Athenian festival of Dionysos.
• By the 5th century, tragedies and comedies being performed.
• The actors were all men.
• No more than three actors could talk to each other at one time.
• The chorus commented on the action of the play and addressed the audience more directly.
• The play would be acted out in the orchestra.
• Plays were accompanied by music.
• Actors wore masks with exaggerated features to suggest their character and to be seen.

• Three great dramatists that dominated Athenian tragic theatre in the 5th century: Aeschylus (earliest), Sophokles and Euripides.
• Euripides (Athenian) dealt with serious subjects including the horrors of war.
• Euripides plays upset Athenians as they suggested the savage treatment of enemies by Athens and were daring in the treatment of myth.
• Sophokles' plays dealt with royal and legendary families and their tragic lives e.g. King Oedipus and Electra, daughter of Agamemnon.
• Aeschylus' 3 plays, 'The Oresteia', also dealt with death of Agamemnon and how his son Orestes avenged him.

• Comedies dealt with contemporary themes and people, not myths.
• Aristophanes lived in Athens and 'wrote' during the time of the Peloponnesian War: often criticised war politicians.
• His plays discuss controversial issues e.g. role of women, value of war.
• His comedies make use of comic slaves and servants who were favourite figures in Athenian comedy.
• His are the only complete comedies from 5th century Greece.