History of Theater

The theater in its full form came into being in Classical Greece. At that time, the theater was part of a religious festival and so included a number of ritual elements, several of which have been modified for use in theater ever since. The revival of classical learning in the Renaissance included a revival of Greek plays and certain ritual elements in different form. The theater of today is often profit-centered and secular but still makes use of Greek dramatic principles in many cases. The physical theater has changed greatly, as has the

relationship between the theater and the society of which it is a part. Roman theater developed from Greek traditions carried over in the Hellenic period and then transformed to fit the Roman social structure and Roman sensibilities. The two theaters have similarities and also differences. They often use the same myths as source material and give those myths different treatment. The Roman theater also developed new theatrical forms and genres which extended what the Greeks had performed.

In Greek mythology, Dionysus was a bastard son of Zeus. The mother of Dionysus is variously named depending on the source, and some have said she was Demeter, or Io, and some Diane, and still others Lethe. The most common story has it that Zeus disguised himself as a mortal and had a secret affair with Semele ("moon"), the daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. Zeus's wife, Hera, was jealous. She disguised herself as an old neighbor and advised

of Dionysus. The slope served as the theatron, or "seeing place." Below this was a flat area called the orchestra ("dancing place") on which was an altar to Dionysus called a thymele. Over time, this would become a permanent structure. The auditorium was now a semicircle of stadiumlike stone seats on the hill, going up to the retaining walls of the Acropolis. This structure could hold at last 14,000 people. The orchestra was circular, about 65 feet in diameter, and this was used as the performance space. The side opposite the audience was known as the skene, or "tent," and it is from this that we get the word scene. This tent was a place to which the actors would go when finished or where they could change their costumes. Later, the skene would be changed into a structure perhaps 100 feet long and two stories high. It may have had three doors opening onto the acting area, and the roof could be used as an acting area for the gods to appear. most of the scenes in Greek plays take place outdoors. Greek theater was non-representational, and when machines were needed to fly in images of the dead or other elements, the ropes and wires showed. The method of performance was traditional and formalized. There were four type

Category: Arts - H