Greek Theatre

Ancient Greek theatre grew out of festivals honouring the gods and goddesses. Around 700 BC, at the same time ancient Athens rose to political and military power, it became the cultural centre of the festival of Dionsysis. In Athens, during this festival, men used to perform songs to welcome Dionysus. Plays were only presented at City Dionysia festival. Out of the Dionysia developed three dramatic genres: tragedy in the late 6th century BC, comedy in 486 BC and the satyr play. The theatres were built on hillsides in the open air and could often hold more than 18,000 spectators.

The theatres were open air and built in a semi-circular shape with rows of tiered stone seating around it. The shape of the theatres gave everyone in the audience excellent viewing and also meant they could hear the actors well too. In the centre of the theatre was a circular dancing floor (orchestra), with an altar for sacrifices dedicated to Dionysus.

The stage was a raised area within this circle. All the actors were men. They wore large masks that exaggerated facial features and emotions. The mouth hole was large to help amplify the voices. Greek plays were either comedies or tragedies. Tragedies were often about the past, whereas comedies tended to be about current and everyday life. Actors in comedies wore bright colours. Actors in tragedies wore dark colours.

More than set pieces, the Greek plays passed news about military and political business, politicians and, in the case of satyr plays, celebrated drunkenness, sexuality, pranks and props.

The main playwrights were Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophes. Sophocles wrote one of the most famous tragedies which are Oedipus and Antigone.  Aristophes was famous for being a comic playwright. Euripides was one of the greatest authors of Greek tragedy.