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Classical Comedies. Theater Masks. Comedy in Greece. “ Glue of Democracy” Athenian citizens could attend for free Theoric Fund Two main purposes: Entertain the audience Teach/inform the audience Divided into Old, Middle and New comedy Most of Middle comedy has been lost - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Classical Comedies
Theater Masks
Comedy in Greece“Glue of Democracy”
Athenian citizens could attend for freeTheoric Fund
Two main purposes:Entertain the audience
Teach/inform the audience
Divided into Old, Middle and New comedyMost of Middle comedy has been lost
Roman Comedy most like New comedy
Comedies would be performed at one of two festivals:Laenaea
Less prestigious
Comedy based festival
City/Great Dionysia
City/Great Dionysia
Named after the god of theater: Dionysus
Held in Theater of Dionysus not far outside of Athens
14,000-18,000 attendees
Five days long
City/Great Dionysia
Started 10th day of Elephebolion (March/April)
First had comedies in 486 BC
Day I: Great procession, Communal beef supper
Day 2:Prayers and Libations, Procession of tribute, Procession of ephebes, Civic business
Days 2-4: three authors get to showcase their work:
Three tragedies in a theme
Ex: Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus
Satyr play
Slapstick and crude humor
Day 5: Comedies
DithyrambsChorus songs that tell story
Structure of Greek PlaysPrologue, -1st scene or scenes. Everything before first entrance of chorus. Farsical, often irrelevant to main plot
Parodos-initial entrance of chorus. Sing while they enter. Stay even if not singing
Episodes- that which follows the ode. Acts. Generally in speech, though it could be songs, too. All characters but chorus leave stage at end of episode
Stasimon-Choral odes sung between episodes. Strophe and Antistrophe.
Parabasis-“coming forward” of the chorus. Chorus gives advice to the audience, unconnected to anything in the play. Often voice of playwright, but could just be something that would be popular.
Old Comedy
Most famous Old Comedy author: Aristophanes
Highly satirical
Mostly written in Athens
Characters had symbolic and political valueCharacter could represent actual political figure
Character could represent something more vague, like the people, or disbelief
New ComedyOrigins/Underpinnings of Comedy
Comedy=Komos (revel)+aoide (song)
Purpose: uplift an audience
Means of doing so?
Upsetting social order
Proper realignment of the social orderCharacters receive their proper rewards
Comedy of MannersForm of drama that plays on the manners and fashions of a particular social class or set
Plot and characters are shallow and repetitive from play to playAlways ends happy.
Athens was now subjugated to the Macedonians after the death of Alexander the Great
Most famous author: Menander
Roman Comedy
Very similar to New Comedy, but with some more crude jokes
Often reinterpreted or translated from Greek plays into Latin
Clever slaves as trusted advisors/skilled manipulators
Most famous authors: Terence and Plautus
Were performed at games and celebrations with many other distractions, not at festivals
Costumes/scenery
Would wear clothes appropriate for the social class of the character
Theater Masks over-sized and over-exaggerated
Would resonate sound like a bull-horn so the actors could be heard
Scenery consisted of three doorways-nothing else
Limited props