Greek Theatre Essay

Introduction to Drama

‘Greek theatre began in festivals of religious ritual but developed into the art form that shaped theatre and drama in the western world.’
Describe and analyse the processes and historical developments that validate this assertion.

Greek theatre initially began with religious festivals, with songs, chants, and dances that in time started the revolution of drama. Greek theatre helped develop and influence theatre and drama throughout the world particularly within western society and has helped create one of the greatest play writes in history William Shakespeare. From the religious rituals and celebrations of Dionysus, a powerful and worshiped god, with hymn like songs and chants in his honor known to be called
It was said that Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, a mortal women, to whom Zeus killed with his lightning bolt while Dionysus was still in her womb. However, Zeus then rescued him and put him through a ‘second birth’ by placing Dionysus into his thigh. As part of the Greek religious ritual, in honor of the great god Dionysus, the Athenians devoted a whole week in March, for public celebrations. These annual celebrations would consist of dances and chants performed to the god and were usually performed whilst intoxicated from the ‘sacred wines’ brought upon by Dionysus. The procession eventually grew larger in popularity to become competitions, which were held and performed in front of a large Audience. These competitions included music performances, songs and dances as well as the usual Athletics much like the events seen at the Olympics. It was said that ancient Greek theatre “…a mixture of myth, legend, philosophy, social commentary, poetry, dance, music, public participation and visual splendor.” (Cohen 64). These songs, spiritual songs, about Dionysus grew to be known as Dithyrambs, which have arguably been one of the largest influences in the creation of
The Dithyramb was performed in honor of the god Dionysus during the annual festival in March, as purely part of their religious ceremony. Much like a modern Christian hymn in mass, the Dithyramb tells the stories and adventures of Dionysus. This ‘hymn’ was led by the leader of a band, who was accompanied by a group of 50 male dancers dressed as ‘satyrs’. Satyrs are a group of male companions of the gods Pan and Dionysus, and they are often associated with a sex drive, to which artists portrayed them with ‘oversized appendages’. As years progressed the Dithyramb became somewhat of a contest, consisting of 10 choruses with at least 50 men and 10 boys, giving the total number of performers to 1000. A magistrate would organize the festival, decide the years famous poets and play writes and their actors, to which a treasurer would pay for as well as their prizes, where as a highly respected, yet wealthy local would pay for props and costumes. At this point the Dithyramb failed to concern itself merely on the adventures of Dionysus and branched out, focusing on other subjects from all periods of Greek mythology. Dithyramb was ‘…under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and the innovations of the poet Arion, it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre.’As the Dithyramb evolved, another genre branched out to form what is known as a ‘Tragedy’ and created