The Greek Amphitheatre is where all your plays and
major events would occur. All kind of things were held at this place: Plays, fighting events, and sometimes executions.
But for now, all I'll talk about is the Arts...
As you might know, Greece was famous for the Arts. During the Spring, there
would be a grand festival honoring the Greek God of Wine, Dionysus. Each day, there would be 3 tragedies, a satyr, and
a comedy each by one playwright (or someone who writes plays.)
Now, this might seem like a lot. But, the plays back then were a lot shorter
then moderen or even Shakespearian plays that we know today. They would have to quit at dusk though, because back then, there
was no lighting, so you had to go home.
The festival would last 3 days, each to a specific playwright. This festival
was highly competitive, seeing as the playwright who won best play would get a cash prize! However, they managed to keep it
religious. They did this by doing a dance to honor Dionysus at end.
The Amphitheatre had a very organized structure and consited of places:
The Orchestra, the skene, and a main theatre called the Koilon. In the orchestra there was a place called a Thymeli, which
is where the altar to Dionysus would be and later where the chorus would be. The orchestra used to be the place where the
play would be preformed, but was later moved to the skene.
The skene could have as many as three places for the actors to enter. 2
of them were behind the skene, known as the Paradoi. The other part of the skene was used as the backround and was usually
decorated. Since there was no curtains, all of the acting had to be in one place. Generally, the chorus would tell of actions
and news happening outside of the main setting. Another time, a messanger from inside the play would be the one to relay the
news (since violence was hardly ever used.)
The place where the audience would sit was called the Koilon. It was shaped
into a semi circle, giving the amphitheatre the shape and from that you would think of when someone says "amphitheatre."
Since there where no microphones to use, the actors would usually wear
mask to make their voices carry out. Machinery was also not invented yet, and they had to make due (some of the machinery
used were the Aeorema, the Periactoi, and the Ekeclema.)
Women weren't allowed to be actors in plays. So, instead, men played the
female parts (Imagine a kissing scene... that had to be awkward...) The men would wear womens clothing and wear stilts to
give them a more femine appearance.
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