Name: Thespis, Athens, and The Origins of Greek Drama: Crash Course Theater #2
Uploaded: 2019-05-05T14:08:55.000Z
Duration: 10 min 24 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hey there. I'm Mike Rugnetta,
this is Crash Course Theater,

and today we're traveling to ancient Greece to uncover the origins of Western drama. Right, Dionysus?

He's... He's still hung over.
My dude, this is your episode. You gotta get up!

If we believe the ritualism theory from last episode,

then eons of religious or quasi-religious rituals eventually birthed drama.

Well, it has to do a bunch with
our grape-loving friend over here.

By the 6th century BCE, Dionysus had become
a very popular God in Greece,

According to some maybe true, maybe not reports, women participated in a ritual

where they'd run through the countryside,
tear apart some animal, and then, come home.

And if you want to know more about it, you can check out "The Bacchae" by Euripides. It is great.

Whether or not that happened, we do have good evidence that in the 6th century BCE,

some less wild rituals celebrating Dionysus
spread through Greece.

One of the most popular involved
a procession from Eleuthera to Athens,

where worshipers lofted a giant phallus and sang songs called dithyrambs in praise of... you know who.

And one theory about those dithyrambs actually
is that eventually they evolved into theater,

when singers started acting out the action
instead of just singing it.

Aristotle and his followers think that sooner or later,
a singer stepped out of the dithyramb chorus

and started acting out individual characters.

This actor was called Thespis.
Like, actually, that was his name,

and that's where we get the noun "thespian".

Thespis learned to switch between characters, and to enhance the effect, he got the bright idea to use masks.

This was Greek tragedy in its earliest form.
One actor paired with a chorus.

It still sounded a lot like a dithyrambs or like a bard reciting a portions of epics as banquet entertainment,

but the direct impersonation of a song's
characters made it different.

adding actors and architectural elements 
for about 150 years.

Tragedy, by the way, derives from
the Greek words for goat and song,

which may have had to do with animal sacrifices
that were made during the festivals.

Or it may just be another reference to satyr.

Theater eventually gets institutionalized in Athens.

Late in the sixth century BCE, pre-democracy Athens was ruled by a tyrant named Peisistratus.

Peisistratus came to power through violence,

but once he was in charge, he wanted
to unite and strengthen the city.

He decided that festivals, particularly those in praise of Dionysus, would be a good way to get everyone on board

So in the 530s BCE, he expanded
one of the God's pre-existing spring festivals

and turned Athens into city Dionysia
with a theater competition at its center.

Now, this festival wasn't only about theater,

it was also about reaffirming Athens
as a source of pride and power.

It lasted five or six days and included a lot of events: military and political leaders poured out libations,

tribute from cities of the Athenian Empire
was displayed on stage.

Names of men who greatly
benefitted Athens were read out.

Children of soldiers who had died in war and had now reached maturity were brought on stage.

The theater competition took place
in an outdoor amphitheater

in front of a crowd of about 14,000 spectators.

That likely included the whole range of Athenian society, even women and slaves,

But of course, only male citizens could perform
in the chorus or vote for Best Play.

The contest was between three different playwrights each had to submit a tetralogy a four-part work.

The first three parts were linked tragedies 
and the fourth part was a satyr play

which was lewd and usually
involved a lot of prop penises.

In 486 BCE, a comedy competition was added.

Once competing playwrights were chosen ,they were matched with a prominent Athenian citizen,

Our big spender was called the choregos, and it was his job to assemble the chorus hire the flute player,

and buy the masks or any other set furniture,
like a bed or a throne.

The playwright usually did the jobs that we now associate with director, composer, and set designer.

Sometimes they even acted in their own work,
alongside other performers.

There may have been up to three actors 
on stage and then the chorus.

Unfortunately, none of the music from these shows remains, but there are some painted vases

that suggests what productions may have looked like.

Fun fact, the chorus would sometimes dance.

I wonder how hard it is to high kick in a toga.

For a look at the theater structure itself, 
let's go to the thought bubble.

The theater of dionysus was an outdoor amphitheater built into the Athenian hillside.

You can still visit the ruins today. Its first incarnation might not have had seats.

But eventually, they were added
wood first and then stone.

The seated section was known
as the Theatron or seeing place.

The chorus performed on a flat part 
called the Orchestra,

and in the center of the Orchestra
was the Thymele or Altar.

At some point, a dressing hut
called a Skene was also built,

With only two or three actors playing every role,
you got to change masks pretty often.

There were several ways on and off stage
known as Paradoi, including two side entrances,

so big Choruses could march on and off when needed.

There was also a place on top of the Skene, where an actor playing a God could appear and descend in a cart,

which was called the God in the machine
or The Deus Ex Machina,

Maybe you're wondering why might a playwright
need a god to descend from the heavens.

Well sometimes, you write your way into a situation
and you can't write yourself out.

So it's pretty helpful to have Zeus or Apollo
come on down and make everything right.

All of the actors wore masks made of linen
with hair attached.

So they probably looked pretty frightening, especially,
the one of Oedipus with blood all around the eyes.

Tragic actors also wore robes
and platform shoes called Cothurni.

So just imagine a lot of big sweeping gestures,
and trying not to trip.

Thing is no less terrifying from the inside either.

So during the dithyramb contest,
after each playwright presented his Tetralogy,

a group of 10 randomly chosen citizens 
would select the winner,

who was honored with an ivy wreath, 
sacrificial animals, and a big banquet.

The Athenians took this contest very seriously. And if any funny business was suspected, there were lawsuits.

Tragedy hits golden age in the 15th century Athens:

first, with the works of Aeschylus,
then Sophocles and Euripides.

because papyrus disintegrates
and invading hordes kept burning libraries.

Aeschylus wrote as many as 90 plays,
but we have only seven.

Sophocles wrote 120, but we have only seven.

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Thespis, Athens, and The Origins of Greek Drama: Crash Course Theater #2

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