The origin of the Théâtre Occident Al goes up with the Greek Antiquité .

Theater and religion

The theater has a religious origin: Dionysos, god of the wine of intoxication and the festival, was celebrated three times the year by “Dionysies”.

The three principal festivals of theater are Dionysies pastoral, from December to January, Lénéennes, from January in large February and Dionysies, from March to April.

Large Dionysies take place with Athens, last five days of continuation of the rising to laying down sun at a rate of an author per day. Those which entirely attend those can hear nearly twenty thousand worms without counting the Dithyrambe S (hymns)

These festivals give place to a contest of tetralogies: three tragedies and a Drama satyric. The opening of the festivities is made processions and ceremonies in the honor of Dionysos. The author having created the best part was rewarded by a goat.

The Greek theater originates in the worship of Dionysos, god of the wine and the fertility. Panegyrics, processions, dances, songs and words in worms with the glory of the Greek heroes, took place around its temple or on the Agora in the area of Corinthe.

Slowly, a specific place is integrated into the temple for the stage performances.

The tradition reports that Thespis, author of the sixth century BC which occurred close to Icaria, revolutionized the panegyrics: it introduces the first actor, the protagonist. While the chorus sings those, the actor, Thespis in fact, intercalate spoken worms. The protagonist plays all the parts. It is the primitive shape of the theater.

Eschyle introduces the deuteragonist (2nd actor) and Sophocle the tritagonist (3rd actor). This form experienced a very fast development. Indeed, as of 538 av. J. - C., Pisistrate organized the first Athenian contest of tragedy.

At times of the development of the philosophy and democracy, the theater became prone to interrogations Politique S.

But one always celebrated Dionysos with the temple. The worship remained also always present at the theater. Not only the theater always told myths and fables and always proceeded during Dionysies and Lénéennes, but moreover, the theater was organized so as to found a support for the communication with the gods…

Jane Ellen Harrison announces that Dionysos god of the Vin (drink of the easy layers) tardily replaced Dionysos god of beer (drink of the popular layers) or Sabazios , whose animal emblematic at the crétois was the Cheval (or the Centaure). It is that the Athenian beer was a beer of German wheat, trágos in Greek. Thus, the “odes with the German wheat” (tragedies) could be considered tardily, by homonymy, as of the “odes to the goats” (the animal which accompanied the god and associated with the wine at the crétois).

Course of the festivities

The first day (9 of the month) was devoted to the contests of panegyrics.

The second (10) was that of the comedies: three poets and later five presented each one of it one.

The three following days (11, 12 and 13) were reserved for the tragedy, and each one of them was devoted entire to work of the one of the three poets chosen by the archonte. Each tragic work consisted of a tetralogy, namely a trilogy (made up of three tragedies on the same subject), followed by a drama satyric.

Protagonists

In Athens, the archonte éponyme, one of the magistrates who direct the city, names the various components of the representation. It names the Chorège S, the poets and the protagonists.

The chorège is a rich person citizen. It recruits and equips the choruses. The tragic choruses are composed of twelve then fifteen choreutes and the comic choruses of twenty-four. Sometimes the chorèges provide food and wine to the spectators.

The poets are the authors of the parts.

The protagonist is one of the three actors, it recruits the second, the deuteragonist, and the third, the titragonist. All these people are men, the roles of the women being also played by citizens.

Nevertheless, the women, the Wog S and perhaps the slave S can be spectators in company of the citizens.

The poets, the choruses and the actors are paid for their service.

Ten drawn judges with the fate among the citizens decide gaining people. Besides the public tries often to influence them. These judges allot six rewards prestigious symbolic systems but: two with the best protagonists comic and tragic, two to best the chorèges comic and tragic and two with the best poets comic and tragic.

The poets receive crowns of ivy. The chorèges receive tripods which they often pose on columns in particularly attended places.

The public considers also the archonte organizing by blaming it or by making its praise.

The building

See also: Architecture of the ancient Greek theater

See also: List of ancient Greek theaters

The koilon indicates the steps, leant with the natural relief. The first rank is reserved to the spectators of mark; the places are indeed allotted according to the social categories.

The orchestrated is a beaten ground circle where place the chorus, the dancers, singers and musicians. It comprises also a furnace bridge of sacrifice.

The Proskenion is the place where the actors play, it is a narrow and long wood estrade. The skéné is a masonry which is used as slides to the actors.

The theater is organized so as to found a support for the communication with the gods. First of all, the crowns of ivy offered in reward are the symbol of Dionysos. Moreover, the large priest of Dionysos is present at the first rank, in the axis of symmetry of the koilon . The actors and this one cover the same costume as the statue of Dionysos presents in the orchestrated . The temple, located just behind the skéné and the statue of the god of the orchestrated affirm its presence.

The costumes prove this aspect. The actors carry cothurnes and large masks which can make them exceed two meters twenty. Besides these masks modify the voices while making them major and almost inhuman.

To this are added the length of the spectacle already evoked and the wine and food authorized. The public laughs, howls, whistles and applauds during the comedies and shouts of horror during the tragedies. Moreover, there was a special police force, the rhabdouques ones.

Initial fright, the theater succeeds, whose etymological translation is often “place to see”, but which is rather a place to have visions.

Accessories

the cothurnes : shoes out of wooden with very thick sole which made it possible to the actors to be distinguished by all the public.

Masks : to see below.

Costumes

Ancient Greece knows already the concept of stage costume: the actors cover clothing which is not those of the daily life. Those vary according to the time and the kind (tragedy, satyric comedy, drama) but their role remains identical: it is a question of facilitating the identification of the actors. Sometimes indeed, the same actor can play several parts within the same part, very different. The texts of the parts do not include/understand any indication of costume, but it is possible to raise of relevant allusions in the text itself. There exist also illustrated representations, very many for the comedy: paintings on vases or figurine.

The tradition allots to Eschyle the introduction costumes into the tragedy. Those can be very varied. Thus, in Choéphores , Electra wears a mourning clothes. The same character carries haillons in the Electra of Euripide. In Andromaque , Hermione states itself to be crowned of gold and carries a péplos multi-coloured Spartan. In the comedy Acharniens , Aristophane Dicéopolis watch excavating in the store of accessories of Euripide: one finds there haillons them Œnée, “the crasseuse défroque one” of Bellérophon, the rags of Télèphe or the wrecks of Ino. The actors go barefeet or fitted κόθορνοι/ kothornoi , kind of boots, sometimes laced, sometimes equipped with pointed ends. They do not have platform soles. The male comic costume often consists of a chiton (tunic) and a coat courts, letting see an enormous false phallus, during and equipped with a nipple vermilion. It happens that the actor also uses stuffings on the level of the buttocks and belly.

The tragic choreutes wear clothing which identifies their trade or their social condition. In Begging Them , the chorus represents the Danaïdes, which wear sumptuous cruel dresses. In Ajax , they are sailors of Salamine. In the dramas satyric, the chorus is always composed of Satyre S: they naked, are equipped with an enormous false phallus in erection. In the comedy, the basic costume is decorated accessories: small wings, for example, for the chorus of the Wasps .

Masks

Lastly, all the troop carries a mask, whose Aristote acknowledges to be unaware of the origin. One of the possible origins would come from the death mask mycénien, moulded on the face of the corpses. Indeed the mask is the symbol of the supernatural position. ( Poetic , 1449b). According to the Welded , they derive from the innovation of Phrynichos, happening the face with the white, then with the dyeing of pourpier. The old masks cover only the face. Thereafter, they increase towards the top of cranium, fate to being able to fix wigs at it or on the contrary, to appear a cranium bald person. The mask is bored with the eyes and the mouth, to make it possible to the actor to move and to be expressed. In spite of the indications of Old on this subject, modern experiments showed that the mouth of the mask could not be used as speaking pipe.

The tragic mask is rather realistic. The mask of the drama satyric door a beard, ears pointed and a cranium bald person. The comic mask can be very varied. Sometimes, it caricatures a contemporary, well-known character spectators. In the Riders , Aristophane joke on the mask of the actor representing Cléon: according to him, the man is so ugly that no manufacturing masks wanted to represent it. Very quickly, of the types of masks appeared following the character. At 2nd century a. J. - C., the Onomastikon of Julius Pollux draws up a list of 76 masks: 44 comic models, 28 tragic models and 4 models of drama satyric.

The masks had various colors which made it possible to the spectators to recognize the characters. (red for the satyrs, white for the women…).

Because of the brittleness of their material (wood, leather, wax, etc), the original masks have almost all disappeared. On the other hand, we preserve an good idea of their appearance thanks to their reproduction out of terra cotta. Moreover lower dimensions, these reproductions could be dedicated like ex-voto in temples, deposited in tombs or more simply used like objects of decoration.

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