Essay On Greek Theatre

The theatre began when the ritual played a role in the development of drama in the days of early people. The ancient societies used ritual to represent their understanding of the human condition and of the world around them . The ritual had a religious purpose, and instructive purpose. It was also a form of entertainment. There were common elements found in ritual such as music, dance and mask and costume.

In the early years of the fifth century B.C, Greek literature, theatre, and culture began to develop, and great advances were made in the sciences and the arts. The world of Greek theatre was affected greatly where it begins featuring two plays such as Greek tragedy and Greek comedy. The standard heroic epics of previous centuries were replaced by cultured tragic and comedic plays with character development and elaborated plots. These two types of plays were staged in much differed content. For the tragic plays, they were dramatic, and dealt in serious topics such as knowledge, and morality. It was not necessarily sad. On the other hand, comedic plays were intended to provoke laughter and to entertain. Some of the better comedic …show more content…
In Greek theatre, the costumes and masks were exceedingly important. The actors wore masks to indicate their characters in which Greek define mask as a persona. Mask was likely used in ceremonial rites and celebrations such as one showing a mask of the god suspended from a tree with decorated robe hanging below it. The masks from fifth century display a helmet-like mask which covered the entire face and head .The holes can be founded on the mask for the eyes and a small hole for the mouth, joined with wig. The masks looked natural in tragedy while in comedy they could make it ugly features in order to provoke laughter. The actors spoke in very loud voices so that it could be heard by the audience who came to the performances. The outdoor theatre put the audience at the relief of the