Hellenistic Theatre Flashcards
Alexander the Great
greatest generals of all time; conquered Egypt, Alexandria named for him; culture shift from Athens to Egypt; patron of the arts, added more festivals, not all had to be dedicated to Dionysus - allowed more plays to be performed.
Hellenistic Theatre structure
Raised stage 8-13 ft, paraskenia eliminated, prosenion, episkenia with thyromata
Proskenion
1st level of stage
episkenia
2nd level of stage
thyromata
openings on episkenia, teeny tiny proscenium stages
Vitruvius
1st century BC; knowledge of theatre structure and scenic practices came from his book de Architectura
Greek Mimes
employed women in the troupes, supreme act of mimes (imitation, sculpting a character); improvised skits/scens, were actors and acrobats and juggling; very obscene, adultery (and other sexuality) was common theme, at times illustrated quite graphically; were very popular/notorious; continued theatre during brief collapse of civilization during teh dark ages
Phylakus
mimes took work to Sicily and Southern Italy
Fabula Atellana
native Italian farces “fables Atellana”; served as after pieces for longer works, eventually evolved and stood on their own, featured four stock types: bucco, pappus, maccus, and dossenus
What were the four stock types featured in Fabula Atellana?
bucco - vicious braggart; pappus - comic old man, oftentimes stupid; maccus - gluttonous fool, very greedy; dossenus - hunchback, coniver, manipulator
Trical Atelannae
tricky bits of stage business (ex. pie in face, tripping, cudgeling another character)
Pantomime
discovered by Romans, called “Italian dance”, grew alongside mimes; diff b/c it was performed solo, peaked during the time of the ROman Empire (Ceasar) 60BC, favored by the upperclass; 1 actor who acted/danced and would perform as all the characters (diff. costume changes); accompanied by a chorus who sang the libretto there were also musicians who accompanied by flute
