Chapter 2: Theatre Beginnings
We typically date the beginning of formal theatre in ancient Greece in the fifth century BCE. It was at that time that theatre activities took on specific, identifiable conventions (ways of doing certain things) which were recorded and dated. However, theatre has existed in some recognizable form for more than 2,500 years.
In a time before the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Egyptian gods ruled the land. Osiris was the god of goodness who ruled with wisdom and concern for the people. But his brother, Set, grew jealous and murdered him. The body of Osiris was cut into a thousand pieces and scattered throughout the land. The wife of Osiris and their son, Isis and Ap-uat respectively, searched through the land and collected the pieces of his body. When the body was reassembled, Osiris was resurrected and became the god of the underworld.
In a document estimated to date from approximately 2,000 BCE, in the Egypt of the Pharaohs, we have an outline description of a religious ritual which contains the elements necessary to be called theatre. The play goes something like this:
A procession of priests and worshipers leaves the palace of Pharaoh, being led by an actor portraying the son of Osiris, Ap-uat.
The procession carries with them something similar to what we would call a float in a parade. The float represents the sacred boat of Osiris. It is a central figure in the procession and is guarded as it passes along the procession route.
At a given point along the procession route, other actors attack the boat. They represent the enemies of Osiris. The forces of Ap-uat, guarding the boat, drive off the enemies.
The procession and float continue along the prescribed route each day for three days. The procession represents the search for the body of Osiris. Each day, the route proceeds from the palace of Pharaoh and returns to the palace at the end of the parade.
After the third day of the procession, there is a final scene in which Osiris appears as a living god, resurrected from the dead. He appears in the sacred boat. His appearance is a special blessing to the people of the land, for his resurrection signifies their eventual resurrection from the dead as well. Death is conquered by the resurrected god.
In the country of Israel, from approximately 1,100 BCE, we find the literary-dramatic work of The Song of Songs (or The Song of Solomon).
King Solomon is touring the land one day, surveying his fields and vineyards, when he meets the Shulamite, a beautiful young woman. Their love for each other is immediate and strong.
The earliest texts include marginal notations designating speaker. The passages of the text are delivered by an actor portraying Solomon, an actress portraying the Shulamite maiden, and a chorus referred to as the Daughters of Jerusalem.
The passages tell of the lovers’ meeting, of their delight with one another, of a time when they were separated and the maiden was afraid she had lost Solomon, and of their strong love for each other. The passages of the text are believed to have been delivered over the eight-day wedding feasts of ancient Israel.
The Book of Job (in the Hebrew Bible) is said to date from the fifth century BCE but is based upon an earlier Babylonian myth from about 3,000 BCE. The Hebrew poetry is grouped into a dialogue where the readers speak as the characters Job, Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad. The opening and closing sections also include dialogue assigned to the God of the Hebrews and to Satan.
In the opening scene, God directs Satan’s attention to Job as an example of a good man. Satan suggests that Job is good only because God has blessed him with wealth and family. God then gives Satan permission to test Job’s goodness (Satan can take away the wealth, the family, even Job’s health, but he cannot take Job’s life).
Satan moves quickly to rob Job of his wealth and family, but Job remains faithful to the Living God and trusts that God has a purpose for the loss. Then Satan attacks Job’s body, causing ugly and painful boils to appear. But again, Job does not lose his patience or his temper or his trust in God.
Job’s friends then come to visit. Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad (friends of Job) believe what was commonly believed in ancient times. God blesses the good with wealth and long life; God punishes the wicked with loss and pain. By this wisdom, Job must have sinned against God since such calamity has come into his life. The dialogues of the text are the friends’ attempts to persuade Job to repent of his sins. But since Job has not sinned, he refuses to repent.
In a final scene, God appears to Job directly. God questions Job, and reminds Job that God has created the entire universe; everything is created according to God’s plan and maintained under God’s care. Job’s health and wealth are then returned to Job.
The Egyptian procession tells the story of the death and resurrection of Osiris. The Song of Songs celebrates human love. The Book of Job attempts to examine suffering in light of a benevolent god. These are instances of theatre that pre-date the formal theatre of the ancient Greeks.
But how did theatre actually begin? According to scholars, there are two separate activities from which theatre began. The first of these activities is dance. The second of these activities is re-enactment (a form of story-telling). These two theories will be discussed separately.
The Dance Theory
Humans dance.
As early humans moved about their daily lives, they were conscious of the rhythms of life. There were the continuous cycles of day and night and of the seasons of the years. There was the cycle of life: birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and death. Their hearts beat within their chests, providing a rhythm of life.
One man walks along a path. Another man walks with him. The two men walk in step with each other, and a new kind of energy is created. There is something more than two men walking, there is two men walking as one.
The two men come across two others, and they convince the other two to join them in unison. After they have walked a while, one of the men adds a hop after so many steps. Dance is born.
A woman chops wood for the fire. Another grinds corn to make bread. The woman grinding corn listens to the sounds she creates, and matches her rhythm with the woman chopping wood. Something new is created in the synchronous movement of the two. Percussion is born.
An old man laughs. His laugh is deep and low. His daughter laughs. Her laughter is high and lyrical. Her child is young and learning the language of the tribe. The child mimics the grandfather’s laughter, and then he mimics the mother’s laughter; his voice is low, then high. He celebrates his discovery by moving around the encampment, singing through the range of pitches available to his human voice. Song is born.
Over time, the dances become fixed in style and performance. Mothers and fathers teach their daughters and sons the dances of the tribe. Percussion is added in the form of drums. Songs are created to teach the history of the tribe, the succession of their leaders, and the events which have molded the life of the tribe. Songs are created to praise the gods and seek their blessings in the hunt and in the field.
As the complexity of the culture grows, so also the complexity of the dances grows. Certain dances are set for certain events: the wedding dance, the funeral dance, the harvest dance, etc. Certain songs are enlarged and prescribed for certain dances. The funeral dance is joined with the funeral song. The harvest dance is joined with the song of thanksgiving to the god of the field.
At one such celebration of the harvest, as the dancers dance the harvest dance and sing the song of thanksgiving, one of the dancers steps forward, separating himself from the other dancers. He speaks outside the stanzas of the song. He says, “I am Dionysus.” The observers know he is not Dionysus; but, at the same time, they accept him momentarily as Dionysus.
Theatre is born.
Mimetic Action Theory
Humans tell stories.
Og and Pak are out hunting one day. Drought has affected the area; rains may come soon. The area through which they move has a few dry trees separated by a few low, scrub bushes. They have their spears and flint knives ready. They are following the tracks of a wild boar.
Og and Pak are good hunters. Both are single, without a mate, and they are brothers. They work together well when they are hunting.
Suddenly, they realize that the tracks they are following lead up to a live animal. And the wild boar is looking back at them, with fire in its eyes. Og and Pak freeze for a split second. They hold their breath in anticipation. They look at the boar; the boar looks at them. Then the boar charges, and the chase is on.
Og was in front of Pak when they spotted the boar. As they run away from the charging beast, Og follows Pak’s lead. Pak heads for two trees about twenty meters away. It will be close. The wild boar moves fast through the scrubby brush.
Pak reaches the first tree. He can hear Og panting and running behind him as well as the grunting hatred of the boar. Pak leaps up, grabs a low branch with his free hand, and slips up into the safety of the tree. As he secures himself in the branches, he notices that Og passes his tree and heads for the second. The wild boar is less than two meters behind him.
Og leaps for the tree, dropping his spear so he can pull himself up into the tree with both hands. As he lifts himself to safety, the boar leaps also, and bites Og in the buttocks.
As Og yells out in pain, and the boar circles the tree for another attack, Pak braces himself in the first tree and throws his spear with deadly accuracy. The spear sticks fast in the boar’s side. With the boar impaled but still alive, the brothers get down from the tree and are able to finish the kill quickly.
That evening, after the boar has been skinned and set over the roasting fire, and after Og has been treated by the tribal medicine woman, the tribe gathers for the evening meal. There is hope in the villagers’ eyes because the kill will provide meat and supplies to the village. No part of the boar will be wasted as the tribe awaits the gods’ blessings of the rainy season.
The tribe eats well. As they sit about after the meal, Pak gets an idea. He takes the skin of the wild boar which has been set to dry, and he drapes it over his head and shoulders. He positions himself near the edge of the light of the campfire, and he waits until the others see him. Some laugh and point, drawing the attention of the others to Pak in the boar’s skin. When Og sees him, the two brothers exchange a knowing smile. Then Pak roars like the wild boar and starts for Og.
Og limps carefully away, circling around the campfire, until everyone is cheering for the boar. Og makes faces and calls out. Pak, the Wild Boar, is gaining on his brother. Two men stand together and represent a tree. Og tries to climb up their outstretched arms, but Pak reaches him and laughingly pretends to bite his brother’s buttocks.
The men, women, and children of the tribe explode with laughter. The Wild Boar bit Og, but the tribe ate the boar.
Such stories are told again and again over the course of the life of the tribe. To the story of the Wild Boar, the tribe adds other re-enactments of other hunting achievements. The tribe goes to war with another tribe, and the victors re-create the battle for their follow tribesmen. Eventually, the battle re-enactment is punctuated with the Wild Boar episode, and an epic story is performed each year when the drought is at its worst. The re-enactment is a reminder to the tribe that hard times have been faced in the past, and overcome, and there is hope for the future of the tribe as well.
From the heroic retelling of the hunt to the comic re-enactment of some fortunate mishap, humanity has passed on customs and culture through the communication of stories.
Re-enactments develop into ritual, and ritual develops into theatre.
Action into Ritual
In the Dance Theory and in the Re-enactment (Mimetic Action) Theory, the singular events are repeated and formalized over time. Not every dance variation is adopted by the dancers. Not every story is retold. But those elements which survive from one re-creation to another evolve into ritual.
The word ritual typically has connotations of religious ceremonies, but the word can be used to mean any action which is formalized (do it this way) and repeated (do it again). In the process of becoming ritualized, the action eventually loses its connection to a single event and the ritual begins to signify many events which are similar. The dance at the wedding of Ibad and Tusani becomes the Wedding Dance. The Wedding Dance celebrates all marriages. The re-enactment of Og being bitten by the wild boar becomes the story of the Wild Boar. The Wild Boar tells the story of all the dangers the hunters face and speaks of the hope for success and survival.
The threshold into theatre is crossed when one of the dancers steps out from the other dancers to represent Tusani. The dancer is not Tusani, but the observers of the dance accept her as Tusani. The threshold into theatre is crossed when one of the men of the tribe puts on the skin of the wild boar to represent the animal. The man is not the wild boar, but the observers of the re‑enactment accept him as the wild boar.
This is often called the first requirement of theatre; it is commonly referred to as characterization. Aristotle referred to it as imitation. When one or more of the performers begins to imitate someone or something other than herself or himself, theatre begins.
The actor (one who acts) steps beyond himself or herself and becomes the thing acted. The word drama comes from the Greek drao, “a thing done.” The word theater comes from the Greek teatro, “a seeing place.”
Ritual into Competition
While the elements of theatre existed prior to the theatre of the Greeks in the fifth century BCE, we still date the beginning of theatre with them. The reason for this is because the Greeks formalized the elements of theatre into a specific art form, with rules, written down and kept for later generations. The rules were important to the Greeks because they introduced the idea of competition.
The Wedding Dance and the Tale of the Wild Boar have specific purposes and uses within their cultures. But the Greeks recognized that variation was possible – even desirable. They developed rules by which several citizens could develop variations of the Wedding Dance. The different productions could be developed, rehearsed, and performed before the assembled citizens. And one of the variations of the Wedding Dance could be declared better than the others.
And the next year, they could do it all over again.
In ancient Greece, an annual festival was celebrated to honor Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility. The drama competition became one of the offerings of the festival. At the earliest festival for which the records have survived, the winner of the drama competition was Thespis. In his honor, the name thespian has been used to designate actors for over 2,500 years.
Overview of Greek Theatre
The first play contest of existing record was held in 534 BCE. Thespis, as has been noted earlier, was the winner of that contest. He was both the playwright and the protagonist (the first speaker).
Plays were performed outdoors, beginning with first daylight and continuing all day. The early contests required the playwright/actor to develop and perform a trilogy of plays around a given theme.
There was no limit to the number of characters in the play; however, there were traditional limits to the number of actors. The earliest performances evolved from the choral odes danced and sung by the chorus. Then Thespis stepped out from the chorus and took on a character. The actor might change masks (and therefore characters) during the performance which was little more than bits of dialogue between the character and the chorus. Aeschylus added a second actor, and dialogue could be written without the assistance of the chorus. Sophocles then added a third actor, and the shift away from plays dominated by the chorus was complete.
The plays were performed in an amphitheater. Our word theatre comes from the Greek theatron (“seeing place”). The amphitheaters were built into the side of a hill; the seating area was cut out of the rock. At the base of the hillside, a somewhat circular area was formed by the stamping of the wheat after harvest. (The hillside provided a natural breeze which blew across the circular area, separating the grain from the chaff.) This circular area was called the orkestra (“dancing place”).
In the center of the orkestra, the thymele (the altar to Dionysus, god of wine and fertility) was situated.
Opposite the hillside, on the other side of the orkestra, was a stone structure called a skene (“hut” or “tent”) which served as a backdrop for the performance. The stone structure also would have provided acoustic support for the performers, helping project their voices up the hillside. It is likely that the stone structure was used to hide performers before their entrances and after their exits. It is also possible that the roof of the skene was used as an upper floor for special scenes (such as a scene between the gods).
Sophocles is credited with developing painted panels (pinakes) to provide scenic detail for his plays. Three panels were fastened together so they could stand on their own (periaktoi).
The actors performed before audiences reaching into the thousands. It is theorized that they wore platform-like shoes and perhaps something similar to shoulder pads to give themselves larger-than-life proportions. The actors wore contemporary clothing appropriate to the social class of the character. The actor playing Teiresias would have worn clothing appropriate to a seer or prophet, while the actor playing Oedipus would have worn clothing appropriate to a king.
In addition, the actors wore masks. These masks would have covered the entire head, would have designated the character in a very unique manner (to help the audience differentiate between roles since two or more roles might be played by the same actor, same voice), and would have included some sort of mouthpiece to assist in projecting the actor’s voice up the hillside.
The plays produced in competition would have been in the format of a trilogy, three plays around a theme. The only apparent trilogy to have survived is the Orestia by Aeschylus. It is possible that Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone by Sophocles might also have been performed as a trilogy.
The plays produced in competition were of the form known as tragedy. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and educator, developed the Poetics as a treatise on drama. The text which has survived deals almost exclusively with the rules of writing tragedy.
The trilogy of tragic plays would then have been followed by a satyr play – a short, comic piece which may or may not have related to the themes addressed in the earlier tragedies.
The plays were written in verse. The Greek verse was based upon the number of syllables in each line. Rhyme and meter were not required. Translations of Greek plays into English have the appearance of blank verse.
Productions were funded by wealthy Greek citizens. The producer, choregus, was probably selected by lottery during the initial stages of preparations for the next year’s festival. Playwrights often rehearsed their chorus and actors for up to six months before the festivals.
The chorus is perhaps the most distinguishing feature of Greek plays. The generally-agreed-upon number of men in a chorus is fifty; the group might split into two groups of twenty-five for strophe and antistrophe (stanza and responding stanza). The chorus spoke with a single voice, which would have required many months of rehearsals to achieve the quality of performance appropriate for a religious festival.
The chorus served as a character of the play. Sometimes the chorus would serve as the voice of the playwright, interjecting his personal thoughts and opinions into the action of the play. Sometimes the chorus would serve as the voice of the audience, speaking on their behalf in response to some comment or action of the characters.
The chorus also provided the significant portion of music and spectacle for the performance. Their lines may have been chanted or sung, accompanied by musical instruments. Their costuming and choreography would have provided a visual texture to the performance.
From this period of theatre history, thirty-two (32) plays have survived. They are the work of three playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. These three will be discussed in the following sections.
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was born in 523 BCE. He fought in the Greek army at Salamis against the Persians; he would later use that experience in his play, The Persians.
His plays are the earliest surviving texts of Greek drama. He is credited with adding a second actor or speaker (protagonist = first speaker; antagonist = second speaker).
The exact number of plays written by Aeschylus is uncertain; legend holds that he wrote seventy. Only seven plays have survived: The Suppliants, The Persians, The Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound, Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides (these last three forming the only extant trilogy, Orestia).
The world of Aeschylus was one in which the gods acted arbitrarily and without concern for human life. Humanity itself seemed locked in self-destructive rhythms and patterns. The theme of Orestia is the never-ending cycle of vengeance.
Agamemnon – Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces against Troy, is returning home following the Trojan War. His wife, Clytemnestra, has ruled in his long absence of ten years. When Agamemnon first set out for Troy, he had taken his daughter, Iphigeneia, with him, and he allowed her to be sacrificed to the goddess, Artemis. Clytemnestra has learned of the sacrifice of her eldest daughter, she has taken a lover, and she has joined with him in a plan to avenge the death of Iphigeneia. Agamemnon returns home as a victorious general and king. At the end of the play, after his wife has murdered him, his body is revealed to the audience as a demonstration of retribution.
The Libation Bearers – At least ten years have passed, and Agamemnon’s younger children have grown into young adults. His eldest child, Electra (after Iphigeneia’s death) brings libations to her father’s tomb and prays for the gods’ assistance to avenge her father’s murder. Her younger brother, Orestes – who has been living in exile for many years – returns and enlists Electra’s aid in killing Clytemnestra and her lover.
The Eumenides (the Furies) – More time has passed, and Clytemnestra’s spirit in the underworld has convinced the gods to avenge her murder by sending demon-like creatures from the underworld to torment young Orestes. Orestes appeals to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, for protection. Apollo appears and pleads Orestes’ case. Orestes confesses remorse for killing his mother, and Athena declares that his contrition is sufficient to end the cycle of revenge which has decimated the family.
The plays of Aeschylus address universal themes, and his characters are sometimes stretched to accommodate the larger vision of the playwright. The chorus often speaks with the voice of the playwright, directly commenting on the action. The plays of Aeschylus possess a stoic formality with little differentiation of characters.
According to legend, Aeschylus was killed when an eagle, mistaking his bald head for a rock, dropped a tortoise on his head. He died in 456 BCE.
Sophocles
Sophocles was born just outside of Athens in 496 BCE. He was born into a wealthy family, and he was recognized as having great artistic talent at an early age. He became a performer in a boys’ chorus and rose quickly to the rank of playwright/actor. He is credited with writing over 120 plays, and he won 24 competitions. His first victory came in 468 BCE when he defeated Aeschylus. In every play competition he entered, he never ranked lower than second.
Sophocles was the first playwright to use a third actor. This simple adjustment greatly increased the potential for scenes to be longer and continuous. One character could make an exit while another actor made an entrance, or three characters could be onstage at the same time. While Sophocles still made use of the chorus, their presence in the action was greatly reduced.
Sophocles also moved toward greater individuality and personality in his characters. He understood that different characters in a play should speak differently, use words differently, and he gave a specific task (or role) to each character in the play. This move toward greater individuality increased the humanity of his characters, their resemblance to real life individuals. Sophocles wrote his plays in a simpler form of Greek – though still in formal verse – which allowed the general audiences to relate more directly with the characters.
Sophocles also chose to write single plays which stood alone, rather than the trilogy form. Having only one play in which to tell the full story, rather than three plays, resulted in a greater sense of urgency and tension in his plays. This urgency increased the emotional impact of the plays as well, making his plays more interesting for the audience.
Of the 120 plays written, only seven plays have survived: Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Trachiniae, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus.
In the play, Electra, Sophocles takes the same legend/story source as Aeschylus used for The Libation Bearers. Electra was the middle child of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. While the play still addresses the idea of revenge, the focal emphasis is on matricide directly as Sophocles gives his full attention to the children’s murder of their mother.
Electra – After the return of Agamemnon from the Trojan War, and while chaos ravaged the palace following his murder, Electra saved her younger brother’s life (Orestes) by secreting him out of the palace and into exile. The play opens ten years later. Electra has remained in her mother’s household, a household ruled by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. Electra lives almost as a prisoner in the house but also serves as a constant reminder to her mother and Aegisthus that they have murdered king Agamemnon. At the beginning of the play, Electra is making her daily visit to Agamemnon’s tomb. She is approached by a young man who identifies himself as Orestes. Orestes has been living in exile, growing into a strong young man, so he can return and avenge the death of their father. With a friend, Pylades, Orestes will present themselves to Clytemnestra and Aegisthus as messengers bearing news of Orestes’ death. They will claim that Orestes has died in a chariot race while living in exile. Electra is thrilled by their arrival and commitment to vengeance, but she is warned to remain silent. The plan is successful, and Orestes kills first his mother and then her lover.
The play addresses the theme of matricide. While at one point Orestes appears reluctant to kill his mother, Electra is fully committed to the act. Her words spur on her brother to commit the deed. The play ends with somber celebration that justice has been achieved.
In comparison, Aeschylus dealt with large-scale stories which dealt mainly with universal issues, and Sophocles dealt with stories which dealt mainly with individual human beings facing immediate challenges. Both playwrights maintained a sense of formality and expressed the noble nature of humanity.
Euripides
Euripides was a contemporary of Sophocles, about sixteen years younger, who actually died before Sophocles in 406 BCE.
Like Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides believed that drama should be used to celebrate humanity and to help encourage people to reach beyond their perceived self-limitations. However, Euripides’ approach was somewhat different than Aeschylus and Sophocles.
His language allowed much more conversational tones through the use of a more flexible verse form. His vocabulary was more common, and his descriptive passages often addressed more mundane areas of common life. His music was drawn from contemporary sources already popular among the audience members.
The first two playwrights we have discussed attempted to educate their audiences by showing humanity in an idealized form. Orestes and Oedipus, as portrayed by Aeschylus and Sophocles, were noble men who strove to live courageously and humanely. Euripides, on the other hand, provoked his audiences to think for themselves about matters which they had taken for granted for far too long. Euripides attempted to educate his audience – to change their behaviors – by forcing them to engage issues with which they were uncomfortable. It was a risk, and he paid for his risk-taking.
His plays were often booed from the stage. Euripides was perceived as an atheist; his plays were often perceived as immoral. His plays shocked his audiences by their blatant honesty. He wrote plays which portrayed humans as they really were, not as they could or should behave.
Euripides is credited with writing approximately 92 plays; eighteen of his works have survived: Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, Hecuba, Heracles, The Suppliants, Ion, The Trojan Women, Electra, Iphigenia in Tauris, Helen, The Phoenician Women, Orestes, The Bacchae, Iphigenia in Aulis, and Cyclops.
Euripides recognized that his culture did not behave justly or nobly. His plays contain characters which often act from their emotions.
Medea – Medea has been a lover and confidante of Jason for many years, and she has born him several children. The play begins with news that Jason has married the daughter of Creon, in a political marriage, and that Creon has ordered that Medea and her children be exiled. Medea is driven mad by her jealousy and despair. She prepares a poisoned dress which Jason and her children (unknowingly) deliver to the new bride. While they are gone, she plans her escape and the death of her children. When the children return, Medea takes them inside and kills them. The play closes with Jason watching helplessly as Medea flees into exile, her own children dead inside.
Earlier, mention was made of satyr plays, which were short, comical plays which followed the performances of the tragedies in the competition. The only surviving satyr play was written by Euripides, his Cyclops.