Glimpses of Greek theatre
K S Sivakumaran
Greek Theatre was fascinating then and even now. Let's have some
glimpses on it to understand the origin of theatre.
Let us pose a question: Was the appeal of Greek Theatre more audio
oriented than visual? The first thing we should remember is that the
Greek audience was highly knowledgeable on plays. Greek Drama was very
conscious of its place and time as well as its duties. .Therefore it is
not wise to say emphatically that the appeal of the Greek Theatre was to
the ear and not to the eye, although at one level this belief seems to
be true.
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Theatre of Dionysus |
At the same time there are a few factors that support the idea that
the Greek Theatre was basically visual. What are they? There was no
lighting, no costume, no facial expressions (the players used masks),
plays were performed in broad daylight, actors used mouth pieces (this
is an important factor which favours the 'audio' attribute), the
theatres were acoustically constructed were some factors.
But if we examine the structure of the Greek Theatre we will find
that it was constructed in terms of visual beauty, exact dimensions,
scientific proportions marked the construction of the Greek theatre. The
aesthetic quality of the physical structure too should be taken into
account. The mathematical science which the Greeks developed contributed
to the meticulous attention paid to the proportions and that was
considered 'beauty' but at the same time the sound of acoustics was also
developed simultaneously.
We may say safely that the Greek Theatre was both audio and visual
oriented. We must also remember that the profession of acting was taken
more seriously. The acting was essentially visual and it was also audio-centred
because the of the distance between the audience and the proscenium The
actors however were limited in number. They wore masks to exaggerate the
mood or expression so that the audience in far distance could identify
the tempo of the play by the suggested masks used. To increase the
height on the stage the players used 'cothurini' (heavy hoes) mainly to
project themselves. They also used 'onkos' (a projection on the head) If
there was no physical gesture it was because of the distance between the
players and the audience. It was pointless in pursuing physical gesture.
The theatre was visual too. It was true that the players wore a kind of
padding and their movements were stiff, but this did not hamper the
movement of the play because the audience already knew the subject
matter of the play to follow its course.
As a matter of fact there was no stage as such in ancient Greek
theatre. There was only an open space known as the 'orchestra'. Neither
were stage settings. We understand that the whole population turned up
to see the stories they already knew being enacted. The audience at the
Greek plays sustained interest at various levels. This shows that both
visual and audio aspects played their parts in ancient Greek Theatre. To
sustain interest there was the; chorus' accompanied by instrumental
musical accompaniment. We learn that there was a particular rhythmic
movement for each mood in the play. There was also the voice projection.
The plays were performed in a valley with hills on three sides. To
project their voices well the actors had long hours of voice training.
They used large jars also so that the voice could re-bounce on the
jars...
One other point: the Greek audience was not a disciplined lot and
they could not sit through listening all the time. They wanted action.
The women and children were particularly restless. The people wanted the
masks worn too should be realistically made... Slight movements and
gestures would have made the people to look. There the visual element
comes through.
So, we may say that the ancient Greek Theatre was a combination of
both elements- visual and audio components.
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