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A Glimpse of Theatre History

 

ANCIENT GREEK THEATRE ARCHITECTURE

One cogent theory about the evolution of the peculiar Greek theatre architecture is based on the notion that people congregated around threshing floors at harvest time and performances irrupted.

The theory is a reasonable one. If the threshing floor were near a hillside, like the one on the right, a naturally raked seating area would be available; a tent erected on the side of the threshing floor where costumes could be changed, the addition of a raised platform to elevate performers into an even more visible position is the next logical step.

The end product would closely resemble the basic pattern of a Greek (Hellenistic) theatre:

The large seating area or theatron (literally "seeing place") is built into the side of a hill and surrounds the orchestra (literally "dancing place") by more than 180°. Two entryways (parodoi) lead from outside the precinct of the theatre into the orchestra. Next to, and separate from the orchestra is the Skene (literally "tent"). By the fourth century BC this arrangement was literally carved in stone. The temporary structures used by the great poets of the fifth century had been replaced by an elaborate two story building, which we call the skene house.

In the center of the orchestra was an altar (thymele) dedicated to Dionysos; a second "theatrical" altar was probably on the front of the skene house. Three openings (thyromata) in the front of the skene house could be used for entrances onto the raised platform (logeion, literally "speaking place"). They could also be used for painted scenic elements (skenographika) like pinakes and periaktoi; Ekkyklemma were probably "pushed out" through these thyromata. A specialized crane, the deus ex machina, could have lifted actors playing gods and goddesses over the building and deposited them into various playing areas. (See Onomastikon). Two side porches (paraskenioi) were present in a number of ancient theatres. The roofs of the main building and these paraskenioi could have been used as staging areas. The Watchman who opens the Agamemnon, for example, could have been perched on the roof looking out to sea. One conjectural reconstruction looks like this: