Essays24.com - Term Papers and Free Essays
Search

Greek Theater Compared To Modern

Essay by   •  November 26, 2010  •  1,105 Words (5 Pages)  •  1,928 Views

Essay Preview: Greek Theater Compared To Modern

Report this essay
Page 1 of 5

Your sitting in a deep room keeping the outside from breaking your trance. Your eyes are fixed on a missing section of a wall, the colossal hole taking up almost all your vision. The whispers around you die away with the lights and the picture before you comes to life. Lights pours over the characters faces bringing there emotions and actions to its limits. The picture's background a extravagant art work; slowly evolves as the time moves on. The show has come to a end and you slowly exit out of the dark room. You step outside to a large round slab of stone on the ground walking around you take a sit on a wooden plank. The high sun makes your eyes squint from the brightness. The breeze blows over this grassy hillside as you wait for the show to begin. There is a black like tent across from you over the stone circle. It is very bland and has little decorations on it. The tent shakes to life as three or four people pour out of the tent on to the circle. Loud singing burst from the sides of the seats and these people with the large masks begin to dance and play out another story. The sun has now move down and the play still runs they call a pause on there story to wait for the sleepy sun to rise again.

The idea of theatre has changed so dramatically that there is little room for comparison; for one to compare the old with the new you would have to get a idea of what each one is really like in a rough form . Ancient Greek theatre was like the rough side of a mountain, some what bare and dry with little movement but still the foundation for it all. Modern theatre is like a vast and torrent ocean full of life and change. Every creature a new thought, every wave a new development. Now a mountain and a ocean aren't much alike but at the bottom of every ocean is a mountain. and at the bottom of modern theatre is a Greek idea.

The orchestra was normally circular. It was a level space where the chorus would dance, sing, and interact with the actors who were on the stage near the skene. The earliest orchestras were simply made of hard earth, but later on some orchestras began to be paved with marble and other materials. In the center of the orchestra there was often a thymele, or altar. Now the orchestra [pit] is a place between the spectators and the stage which houses the orchestra. the orchestra [pit] is out of site from the spectator by being under ground in front of or part of the stage. The acting area of the orchestra has been changed to a "stage". The stage has three basic forms Proscenium, trust, and arena. Proscenium is the most common of the theatre types. Proscenium is like a "picture frame" and divides the stage from the house by a wall. All action happing under or behind the proscenium arch is called stage area . Any area that falls over is known as the apron. Trust is much like proscenium except that there is no wall and the audience is seated around three fourths of the stage. And finally arena is a stage with the audience seat around the whole stage.

The theatron is where the spectators sat. The theatron was often on a hillside overlooking the orchestra, and often wrapped around a large portion of the orchestra. Spectators early on probably sat on cushions or boards, but later on the theatron of many Greek theaters had marble seats. The theatron is now days know as a "house" and has remained very much the same, except the house has been moved indoors to remove it from outside events and distractions like weather and people . The marble was also replace with the best in comfort seating.

The skene was the building directly behind the stage probably raised only two or

...

...

Download as:   txt (5.9 Kb)   pdf (83 Kb)   docx (10.7 Kb)  
Continue for 4 more pages »
Only available on Essays24.com
Citation Generator

(2010, 11). Greek Theater Compared To Modern. Essays24.com. Retrieved 11, 2010, from https://www.essays24.com/essay/Greek-Theater-Compared-To-Modern/14265.html

"Greek Theater Compared To Modern" Essays24.com. 11 2010. 2010. 11 2010 <https://www.essays24.com/essay/Greek-Theater-Compared-To-Modern/14265.html>.

"Greek Theater Compared To Modern." Essays24.com. Essays24.com, 11 2010. Web. 11 2010. <https://www.essays24.com/essay/Greek-Theater-Compared-To-Modern/14265.html>.

"Greek Theater Compared To Modern." Essays24.com. 11, 2010. Accessed 11, 2010. https://www.essays24.com/essay/Greek-Theater-Compared-To-Modern/14265.html.