Structural features of ancient Greek tragedy. Theater and dramaturgy of ancient Greece

It is the basis of Greek tragedy, which at first retained all the features of the myth of Dionysus. The latter was gradually replaced by other myths about gods and heroes - powerful people, rulers - as the ancient Greek grew culturally and his social consciousness.

From mimic praises telling about the sufferings of Dionysus, they gradually moved on to showing them in action. Thespis (a contemporary of Pisistratus), Phrynichus, and Cheril are considered the first playwrights. They introduced an actor (the second and third were then introduced by Aeschylus and Sophocles). The authors played the main roles (Aeschylus was a major actor, Sophocles also acted as an actor), wrote the music for the tragedies themselves, and directed the dances.

These views expressed the protective tendencies of the ruling class - the aristocracy, whose ideology was determined by the consciousness of the need for unquestioning submission to a given social order. The tragedies of Sophocles reflect the era of the victorious war between the Greeks and the Persians, which opened up great opportunities for trading capital.

In this regard, the authority of the aristocracy in the country fluctuates, and this accordingly affects the works of Sophocles. At the center of his tragedies is the conflict between tribal tradition and state authority. Sophocles considered it possible to reconcile social contradictions - a compromise between the trade elite and the aristocracy.

And finally, Euripides - a supporter of the victory of the trading stratum over the landowning aristocracy - already denies religion. His Bellerophon depicts a fighter who rebelled against the gods for patronizing treacherous aristocratic rulers. “They (the gods) are not there (in heaven),” he says, “unless people want to madly believe old fairy tales.” In the works of the atheistically inclined Euripides, the characters in the drama are exclusively people. If he introduces the gods, it is only in those cases when it is necessary to resolve some complex intrigue. His dramatic action is motivated by the real properties of the human psyche. The majestic but spiritually simplified heroes of Aeschylus and Sophocles are replaced in the works of the younger tragedian by, if more prosaic, then complicated characters. Sophocles spoke of Euripides this way: “I portrayed people as they should be; Euripides depicts them as they really are.”

In Hellenistic times, tragedy follows the tradition of Euripides. The traditions of ancient Greek tragedy were picked up by the playwrights of Ancient Rome.

Works in the tradition of ancient Greek tragedy were created in Greece before late Roman and Byzantine times (unsurvived tragedies of Apollinaris of Laodicea, Byzantine compilative tragedy “The Suffering Christ”).

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Theater and drama achieved particular flourishing and significance during the classical period. This fact is explained by the very nature of the theater and the peculiarities of the forms of social life of the ancient Greeks. Theater in Greece was a genuine school for the education of man and citizen, for the moral formation of the individual. He enjoyed the exceptional love of the masses, posed and solved the most important current problems (in particular, the relationship between the individual and the race, the individual and the state, man and nature, etc.).

The origin of the ancient Greek theater is successively associated with cult actions, especially dithyrambs in honor of the god Dionysus (dying and rising, patron of the plant world, winemaking and wine). The specifics of the cult holidays in honor of Dionysus also determined the origin of the names of the genres of ancient theater - tragedy And comedy (in letters, translation of the terms “song of the goats” and “song of the idle crowd”).

Ancient Greek theaters ("theatron" - places for spectators) were built in the open air, taking into account the terrain, but nevertheless had perfect acoustics. They had a horseshoe or oval shape and were huge in size (the theater in Megapolis, for example, could accommodate up to 44 thousand spectators). Theatrical performances were given at the Great Dionysia for several days, when each playwright staged a tetralogy, consisting of a tragic trilogy and the so-called satyr drama.

A characteristic feature of the Greek theater of the classical era was the indispensable presence of a chorus, consisting of first 12, then 15 people in the tragedy. The chorus (“idealized spectator”) expressed the attitude of the people to the events depicted. Before Aeschylus, there was a choir on stage, its leader - luminary and one actor, first introduced Thespis and performing multiple roles. Aeschylus introduced the second, and Sophocles the third actor.

Features of ancient Greek tragedy

The tragedy of the classical era almost always borrowed plots from mythology, which did not at all interfere with its relevance and close connections with the pressing problems of our time. Remaining the “arsenal and soil” of the tragedy, mythology was subjected to special processing in it, shifting the center of gravity from the plot of the myth to its interpretation, depending on the demands of reality.

To the features aesthetics Ancient tragedy should also include a chronologically consistent attitude towards myth and its criticism. Of its features poetics it is necessary to name: a minimum of actors, a chorus, a luminary, messengers, an external structure (prologue, skit, episody, stasim, exodus).

The creative heritage of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. They are considered the greatest poet-playwrights of mankind, whose tragedies are staged on the world stage today.

"Father of Tragedy" Aeschylus (525-456 BC) created more than 90 works, but time has preserved only seven. His other plays are known in minor fragments or only by title. Aeschylus's worldview is determined by the difficult era of the Greco-Persian wars, the heroic tension of the creative forces of the people in the struggle for freedom and the creation of a democratic Athenian state. Aeschylus believed in divine wisdom and the supreme justice of the gods, firmly adhered to the religious and mythological foundations of traditional polis morality, and was distrustful of political and philosophical innovations. His ideal remained a democratic slave-owning republic.

In his tragedies, Aeschylus posed and solved the fundamental problems of the era: the fate of the clan in the context of the collapse of the clan system; development of historical forms of family and marriage; historical destinies of the state and humanity. Based on the idea of man’s complete dependence on the will of the gods, Aeschylus at the same time knew how to fill the conflicts of his tragedies with concrete historical life content. Aeschylus himself modestly claimed that his works were “crumbs from Homer’s feast,” but in fact he took an important step in the artistic development of mankind - he created the genre of monumental world-historical tragedy, in which the importance of the problematic and the height of the ideological content are combined with the solemn majesty of the form . Of the surviving tragedies of Aeschylus, the most interesting are The Persians, Prometheus Bound and the Oresteia trilogy. His work paved the way for the emergence of the classical tragedy of the future and had a powerful impact on European drama, poetry and prose.

Sophocles (496-406 BC), like Aeschylus, took the plots of his tragedies from mythology, but endowed the ancient heroes with the qualities and aspirations of his contemporaries. Based on the conviction of the enormous educational role of the tetra, wanting to teach the audience examples of true nobility and humanity, Sophocles, according to Aristotle, openly stated that “he himself portrays people as they should be.” Therefore, with amazing skill, he created a gallery of living characters - ideal, normative, artistically perfect, sculpturally integral and clear. Singing the greatness, nobility and reason of man, believing in the final triumph of justice, Sophocles still believed that man’s capabilities are limited by the power of fate, which no one can predict and prevent, that life and the very will of people are subject to the will of the gods, that “nothing is accomplished without Zeus" ("Ajax"). The will of the gods is manifested in the constant variability of human life, in the play of chance, either elevating a person to the heights of well-being and happiness, or throwing him into the abyss of misfortune ("Antigone").

Sophocles completed the reform of classical Greek tragedy begun by Aeschylus. Following the traditional method of developing a mythological plot in a coherent trilogy, Sophocles managed to give each part completeness and independence, significantly weakened the role of the chorus in the tragedy, introduced a third actor and achieved noticeable individualization of the characters. Each of his characters is endowed with contradictory character traits and complex emotional experiences.

Aristotle paid attention to the subtle art of composition of Sophocles' tragedies and noted the playwright's exceptional skill in developing the action, steadily moving towards a logically justified denouement. It is also significant that Sophocles introduced new principle development of drama - the phenomenon of peripeteia - a sharp turn of action to the opposite: from joy to sorrow, from greatness to fall, etc. He willingly uses tragic story technique to clarify the fundamental opposition between design and execution, desired and existing. Sophocles' tragedies are harmonious and complete, the composition is strict and simple, all parts are in balance, a sense of proportion dominates everything.

Among the most famous and perfect works of Sophocles are “Oedipus the King” and “Antigone”, written on the material of the popular Theban cycle myths. His creations had a significant influence on European literature of modern times, especially noticeable in the 18th - early 19th centuries. Goethe and Schiller admired the composition of Sophocles' tragedies. V.G. Belinsky considered them classic, called “Antigone” “the noblest creation” and, when interpreting the theoretical problems of dramatic poetry, constantly relied on the analysis of the tragedies of Sophocles.

Euripides(480-406 BC), who completed the development of classical ancient Greek tragedy, worked during the period of crisis and decline of Athenian democracy. Born on the island of Salamis, he received an excellent education for those times at the schools of the famous philosophers Anaxagoras and Protagoras. Unlike Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is a humanist and democrat; he ignored participation in public life, preferring solitude. He was forced to spend the end of his life in Macedonia and died there at the court of King Archelaus.

Euripides wrote over 90 tragedies, of which 17 have survived. During his lifetime he did not enjoy such significant success (four victories at the Great Dionysia) as Aeschylus and Sophocles, but in the Hellenistic era he was considered an exemplary playwright.

Euripides was a brave thinker, while myths about the gods for him are the fruit of idle imagination ("Hercules", "Iphigenia in Aulis"). Mythology retains a purely external meaning in the tragedies of Euripides, and his conflicts are almost always determined by the clash of harmful human passions. No wonder the ancients called him “a philosopher on stage” and “the most tragic of poets.” He depicted people “as they are” and wrote naturally and simply. As an artist, Euripides was primarily interested in the inner world of man, his emotional experiences, therefore he is the founder of the psychological trend in European literature.

Politically, Euripides was a supporter of a “moderate republic”, in which there should be neither particularly rich nor too poor, and the true foundation of society is a prosperous free peasantry. His special merit lies in the formulation and solution of moral and ethical problems; he sharply opposed the oppressed position of women, advocated for the diversified development of the individual, for the emancipation of feelings constrained by traditional rules and laws.

Euripides is a reformer of classical ancient Greek tragedy and actually laid the foundations of the genre of European drama.

Among the most famous works of Euripides are "Medea", "Hippolytus", "Alcestes" and "Iphigenia at Aulis", traditionally based on mythological legends. Paving the way to creation family drama, at the same time, he achieves the high tragic pathos of the heroes’ feelings.

Ancient Greek comedy was formed simultaneously with tragedy, but reached its peak only in the middle of the 5th century. BC. in the work of the "father of comedy" Aristophanes (446-385 BC). Its appearance is associated with the process of merging two types of carnival magical acts, the so-called mima And satirical chants. This is what determined the main features of the ancient form of ancient comedy, which had a purely carnival character. Ancient Attic comedy in an extremely exaggerated, grotesque and fantastic form she depicted incredibly funny events, allowed all kinds of rudeness and liberties, buffoonery and buffoonery, but at the same time she was extremely bold and frank in posing social and political problems. The greatest master of such comedy was Aristophanes, whose mature work coincided with the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the events of which are reflected in a series of his anti-war comedies ("Lysistrata", "Peace", "Acharnians" and etc.). A zealous defender of the interests of the peasantry and artisans, who bear the brunt of the war, Aristophanes tirelessly and sarcastically castigates the rulers and politicians of the aristocratic elite, who plunged the Greek states into a grueling bloodbath for the sake of personal interests.

All of his comedies (out of 44 written, 11 have survived) are direct responses to the most important topical issues of modern social life for the people. Aristophanes’ ideal is the Athenian Democratic Republic, and in the context of its irreversible crisis, he enthusiastically strives to preserve and strengthen its foundations, to establish the religious-mythological worldview and collective morality of the polis.

Aristophanes' creative method is determined by angry socio-political satire, full of civic courage and passion. At the center of the comedy is a dispute (agon), revealing ideological meaning. He is a great master of caricature, hyperbole, bold exaggeration, and extreme sharpening of generalized character types and situations. He often uses vivid fantasy and wild fiction.

The satirical techniques developed by Aristophanes were widely used by many writers in Europe. Under his noticeable influence, Racine's comedy "Disputes" and L. Feuchtwanger's play "The Peasant and the Commander" were written. Traces of Aristophanes' influence can also be found in the works of Fielding, Heine, Rolland, and Gogol. Belinsky admired the height of the moral sense of his comedies, and Dobrolyubov rightly saw in the person of Aristophanes a “defender of the poor.”

Ancient Greek tragedy- the oldest known form of tragedy.

Comes from ritual actions in honor of Dionysus. The participants in these actions wore masks with goat beards and horns, depicting Dionysus' companions, the satyrs. Ritual performances took place during the Great and Lesser Dionysias (festivities in honor of Dionysus).

Songs in honor of Dionysus were called dithyrambs in Greece. The dithyramb, as Aristotle points out, is the basis of Greek tragedy, which at first retained all the features of the myth of Dionysus. The latter was gradually replaced by other myths about gods and heroes - powerful people, rulers - as the ancient Greek grew culturally and his social consciousness.

The three greatest tragedians of Greece - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - consistently reflected in their tragedies the psycho-ideology of the landowning aristocracy and merchant capital at various stages of their development. The main motive of Aeschylus' tragedy is the idea of the omnipotence of fate and the doom of the fight against it. Social order was thought to be determined by superhuman forces, established once and for all. Even the rebellious titans cannot shake him (the tragedy “Chained Prometheus”).

Euripides motivates the dramatic action with the real properties of the human psyche. The majestic, but spiritually simplified heroes of Aeschylus and Sophocles are replaced in the works of the younger tragedian by, if more prosaic, then complicated characters. Sophocles spoke of Euripides this way: “I portrayed people as they should be; Euripides depicts them as they really are.”

By the time of the Greco-Persian wars, it had become customary to stage three tragedies (trilogy) on the Dionysian holiday, developing one plot, and one satyr drama, repeating the plot of the tragedies in a cheerful, mocking tone, with pantomime dances. Sophocles already departed from this trilogical principle. True, at dramatic competitions he also performed with three tragedies, but each of them had its own plot. The tragedy of Sophocles is recognized as the canonical form of Greek tragedy. He introduces peripeteia for the first time. He slows down the rapidity of action that characterizes the tragedy of his predecessor Aeschylus.

The action in Sophocles seems to be increasing, approaching a catastrophe, followed by a denouement. This was facilitated by his introduction of a third actor. The classical structure of tragedy (established by Sophocles) is as follows.

Classical structure of tragedy

The tragedy begins with a (declamatory) prologue, followed by the entrance of the choir with a song (parod), then episodies (episodes), which are interrupted by the songs of the choir (stasims), the last part is the final stasim (usually solved in the genre of commos) and departure actors and choir - exod. Choral songs divided the tragedy in this way into parts, which in modern drama are called acts. The number of parts varied even among the same author.

The chorus (at the time of Aeschylus 12 people, later 15) did not leave its place throughout the entire performance, as it constantly intervened in the action: it assisted the author in clarifying the meaning of the tragedy, revealed the emotional experiences of his heroes, and assessed their actions from the point of view of the prevailing morality. The presence of a choir, as well as the lack of scenery in the theater, made it impossible to transfer the action from one place to another. We must also add that the Greek theater did not have the ability to depict the change of day and night - the state of technology did not allow the use of lighting effects.

This is where the three unities of Greek tragedy come from: place, action and time (the action could only take place from sunrise to sunset), which were supposed to strengthen the illusion of the reality of the action. The unity of time and place significantly limited the development of dramatic elements at the expense of epic ones, characteristic of the evolution of the genus. A number of events necessary in the drama, the depiction of which would violate unity, could only be reported to the viewer. The so-called “messengers” told about what was happening off stage.

Euripides introduces intrigue into the tragedy, which he, however, resolves artificially, mostly with the help of a special technique - deus ex machina. By this time, more or less theatrical machinery had already developed. The role of the choir is gradually reduced to merely providing musical accompaniment to the performance.

Greek tragedy was greatly influenced by Homeric epic. Tragedians borrowed a lot of legends from him. The characters often used expressions borrowed from the Iliad. For dialogues and songs of the choir, playwrights (they are also melurgists, since the poems and music were written by the same person - the author of the tragedy) used iambic trimeter as a form close to living speech (for the differences in dialects in certain parts of the tragedy, see the ancient Greek language ).

In Hellenistic times, tragedy follows the tradition of Euripides. The traditions of ancient Greek tragedy were picked up by the playwrights of Ancient Rome.

The forms that the main source of the tragedy took.

a) Aristotle speaks of the origin of tragedy “from the singers of praise.” The dithyramb was indeed a choral song in honor of Dionysus. The tragedy, therefore, arose from the alternating singing of the lead singer and the choir: the lead singer gradually becomes an actor, and the choir was the very basis of the tragedy. Based on the three great Greek tragedians - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - one can quite clearly establish the evolution of the chorus in Greek classical drama. This evolution was a gradual decline in the importance of the chorus, starting from those tragedies of Aeschylus, where the chorus itself is a character, and ending with tragedies and represented nothing more than a kind of musical intermission.

b) The same Aristotle speaks about the origin of the tragedy from the Satmra game. Satyrs are humanoid demons with strongly pronounced goat-like elements (horns, beard, hooves, unkempt fur), and sometimes with a horse's tail.

The goat, like the bull, was closely related to the cult of Dionysus. Dionysus was often represented as a goat, and goats were sacrificed to him. Here was the idea that God himself was torn to pieces so that people could taste the divinity of Dionysus himself under the guise of goat meat. The word tragedy itself, translated from Greek, literally means either “song of the goats” or “song of the goats” (tragos - goat and ode - song).

c) It is necessary to recognize the folklore origin of drama in general. Ethnographers and art historians have collected significant material from the history of different peoples about the primitive collective game, which was accompanied by singing and dancing, consisted of parts of a lead singer and a choir or two choirs and initially had a magical meaning, because in this way they thought of influencing nature.

d) It is quite natural that in primitive religious and labor rituals those elements that later led to the development of separate types of drama or to vicissitudes within one drama were not yet differentiated. Therefore, a mixture of the sublime and base, serious and humorous is one of the features of these primitive beginnings of drama, which later led to the origin of tragedy and comedy from the same Dionysian source.

e) In the city of Eleusis, mysteries were given, which depicted the abduction of her daughter Persephone from Demeter by Pluto. The dramatic element in Greek cults could not help but influence the development of drama in the dithyramb and could not help but contribute to the isolation of artistic and dramatic moments from religious rituals. Therefore, in science there is a firmly established theory about the influence of the Eleusinian mysteries on the development of the tragedy in Athens.

f) The theory of the origin of tragedy from the cult of the spirit of the dead, and in particular from the cult of heroes, has also been put forward. Of course, the cult of heroes could not be the only source of tragedy, but it was of great importance for tragedy already in view of the fact that tragedy was almost exclusively based on heroic mythology.

g) Almost every tragedy contains scenes of mourning for certain heroes, so there was also a theory about the phrenetic origin of the tragedy (tbrenos - in Greek “funeral lament”). But frenos also could not be the only source of tragedy.

h) It was also pointed out that there was a mimic dance at the grave of the heroes. This point is also very important. i) At a certain stage of development, a serious tragedy separated from. funny satyr drama. And from mythological tragedy and satyr drama a non-mythological comedy was separated. This differentiation is a certain stage in the development of Greek drama.

Not a single tragedy has survived before Aeschylus. According to Aristotle, drama originated in the Peloponnese, among the Dorian population. However, drama received its development only in the much more advanced Attica, where tragedy and satyr drama were staged on the festival of the Great (or City) Dionysia (March - April), and on another festival of Dionysus, the so-called Lenaea (January - February) - mainly comedy; At the Rural Dionysia (December - January), plays that had already been performed in the city were staged. We know the name of the first Athenian tragedian and the date of the first production of the tragedy. It was Thespis who first staged the tragedy at the Great Dionysia in 534. A number of innovations and the titles of some tragedies are attributed to Thespis, but the reliability of this information is questionable. A contemporary of the famous Aeschylus was Phrynichus (approx. 511-476), to whom, among others, the tragedies “The Taking of Miletus” and “The Phoenician Women”, which gained great fame, are attributed. Later Pratin acted, becoming famous for his satyr dramas, of which he had more than tragedies. All these tragedians were eclipsed by Aeschylus.

4. The structure of the tragedy.

Aeschylus's tragedies are already distinguished by their complex structure. It began with a prologue, by which we must understand the beginning of the tragedy before the first performance of the choir. The first performance of the choir, or more precisely, the first part of the choir, is a parod of tragedy (parod in Greek means “performance”, “passage”). After the parod, the tragedy alternated between the so-called episodies, that is, dialogical parts (episodies means “entry” - dialogue in relation to the chorus was initially something secondary), and stasims, the so-called “standing songs of the choir”, “song of the choir in a motionless state” . The tragedy ended with an exodus, exodus, or final song of the choir. It is also necessary to point out the combined singing of the choir and actors, which could take place in different places of the tragedy and usually had an excited-crying character, which is why it was called kommos (copto in Greek means “I hit,” that is, in this case, “I hit myself in the chest.” "). These parts of the tragedy can be clearly traced in the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides that have come down to us.

5. Ancient Greek theater.

Theatrical performances, which grew out of the cult of Dionysus, have always had a mass and festive character in Greece. The ruins of ancient Greek theaters amaze with their capacity for several tens of thousands of visitors. The history of ancient Greek theater can be clearly seen in the so-called Theater of Dionysus in Athens, located in the open air on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis and accommodating approximately 17 thousand spectators. Basically, the theater consisted of three main parts: a compacted platform (orchestras, from the Greek orhesis - “dance”) with an altar to Dionysus in the middle, seats for spectators (theater, that is, entertainment places), in the first row of which there was a chair for the priest of Dionysus, and skenes , that is, the building behind the orchestra, in which the actors changed clothes. At the end of the 6th century BC, the orchestra was a round, tightly compacted platform, which was surrounded by wooden benches for spectators. At the beginning of the 5th century, the wooden benches were replaced by stone ones, descending in a semicircle along the slope of the Acropolis. The orchestra, on which there was a choir and actors, became horseshoe-shaped (it is possible that the actors played on a small elevation in front of the skene). In Hellenistic times, when the choir and actors no longer had an internal connection, these latter played on a high stone platform, adjacent to the skene - proskenium - with two projections on the sides, the so-called paraskenia.The theater was distinguished by excellent acoustics, so that thousands of people could easily hear the actors with strong voices. The seats for spectators covered the orchestra in a semicircle and were divided into 13 wedges. On the sides of the proscenium there were parods - passages for the audience, actors and choir. When staging the tragedy, the choir consisted first of 12, then of 15 people, led by a luminary - the head of the choir, dividing into two half-choirs, performing songs and dances, depicting persons close to the main characters, men or women, dressed in costumes corresponding to the action. The tragic actors, whose number gradually increased from one to three, played in extremely colorful, magnificent costumes, increasing their height with buskins (shoes with thick soles like stilts) and high headdresses. The size of the body was artificially increased, brightly colored masks of a certain type were put on their faces for heroes, old people, youths, women, and slaves. The masks testified to the cult origins of the theater, when a person could not perform in his usual form, but put on a kind of mask. In the huge theater, masks were convenient for the public to see and made it possible for one actor to play several roles. All female roles were played by men. The actors not only recited, but also sang and danced. In the course of the action, lifting machines were used, necessary for the appearance of the gods. There were so-called ekkiklems - platforms on wheels that were moved to the scene of action in order to show what happened inside the house. Machines were also used for noise and visual effects (thunder and lightning). At the front of the skene, usually depicting a palace, there were three doors through which the actors exited. This part of the screen was painted with various decorations, which gradually became more complex with the development of the theater. The public - all Athenian citizens - received from the end of the 5th century. BC. from the state special entertainment money for visiting the theater, in exchange for which metal numbers were issued indicating the place. Since the performances began in the morning and continued throughout the day (three tragedies and one satyr drama were staged for three days in a row), the audience came stocked with food.

A playwright who wrote a tetralogy or a separate drama asked the archon in charge of organizing the holiday for a choir. The archon entrusted a choreg chosen from among wealthy citizens, who was obliged, as a state duty, to recruit a choir, train it, pay it and arrange a feast at the end of the festival. Choregia was considered an honorable duty, but at the same time it was very burdensome, accessible only to a rich person.

Judges were elected from among the 10 Attic phyla. After three days of competition, five from this panel, chosen by lot, made the final decision. Three winners were confirmed and received a monetary reward, but ivy wreaths were awarded only to those who won the first victory. The actor-protagonist who played the main role was held in high esteem and even carried out government assignments. The second and third actors were entirely dependent on the first and received payment from him. The names of poets, choregs and actor-protagonists were recorded in special acts and stored in the state archive. From the 4th century BC. It was decided to carve the names of the winners on marble slabs - didascalia, the fragments of which have survived to this day. The information that we use from the works of Vitruvius and Pausanias relates mainly to the Hellenistic theater, therefore some aspects of the ancient state of theatrical buildings in Greece are not distinguished by clarity and certainty.

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Drama (from the Greek drama - action) was born in Greece in the 6th century BC, when the slave system was finally established and Athens became the center of cultural life in Greece. On certain holidays, the ancient theater gathered the entire population of the city and surrounding area.

The precursor to the appearance of drama in Greece was a long period during which epic and lyric poetry occupied the leading place. The drama was a unique synthesis of the achievements of previously formed types of literature, incorporating an “epic” heroic, monumental character and a “lyrical” individual beginning.

The emergence and development of Greek drama and theater is associated, first of all, with ritual games of a mimic nature, which were noted at an early stage of development among many peoples and have been preserved for centuries. Mimic games of agricultural peoples were part of holidays dedicated to the dying and resurrecting gods of fertility. Such holidays had two sides - serious, “passionate”, and carnival, glorifying the victory of the bright forces of life.

In Greece, rituals were associated with the cult of the gods - the patrons of agriculture: Dionysus, Demeter, and her daughter Persephone. At holidays in honor of the god Dionysus, solemn and cheerful carnival songs were sung. The mummers who were part of Dionysus's retinue organized a noisy party. Participants in the festive procession “camouflaged” their faces in every possible way - they smeared them with wine grounds, put on masks and goat skins.

Three genres of ancient Greek drama originate from ritual games and songs in honor of Dionysus - comedy, tragedy and satyr drama.

An integral part of folk holiday activities associated with agricultural work was singing and dancing. From them later arose the classical Athenian tragedy.

The theater had two stages. One - the stage - was intended for actors, the other - the orchestra - for a choir of 12 - 15 people.

The ancient Greeks believed that the theater should reveal universally significant and deep themes, glorify the high qualities of the human spirit and ridicule the vices of people and society. A person, after watching the drama, should experience a spiritual and moral shock. In tragedy, empathizing with the heroes, the viewer must cry, and in comedy - the type of drama opposite to tragedy - laugh.

The ancient Greeks created such theatrical forms as monologue and dialogue. They made extensive use of multi-faceted action in the drama, using the chorus as a commentator on the events taking place. The choral structure was monophonic, they sang in unison. Male choirs predominated in professional music.

In the ancient Greek theater, special buildings appeared - amphitheaters, designed specifically for acting and audience perception. It used stages, wings, and a special arrangement of seats for spectators, which are also used in modern theaters. The Hellenes created the scenery for performances. The actors used a special pathetic manner of pronouncing the text, widely used pantomime and expressive plasticity. However, they did not consciously use facial expression; they performed in special masks, symbolically reflecting a generalized image of joy and grief.

Tragedy (a type of drama imbued with the pathos of the tragic) was intended for broad sections of the population.

The tragedy was a reflection of the passionate side of the Dionysian cult. According to Aristotle, tragedy originates from the dithyramb singers. Elements of acting were gradually mixed into the dialogue between the singer and the choir. The word "tragedy" comes from two Greek words: tragos - "goat" and ode - "song". This title brings us to satyrs - goat-footed creatures, companions of Dionysus, who glorify the exploits and sufferings of God. Greek tragedy, as a rule, borrowed plots from mythology well known to every Greek. The audience's interest was concentrated not on the plot, but on the author's interpretation of the myth, on social and moral issues that unfolded around well-known episodes of the myth. Within the framework of the mythological shell, the playwright reflected in the tragedy the contemporary socio-political situation, expressed his philosophical, ethnic, and religious views. It is no coincidence that the role of tragic ideas in the socio-political and ethical education of citizens was enormous.

The tragedy reached significant development already in the second half of the 6th century BC. According to ancient tradition, Thespis is considered to be the first Athenian tragic poet in the spring of 534 BC. At the festival of the Great Dionysius, the first production of his tragedy took place. This year is considered as the year of birth of the world theater. Thespis is credited with a number of innovations: for example, he improved masks and theatrical costumes. But the main innovation of Thespis is the separation of one performer, an actor, from the choir. Hypocritus (“responder”), or actor, could answer questions from the choir or address the choir with questions, leave the stage area and return to it, and portray various characters during the action. Thus, early Greek tragedy was a kind of dialogue between an actor and a chorus and was more like a cantata in form. At the same time, it was the actor who, from his very appearance, became the bearer of an effective energetic principle, although quantitatively his part in the original drama was insignificant (the main role was assigned to the choir).

Phrynichus, a student of Thespis, an outstanding tragedian of the era before Aeschylus, “expanded” the plot boundaries of the tragedy, taking it beyond the boundaries of Dionysian myths. Phrynichus is famous as the author of a number of historical tragedies that were written in the wake of recent events. For example, in the tragedy “The Capture of Miletus” the capture by the Persians in 494 BC was represented. the city of Miletus, which rebelled against Persian rule along with other Greek cities of Asia Minor. The play shocked the audience so much that it was banned by the authorities, and the author himself was sentenced to a fine.

The works of Thespidas and Phrynichus have not survived to this day; information about their theatrical activities is scarce, but they also show that the very first playwrights actively responded to pressing issues of our time and sought to make the theater a place for discussing the most important problems of public life, a platform where the democratic principles of Athens were affirmed. states.

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