Greek Comedy - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Greek Comedy

From

5th

century

BCE

BirdlandSlide2

Definition

Aristotle describes the genre of comedy in The Poetics.

Comedy represents men as worse than they are in real life, whereas tragedy shows them better.

Tragedy uses real people whereas comedy uses stereotypes.Slide3

Origin

Comedy comes from “commos

” and “

oidos

” which means drunken revelry

Started with bands of singers dressing as and making fun of others (satire)

Developed into the satyr play which was a humorous story that followed a trilogy of tragedies in the Festivals such as

Lenaea

and

Dionysia

Slapstick and crude humor was featured; often bawdy and political; play offers suggestions to solve the current problemsSlide4

Old Comedy

Old Comedy refers to plays written in the 5th

c

.

BCE.

The

earliest surviving complete play is Aristophanes’

Acharnians

, first performed in 425

BCE.

The

plot of comedies usually stretches reality in terms of time and place, jumping incredible geographic distances and rapidly changing scenes.

Fantastical

elements such as giant creatures and improbable disguises are mixed with references to the audience which delivers a roller-coaster ride of satire, parody, puns, exaggeration,

colorful

language, and crude jokes.

Slide5

Purpose

Plays were popular entertainment, they reveal some of the popular language used by the Greeks, language not usually found in more serious written material.

Any public figure was fair game for satire, and even mythology and religion could be made fun of.

Comedies usually concluded in a happy ending and the characters find a resolution to the original conflictSlide6

Play Structure

Comedies gradually took on a five-part structure: I

ntroduction

, in which the basic fantasy is explained and developed by actors

P

arados

, entry of the chorus (24 men), song and dance

C

ontest

, or

Agon

, a ritualized debate between opposing actors wearing masks, usually stock characters (cooks, soldiers, pimps, cunning slave)

P

arabasis

, the chorus (often dressed as animals) addresses the audience on the topics of the day and hurls criticism at prominent citizens

Exodus

- A final banquet or wedding, song and danceSlide7

Aristophanes c

. 460 BCE - c. 380 BCE

Athenian writer of Old Greek Comedy

Used stock characters, bawdy events, obscene language

Most famous play:

Lysistrata

411 BCE

Other notable plays:

The Frogs

405 BCE,

The Birds

414 BCE,

The Clouds

423 BCE

Slide8

Comedy Playwrights

Aristophanes (cont.) –Poked fun at politicians, philosophers, and fellow artists –

Kleon

, Socrates, Euripides

Eleven of his plays survive complete and these are the only surviving examples of the Old Comedy genre

Other notable playwrights:

Philemon -

c

. 368 BCE - 263 BCE

Menander -

c

. 342 BCE -

c

. 291 BCESlide9

Sample Text

Oh would some god, with sudden stroke

,

Convert

me to a cloud of smoke

!

Like

politicians’ words I’d

rise

In

gaseous

vapour

to the skies

.


(line 50, Act One, Scene One, The Wasps by Aristophanes)Slide10

Performers

Professional male actors played recurring stock characters by wearing exaggerated masks and elaborate costumes

Voice and gesture were extremely important

The

main actors - one protagonist

and

two other actors, performed all of the speaking

parts

R

estrictions ensured

equality in competition and

kept

down the costs to the state which funded the professional

actors

The professional male chorus, costumes, musicians, and rehearsal time were funded by an appointed private citizen, a khorēgos

.Slide11

The Birds

“Ornithes”

Written by Aristophanes

Was first performed in 414 BCE at the City

Dionysia

Festival where it won second prize.

The Birds

is a fairly conventional example of Old Comedy.

Some modern critics call the play a fantasy because of its mimicry of birds and gaiety of its songs.Slide12

The Story

The story follows

Pisthetaerus

(Trusty Friend), and

Euelpides

(Good Hope) Athenians who are disillusioned with life in Athens and its law courts, politics, false oracles and military antics.

They hope to make a new start in life somewhere else and seek the King of the Birds to persuade the world’s birds to create a new city in the sky, thereby taking control over all communications between men and gods.

During the play the chorus

of birds steps forward to

state

various laws forbidding crimes against their kind (such as catching, caging, stuffing or eating them) and advise the festival judges to award the play first place or risk getting crapped

on!

SurfinBird

, Bird is the Word 1963, The

Trashmen

-

Surfin'Bird