Theatre Quiz 1 "Facade Stages" and "The Theatre of Greece"

Orchestra

(1) That area of the Greek and Roman theatre that lay between the audience area and the scene house. (2) Originally the circular space where actors and chorus danced and performed plays; later a half circle that was used as a seating space for important people and only occasionally as performance area. (3) In modern times, the prized seating area on the ground level of a theatre and adjacent to the stage.

Hellenistic Period

(1) That period of Greek history dating from the coming of Alexander the Great (c. 336 BCE) to the Greco-Roman period starting c. 100 CE. (2) In theatre architecture, those Greek theatres built during the _________

Mime

A kind of drama in which unmasked actors of both sexes portrayed often bawdy and obscene stories. In Rome, it became the most popular kind of drama after the first century CE. (2) Form of silent modern theatre.

Satyr play

A short, rustic, and often obscene play included in the Dionysian festivals of Greece at the conclusion of the tragedies. A short comic piece that followed the tragedies and occasionally burlesqued them.

Flat

A structure on which scenery is painted, consisting of a wooden frame and canvas covering; usually of a size to be carried by one or two persons for shifting. Used in both Italianate staging and box sets (see entries).

Old Comedy

That form of Greek comedy written during the classical period and featuring topical political and social commentary set in highly predictable structural and metrical patterns.

Cothurnus

High boot with platform sole for tragic actor, Hellenistic Greece.

Chorus

In Greek drama of the fifth century BCE, a group of men who sang, chanted, spoke, and moved, usually in unison, and who, with the actors, performed the plays. In the Renaissance, a single character named ____________ who provided information and commentary about the action in some tragedies. In modern times, the groups that sing or dance in musical comedies, operettas, ballets and operas.

Protagonist

In Greek theatre, the first (or major) actor, the one who competed for the prize in acting. Later, the leading character in any play (the "hero").

Eccyclema

In classical Greece, a machine used to thrust objects or people (often dead) from inside the "skene" into view of the audience. Probably some sort of wheeled platform that rolled or rotated through the skene's central door.

Mechane

Literally, machine. In classical Greece, a crane by means of which actors and objects could be flown into the playing area.

Graeco-Roman Period

That period in Greece and Greek lands when Roman domination had arrived, usually dated from c. 100 BCE to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, c. 550 CE. In theatre architecture, those Greek theatres that were remodeled to bring them in closer accord with the Roman ideals.

Middle Comedy

That transitional kind of Greek comedy dating from c. 404 BCE, the defeat of Athens by Sparta, to 336 BCE, the beginning of the Hellenistic period. Less topical than Greek old comedy, middle comedy dealt more with domestic issues and everyday life of the Athenian middle class.

Great Dionysia

One of the festivals in ancient Athens that included contests of playwrights and performers playing the protagonists. Three tragic writers (always male) competed each year for the prize.

Façade Stage

One that puts the actors in front of a neutral (nonrepresentational) surface.

New Comedy

That form of Greek comedy dating from the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman periods and treating the domestic complications of the Athenian middle. A major source for Roman comedy.

Onkos

The high headdress of the Roman, and perhaps Hellenistic Greek, actor.

Skene

The scene house in the Greek theatre.