This document provides an overview of Western classical plays and operas. It discusses the origins of theater in ancient Greek and Roman societies, where performances honored gods like Dionysus. The three main types of drama in ancient Greece were tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. Tragedies dealt with tragic events and unhappy endings, while comedies were derived from imitation and humor. Famous Greek playwrights who developed these forms included Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus. Their plays explored human nature and myths. Theater buildings consisted of an orchestra, skene, and viewing area cut into hillsides.

1. WESTERN CLASSICAL PLAYS
AND OPERAS
Arts 9; Quarter 4

2. HISTORY OF THE THEATRICAL
FORMS AND THEIR EVOLUTION
Theater began from myth, ritual and ceremony.
Early society perceived connections between
actions performed by groups of people or
leaders to a certain society and these actions
moved from habit, to tradition, to ritual, to
ceremony due to human desire and need for
entertainment.
Theater means ―place of seeing, but it is more
than the buildings where performance take

3. ANCIENT THEATER 700 B.C.E.-410 C.E.
(GREEK AND ROMAN THEATER)
GREEK THEATER
European theater began in Ancient
Greece. It began around 700 B.C. with
festivals honoring their many gods such as,
Dionysus (Di-on-i- sus), the god of wine and
fertility. This religious festival was called,
―The Cult of Dionysus. The three well-known
Greek tragedy playwrights were Sophocles,

4. GREEK THEATER
The city-state of Athens was the
center of a significant cultural,
political, and military power during
this period and where the festivals
and competitions were usually
performed.
The theater of ancient Greece
consisted of three types of drama:
Tragedy, Comedy and the Satyr

5. TYPES OF ANCIENT GREECE DRAMA
• Tragedy
Tragedy is a compound of two Greek words,
―tragos or "goat" and ―ᾠδή‖ (ode) meaning
"song”, referring to goats sacrificed to Dionysus
before performances, or to goat-skins worn by
the performers. • In Greece, tragedy was the
most admired type of play. It dealt with tragic
events and have an unhappy ending, especially
one concerning the downfall of the main
character.

6. • Tragedy
Thespis was the first actor and
introduced the use of masks and was
called the "Father of Tragedy”. The
actors, directors, and dramatists
were all the same person. Men
performed songs to welcome
Dionysus and women were not

7. TYPES OF ANCIENT GREECE DRAMA
• Comedy
Comedy plays were derived from
imitation; there were traces of their origin.
Aristophanes wrote most of the comedy
plays. Out of these plays Lysistrata survived,
a humorous tale about a strong woman who
led a female coalition to end war in Greece;
Cyclops, an adventure comedy by Euripides.

8. TYPES OF ANCIENT GREECE DRAMA
• Satyr
The satyr play was a short, lighthearted
tailpiece performed after each trilogy of the
tragedies. It is an ancient Greek form of tragic
comedy. It featured half-man / half-goat
characters known as Satyrs. They were awful,
ridiculous, and usually drunk. The Satyr
characters lusted after everyone on stage, and
they delivered the most humorous lines, often at
the expense of others.

9. PARTS OF THE ANCIENT THEATER
• Theatre buildings were called a theatron. The
theaters were large, open-air structures constructed
on the slopes of hills. They consisted of three main
elements: the orchestra, the skene, and the audience.
• Orchestra: A large circular or rectangular area at
the center part of theatre, where the play, dance,
religious rites, and acting took place.
• Theatron- viewing place on the slope of a hill
• Skene – backstage
• Parodoi- side entrance.

10. FAMOUS GREEK PLAYWRIGHTS

11. SOPHOCLES
Sophocles was born about 496 BC in
Colonus Hippius. He was one of the great
playwrights of the golden age. He wrote
more than 100 plays of which seven complete
tragedies and fragments of 80 or 90 others
are preserved. He was the first to add a third
actor. He also abolished the trilogic form.

12. SOPHOCLES
Oedipus Rex and Antigone
were the famous tragedies of
Sophocles which were known the
Theban plays.

13. EURIPIDES
Euripides was born in Athens, Greece,
around 485 B.C. His most famous
tragedies, which reinvent Greek myths
and probe the darker side of human
nature, include Medea, The Bacchae,
Hippolytus, Alcestis and The Trojan
Women.

14. AESCHYLUS
 • Aeschylus entered many of these
competitions in his lifetime, and various ancient
sources attribute between seventy and ninety
plays to him. Only seven tragedies have
survived intact: The Persians, Seven against
Thebes, The Suppliants, the trilogy known as
The Oresteia, consisting of the three tragedies
Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The
Eumenides, together with Prometheus Bound.