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Theatrical Elements in Shaffer's Works

The document discusses several key elements of classical Greek tragedies: 1) Greek tragedies were performed in large outdoor theaters with tiered seating so the audience surrounded the stage on three sides. The stage (orchestra) had a circular playing space and backdrop (skene). 2) The chorus represented common people and contrasted with the protagonists' activity. This juxtaposition was central to classical tragedies. 3) The play Equus alludes to Greek theaters by incorporating audience seating on the stage, heightening participation. It also depicts the conflict between rationality and irrationality, represented by Apollo and Dionysus.

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457 views1 page

Theatrical Elements in Shaffer's Works

The document discusses several key elements of classical Greek tragedies: 1) Greek tragedies were performed in large outdoor theaters with tiered seating so the audience surrounded the stage on three sides. The stage (orchestra) had a circular playing space and backdrop (skene). 2) The chorus represented common people and contrasted with the protagonists' activity. This juxtaposition was central to classical tragedies. 3) The play Equus alludes to Greek theaters by incorporating audience seating on the stage, heightening participation. It also depicts the conflict between rationality and irrationality, represented by Apollo and Dionysus.

Uploaded by

ZeromalisNil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Greek Theatre and Tragedy

stage throughout the entire performance as the chorus did in ancient Greece.

Individual
characters evolved from the purely choral (dithyrambic) form and, from extant classical
plays, we know the chorus usually represented a group of the common people (i.e. - the
city council in Oedipus Rex, the women of Thebes in Medea) whose passivity
contrasted the activity of the protagonists; this juxtaposition formed the central artistry of
Classical tragedy.

Space

(L to R) A Classical Greek theatre, the original Equus set from 1974

Greek tragedies were performed in massive, outdoor theaters (the Theatre of Dionysus at
the Acropolis is the best-known). The actors and chorus appeared on a large, circular, flat
playing space at the bottom of the theater (the orchestra), with the audience looking down
on them from three sides. The scene-building or skene formed a backdrop to the action as
well as a place for mask and costume changes. It developed into a two story structure
with columns and doors for entrances and exits. Since these plays were performed in
broad daylight, with no lighting to focus attention on the stage, the audience became part
of the drama. In one sense, the design of the Alleys production alludes to classical Greek
theaters by incorporating tiered audience seating on the stage to create a heightened sense
of participation.

Dionysus and Apollo


Additional images of Classical Greece are conjured by the thematic conflict
between the rational and irrational. Respectively, Dysart and Alan embody the poles of
the old binary opposition between Apollo and Dionysus. The god Apollo came to
represent the virtue of mans faculty for logical assessment whereas the god Dionysus
(originally a god of fertility as much as wine) became a symbol of his irrational impulses.
The cult of Dionysus won many female converts (Bacchants) but met with great
resistance from men, so the Apollonian/Dionysian conflict could also be taken to
represent received notions of stereotypically normal male (logical) and female
(intuitive) behavior. Shaffer frequently uses oppositional duality in his work: in Amadeus,
he pits the cool, pedantic composer Salieri against the immature genius of Mozart; in The
Royal Hunt of the Sun, Shaffer likewise illustrates the conflict between the conquistador
Pizarro and the Incan king Atahuallpa. As we analyze Shaffers take on yin-yang duality
in its various forms, it is worth noting that he himself is a twin: his brother, Anthony
Shaffer, is the playwright of Sleuth, Whodunnit, and Murderer.

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