In a large open-air theatre, like the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, the classical masks were able to bring the characters’ face closer to the audience, especially since they had intensely over-exaggerated facial features and expressions. Dionysos was fundamentally the god of changeability: grapes become wine, sober becomes drunk, human becomes animal, order becomes chaos. Part of the same website with an interactive activity to create your own Greek tragedy. With its exaggerated, grotesque features, this terracotta model shows the mask worn by the old man character in many comedies of the 300s BC and later.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thtr/hd_thtr.htm, Introduction to Greek theatre Brief but comprehensive video introduction to Greek theatre. Although Dionysos is often thought of simply as the god of wine, it is the transformational power of wine that most characterises him.

While we refer to Greek theatre, almost all the Greek plays we have were written and first performed in Athens and it was in Athens that Greek theatre as we know it was invented, developed and reached its height. First episode in BBC series on Greek theatre First episode in BBC series on Greek theatre: excellent introduction to theatre in Athens; a further two episodes continue the story. The City Dionysia began with a magnificent procession carrying an image of Dionysos into the theatre. The masks worn in tragedies were different, with idealised features set in calm, serious, or sometimes pained expressions. Brief but comprehensive video introduction to Greek theatre.

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/an-introduction-to-greek-theatre-0, Video introduction to masks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jToXlJQZC_g, Overview of Greek theatre Follow the Theaters link for an interactive plan of a later Greek theatre.
This was followed by sacrifices and feasting.

The earliest examples of masks being used in Greece stem from the ancient religious ceremonies of the celebration of various Greek gods, especially deity Dionysus. Greek theatre masks were designed so that the spectators could see the expressions of the actors more clearly, therefore building their understanding of the story. The exact origins of tragedy (tragōida) are debated amongst scholars.

The masks of Greek theater played an incredibly important role in the development of the theater art form, and are today considered as one of the most iconic conventions of the classical Greek art.

In Athens there were three annual festivals of Dionysos at which plays were performed, the most important being the City Dionysia, which took place in March.

The Greek term for mask is persona and was a significant element in the worship of Dionysus at Athens.

Many aspects of Greek culture were very competitive and the festivals took the form of competitions with great prestige to be gained by the winning playwrights and citizen-producers.

In this disguise he could say and do things that could not be said and done in everyday life, and could present to the audience events, actions and ideas that were horrifying or ridiculous, inspiring or fantastic.

Masks had certain practical uses: their distinct features made characters recognisable at a distance; they made it easier for the three actors used in plays to play more than one part each; they enabled the all-male casts to play both men and women and some experts claim that the masks helped amplify the voice so that it could be heard at the back of the large open-air theatres. Thespis was the first writer, who used a mask. Others suggest a strong link with the rituals performed in the worship of Dionysos such as the sacrifice of goats - a song ritual called trag-ōdia - and the wearing of masks.

Finally, the orphaned children of warriors killed in battle who had reached the age of manhood paraded into the theatre dressed in full armour. At some stage before the four days of performance began, the names of citizens who had carried out services for the city were read out.

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/greece/theater/index.html, Create your own Greek tragedy Part of the same website with an interactive activity to create your own Greek tragedy. Three sets of three tragedies, each followed by a so-called satyr play, and five comedies were performed. The plays that followed these demonstrations of civic identity and of Athenian power dealt with human behaviour and aspirations, with right and wrong, with politics and with the nature and power of the gods. Their upbringing had been paid for by the city and they were now formally acknowledged as citizens. Greek theatre masks were made of stiffened and painted linen so none have survived to the present day.

With its exaggerated, grotesque features, this terracotta model shows the mask worn b… Through its transformed world of mythical and fantastic characters and stories, elaborate costumes, music, dance and masks, theatre forced the city of Athens to scrutinise both itself and the nature of human life. It is the idea of transformation that lies at the root of this association.

We only know what they looked like because theatre was so popular in Greek and Roman times that models of actors and masks were made in other materials such as terracotta, stone and bronze and depicted on gems and in paintings and mosaics.

Most of the evidence comes from only a few vase paintings of the 5th century BC, such as one showing a mask of the god suspended from a tree with decorated robe hanging below it and dancing and the Pronomos vase, which depicts actors preparing for a Satyr play. We only know what they looked like because theatre was so popular in Greek and Roman times that models of actors and masks were made in other materials such as terracotta, stone and bronze and depicted on gems and in paintings and mosaics. Masks in Ancient Greek Theatre The use of masks in ancient Greek theater draw their origin from the ancient Dionysian cult.


Throughout the Greek world, performances of plays were usually connected with worship of the god Dionysos.

KS2: Britain: the Stone Age to the Iron Age, KS3: Britain, Europe and the world: curriculum 1901, KS3: Significant societies in world history, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf9cDKqwhQw, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thtr/hd_thtr.htm, http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/an-introduction-to-greek-theatre-0, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jToXlJQZC_g, http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/greece/theater/index.html, http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/greece/theater/stageTragedy.html, http://www.slideshare.net/mharring/greek-theatre, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greek_theatrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greek_theatres.

Some have linked the rise of the genre to an earlier art form, the lyrical performance of epic poetry.

Attending the theatre was very much a communal and civic event. Follow the Theaters link for an interactive plan of a later Greek theatre.


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