Context of Drama

• All theatre is performed in honour of Dionysus
• The City Dionysia was held in Athens in Late march
• The City Dionysia lasted for 5 days
• the Eponymous Archon organised the City Dionysia
• Tragic playwright wrote 3 tragedies and 1 satyr play
• Comic playwrights only wrote 1 play
• 3 Tragic playwrights and 5 comic playwrights were chosen for the City Dionysia
• Each playwright had a Choregos who was a financial backer
• All theatres had a temple to Dionysus
• The Chorus dances in the Orchestra pit
• Prominent figures sat in the Prohedria
• the Mechane is a crane that can lift actors above the stage
• the Ekkylema is a wheel platform often used to show dead actors
• the Skene is the backdrop and the backstage
• the Skene always shows the outside of a building
• The Dithyramb was a choral song that was performed in honor of Dionysus
• Violence was never shown on stage
• Drama was only performed at a religious festival
• Attica is the surrounding area to Athens
• Any free-born man was an Athenian citizen and allowed to go to the theatre
• In the Temple of Dionysus, in Athens, there were seats for each of the Athenian tribe and seats to outsiders
• Prisoners were given a day off to watch the plays
• Athens was a democracy, and disapproved of oligarchy, lots of plays are about the downfall of kings
• Choregoi were were wealthy Athenians who had to pay back to the city, via funding war efforts or funding plays
• Lots of people were involved in the city Dionysia, with processions, music, and dancing as well as organising, performing, and judging.
• There were three processions, one of the wealth won from war, one a list of the good people of Athens and one of the orphaned boys whose fathers died in war.