Greek Tragedy is a form of art that has to do with human suffering to create pleasure for the viewers. It was
performed in theatres through drama. The leading
writers for it were Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. The plays were performed every year in between March and April at a festival for Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. The plays have a character, a protagonist, who tries to overcome something and experiences some form of non-accidental tragedy in his journey. It is usually caused by either divine intervention or by human emotions. It usually has a sad ending, but not always!
The theatres they were performed in had no roofs. They were made this way so that the people would be exposed to the elements and the open air for a more pleasant atmosphere. They made up for this with naturally curved walls in the audience to increase accoustics. The actors used masks to show their expressions. This was especially useful for those farther from the stage to see, as the masks were quite colourful. These actors were always men, even when the role was a woman. In Greek culture, it was considered disgraceful for women to be on stage. In tragedys, the chorus was called the emmelia. Much like in music, that were sung out loud by a group of people, which were divided into strophe,
antistrophe and
epode. Strophe is sung from west to east, antistrophe is sung from west to east, and epode is when it is all sung together.
I think seeing a live play performed of a Greek Tragedy in modern times will be very different from the way it used to be. Even with shakespear plays, the ancient scripts are modified or rewritten to better please today's audiences. I think reading the play first would be the best approach. As with books and movies, the movies usually leave a great deal of information and story out from the book. I would imagine if I saw the play first, I would have a lot of questions or maybe not understand what is going on. Although the experience might change, it would be more clear and interesting to see.
