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Due to the restricted number of actors then, each performer had to take on multiple roles where the use of masks, costumes, voice, and gesture became extremely important. However, a play could have as many non-speaking performers as required, so that plays with greater financial backing could put on a more spectacular production. Eventually, three actors were permitted on stage but no more - a limitation which allowed for equality between poets in competition. Later, these would develop into musical interludes. The actor also changed costumes during the performance (using a small tent behind the stage, the skēne, which would later develop into a monumental façade) and so break the play into distinct episodes. This innovation is credited to Thespis c. Later, the actor would often speak to the leader of the chorus, a group of up to 15 actors (all male) who sang and danced but did not speak. Here we can see perhaps the link to earlier religious ritual where proceedings might have been carried out by a priest. The early tragedies had only one actor who would perform in costume and wear a mask, allowing him to impersonate gods. Similarly, at least in the early stages of the genre, the poet could not make comments or political statements through his play.ĭue to the restricted number of actors each performer had to take on multiple roles where the use of masks, costumes, voice & gesture became extremely important.
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As a consequence of this serious subject matter, which often dealt with moral right and wrongs and tragic no-win dilemmas, violence was not permitted on the stage, and the death of a character had to be heard from offstage and not seen. The plot of a tragedy was almost always inspired by episodes from Greek mythology, which we must remember were often a part of Greek religion. From the mid-5th century BCE entrance was free. Plays were performed in an open-air theatre ( theatron) with wonderful acoustics and seemingly open to all of the male populace (the presence of women is contested). The music and dance of Dionysiac ritual was most evident in the role of the chorus and the music provided by an aulos player, but rhythmic elements were also preserved in the use of first, trochaic tetrameter and then iambic trimeter in the delivery of the spoken words.
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Indeed, Dionysos became known as the god of theatre and perhaps there is another connection - the drinking rites which resulted in the worshippers losing full control of their emotions and in effect becoming another person, much as actors ( hupokritai) hope to do when performing. 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. Some have linked the rise of the genre to an earlier art form, the lyrical performance of epic poetry. The exact origins of tragedy ( tragōida) are debated amongst scholars.