Ancient Greek architecture

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Between the orchestra and the skene was a level surface known as the proscenium. The proscenium was the area in which the majority of the action took place. It was raised one foot from the surface of the orchestra. Theater and drama was born in Attica, the present day Athens. Built on the Acropolis is the theater where many of the lost and surviving plays from the fifth and fourth century B.C., were probably debuted. The Theater Dionysus, like many of its descendants was built in the open air of an acropolis.

Dionysus was a very large theater, with a seating capacity of over 17,000. Regardless, it was believed to have excellent acoustics. Without the excellent acoustics, audience members in the furthest back rows would likely have very little idea what was happening on stage. Very few visual aspects of the performance could be made out from such great distances. For this reason, set designers would avoid intricate detail on most everything they constructed. Playwrights would call for designs that were relatively basic so they could be clearly discernible from the furthest seats. For the same reason, costume designers were forced to create costumes on a large scale. Very large masks were worn by many of the actors.

The masks emphasized the dominant traits of the characters they were impersonating so they too could be seen from the same far away seats. During the reign of Alexander the Great and throughout the fourth century B.C., a new type of theater referred to as the Hellenistic Theater was built. Like the theaters built in the prior century, Hellenistic theaters contained the orchestra, parados, and the skene. However, architecturally speaking, that is the extent of the similarities between the theaters of the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. As previously mentioned, theaters underwent major renovations that included the installation of permanent stone seating.

This feature first appeared in the Hellenistic Theaters of the fourth century B.C., which were predominately built out of stone and marble. Another new aspect of the Hellenistic Theaters was the columns used next to the skene. The columns ranged in height from 8-13 feet. These columns were typically enclosed by the paraskenia. There were painted boards located behind the columns called pinakes. Also, the auditorium was slightly larger than a semi-circle, and the skene was now divided into rooms (Nicoll 18). The skene also underwent some major alterations. There were three doors on the back wall through which actors could enter and exit the orchestra. « mai multe referate din Istorie