Greek+Comedy+and+Tragedy

__ GREEK COMEDY AND TRAGEDY __ Greek theatre or Greek drama is a theatrical tradition that flourished in ancient Greece between 600 B.C. and 800 B.C.Greek theatre and plays had a listing impact on the Western drama and culture. Early tradition holds that formal theatre in athens envolved from festivals related to the cult of Dionysus, the Greek god of fertillity and wine. This Tradition is probably accurate, since Athenian drama occured at the Dionysia, annual festival honoring Dionysus.(Ancient Greek Theater) Tragedy became the most important literature for during theGolden Age.Sophocles, Aeshcylus, and Euripidies were the three greates tragic playwrights.People flocked to see dramas in honor of the gods.("Greek Theater") By the fifth century both tragedies and comedy was performed and many have survived to present time. (Ancient Greece, Anne Pearson)  In Athens , performances were men even for the women parts. (Ancient Greece, Anne Pearson) For example in the play Juliet and Romeo men played Juliet's part. So yes when Juliet and Romeo had that kissing scene that was actually two men. Women were probably not allowed to go to the theatre at all. (Ancient Greece, Anne Pearson) Tragedies are first heard of, as stage plays in the Dionysiac celebrations in Athens at the turn of the fifth century B.C.E , and comedies appear as a contrasting type of play a century later. (Sciencejrank.org) Tragedies aimed at arousing and then purging emotions such as pity and fears. ( Sciencejrank.org) There were only men at the theatre and on the stage. The largest festival for Greek tragedy was the Dionysia held for five days in March, for which competition prominent playwrights usually submitted three tragedies and one satyr play each. ([|http://upge.wn.com]) Athenians tragedy, comedy , and satyr plays were some of the earliest theatrical forms to emerge in the world. ( "Greek Theatre") Aristutle's poetics contain the earliest known theory about the orgins of Greek theatre. He says that tragedy evolved from dithyrambs, songs sing in praise of Dionysus at the Dionysia each year. (Greek Theatre) The plays that were showed at the theatres were based on either comedy or tragedy. Some were brutal and some were based on love. If they were brutal and it involved killing it didn't happen on stage. It happened off of stage because the theatre was a holy place. These events was frequently a brutal murder of some sort, an act of violence which could not be effectively portrayed visually , but an action of which the other characters must see the effects in order for it to have a meaning and emotional resonance. Another reason that the violence happened off stage was that the theatre was considered a holy place, so to kill someone on stage is to kill them in the real world. Killing on theatre is not holy that is why it didn't take place on the theatre. A favorite theatrical device of many ancient greek tragedies was the ekkyklema, a cart hidden behind the scenery which could be rolled out to display the after math of same event which had happened out of sight of the audiance.