Over the years, acting has developed to become a visual art that entertains people across the globe in the form of stage plays. In fact, development of technology has brought forth different media platforms such as film and television (Wiles, 2017). However, it is important to note that acting started many years ago with different audiences and forms of acting through Dionysian, which was a Greek festival for the god Dionysus. In this regard, the following paper seeks to demonstrate the role of Dionysus in Ancient Greek Drama, and how Dionysis set the tone for the theatre.
The theatre of Ancient Greece, which was also commonly referred to as the ancient Greek drama, was premised on the theatrical culture that was flourishing during the ancient Greece, between 550 BC and 220 BC (Wiles, 2017). Important to note is that Athens, which was transformed into a major political, cultural and military power during this era, was made the center of Greek drama. In the city, the theatre of ancient Greece was institutionalized as part of the Dionysia festival, which was honoring the Dionysus god. The festival and the Athens city played a critical role in the emergence of different genres such as the Tragedy which started in the late sixth century BC, comedy in the 486 BC as well as the satyr play (Hart et al., 2010). Later on, Athens would export the festival into its several colonies as well as allies with the aim of promoting a cultural identity that would be common.
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According to the early Greek tradition, a formal theater that started taking place in Athens evolved from festivals that were closely connected and linked to the cult of Dionysus, who was considered the god of wine and fertility for Greeks (Wiles, 2017). The tradition could probably be accurate as Greek drama that took place at Dionysia as a festival occurred once per year. Though this was the case, historians have argued that it might not be possible to exactly know how rituals on fertility would develop into comedy and tragedy.
One of the historians and poets, Aristotle, wrote through his poetics on the earliest known theoretical background concerning the origin of Greek theatre (Wiles, 2017). According to him, tragedy came from the dithyrambs, which was a song sung to praise Dionysus during the Dionysia festivals each year. As some historians have observed, the dithyrambs song could have started as a frenzied improvisation. However, in the 600s BC, Arion who was also a poet is recognized with the development of dithyramb into formalized narratives being sung through a chorus.
In the early 500 BC, Thespis, a poet, was as well credited for playing a pivotal role of coming up with a new style where a solo actor would perform the speeches of different characters in the form of a narrative through the use of masks that distinguished the characters (Wiles, 2017). In this case, the actor would speak and act as if he was the real character. At the same time, he would ensure that he interacted with the leader of the chorus, who performed as a narrator and commentator (Nardo, 2015). Based on this events, Thespis is termed as the first Greek actor, and his drama style would later be referred to as a tragedy, implying “goat song.” This term probably referred to the goats offered as sacrifices to the Dionysus prior to conducting the plays, or even the goat skins that were worn by those participating in Dionysia (Hart et al., 2010). Consequently, the new style of Thespis would later be adopted and became part of the ceremonies in the Dionysian festivals. Indeed, in 534 BC, competitions would be organized to determine the best tragedy.
Through the use of Dionysia festivals, in 471 BC, Aeschylus, who was one of the dramatists, innovated a second actor, which made it possible to have a dialogue between characters while on stage (Wiles, 2017). In the same period, the possibility of having a third actor would be introduced by Sophocles, leading to more complex situations of drama in the festivals. At the same time, the chorus was as well being used as a separate character instead of a narrator. In many instances, the theme in different plays would be expanded such that instead of just Dionysus, they could cover all the aspects of Greek mythology.
The Dionysian festivals also played a pivotal role in advancing satirical drama. In these festivals, singers and actors dressed in ways that represented the “fantasy beings” who were silenus and satyrs’ figures (Wiles, 2017). On the same note, acrobatic dancers were part of the festivals and were used for attractions. It is worth pointing out that these dancers were linked to Dionysus and his cortège (Hart et al., 2010). Satiric drama, as a little-known genre, was innovated by Pratinas in Attic at the beginning of Eschylus' career. The satirical drama would quickly be integrated as the fourth element in the tragic plays thus forming a tetralogy.
In the modern era, Dionysus has remained the source of inspiration for artists as well as writers and philosophers. However, according to the 1872’s work of dramatic theory, The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, the tension between Dionysus and Apollonian aesthetic principles triggered the Greek tragedy’s development (Wiles, 2017). Despite the dismissal of the role Dionysus played in forming the current theater by some philosophers such as Nietzsche, some have traced the modern theater to many features explained in Dionysus (Hart et al., 2010). One of such people is the poet Vyacheslav Ivanov who has elaborated the Dionysianism theory by tracing the origins of literature, specifically the tragedy to the ancient mysteries of Dionysian.
References
Hart, M. L., Walton, J. M., & J. Paul Getty Museum. (2010). The art of ancient Greek theater. Los Angeles, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum.
Nardo, D. (2015). Greek and Roman theater . San Diego: Lucent.
Wiles, D. (2017). Mask and performance in Greek tragedy: From ancient festival to modern experimentation . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
