Liana on Greece and the Theatre

Greece and the Theatre

Written by: Robert Knox

Through all of the Greeks tough times they found refuge in the peace and community of the theatre.

“The orphaned children of those Athenians who had fallen in battle were cared for and educated by the city; once they had reached young manhood, they were paraded in the theatre in full armor, to receive the blessings of the people. Honors and distinctions decreed for foreign heads of state and individuals were conferred in the theater at the festival”. (22)

Even though the fallen were no with them, their legacies and bloodlines were respectfully maintained through the community. Greece has always been poor, but they had each other, they had their gods and they were rich in spirit.

“The audience with its knowledge of the past and future, is on the level of the gods; they see the ambition, passion and actions of the characters against the larger pattern of their lives and of the characters against the larger pattern of their lives and deaths. The spectator is involved emotionally in the heroic struggles of the protagonist, a man like himself, and at the same time can view his heroic action from the standpoint of superior knowledge, the knowledge possessed by those gods whose prophesies of the future play so large a role in Sophoclean tragedy”. (24)

Through the theatre, the Greeks showed that politically they weren’t only a democracy but that they had a democratic way of life. The theatre was created by the people, for the people. They mixed politics, religion and recreation on the stage. It was somewhere to go to lighten up the spirit, to forget about every day troubles and put yourself on another level, a higher level where immediate obstacles can be forgotten and you could sit and be lost in someone else’s life for a while. Giving you the ability to converse and interact with the entire community building each person as well as the production.

What happened to the people that took in Oedipus after he left his home?

How long did it take Oedipus to find out his wife was his mother?

It said Antigone was his guide when he was wondering around with no eyeballs, was she with him when he dies?

How did Oedipus finally die?