The chorus in Classical Greek drama was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation . Greek tragedy had its beginnings in choral performances, in which a group of 50 men danced and sang dithyrambs—lyric hymns in praise of the god Dionysus.
What was the chorus used for?
The chorus speaks directly to the audience and may not interact with the main characters of a story at all. Their purpose is to underscore the moral themes, actions, character development, and messages of a story to the audience. The Greek chorus was prevalent in classical Greek drama of the 5th century BCE.
What are the 2 main functions of the Greek chorus?
What are the 2 main functions of the Greek chorus? The purpose of the chorus in a Greek play vary from play to play. The chorus acts as the narrators, make breaks for actors, bring drama to play other than with the use of props , and acts as audience surrogates.
Where did the Greek chorus perform?
Greek theatres were huge. The theatre of Dionysus in Athens could hold 15,000 spectators. The audience sat on seats carved out of a hillside. These seats encircled a round playing area called the orchestra where the chorus performed.
What was the main purpose of a Greek chorus quizlet?
What was the function of the chorus in Greek theater? The chorus represented the point of view of the spectator and interpreted and commented upon the characters, their words, and actions .
Why was the Greek chorus so important?
The purpose of the Greek chorus was to provide background and summary information to the audience to help them understand what was going on in the performance. ... Because Greek theatres were so large, the members of the chorus had to work hard to look and sound like one person.
Why did the Greek chorus wear masks?
Masks served several important purposes in Ancient Greek theater: their exaggerated expressions helped define the characters the actors were playing ; they allowed actors to play more than one role (or gender); they helped audience members in the distant seats see and, by projecting sound somewhat like a small megaphone ...
What is the difference between an actor and the chorus?
Answer: Chorus, in drama and music, those who perform vocally in a group as opposed to those who perform singly . The chorus in Classical Greek drama was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation.
How does a chorus effect work?
Chorus effects thicken your signal by copying it multiple times, coloring the copied signals, and playing them back slightly delayed . ... Chorus pedals accomplish this by splitting your signal into multiple “voices,” modulating their pitch and timbre, and delaying those voices slightly from the main signal.
What were the Greek chorus called and why?
A Greek chorus, or simply chorus (Greek: χορός, translit. chorós), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers , who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action.
What were Greek theaters called?
Theatre buildings were called a theatron . The theaters were large, open-air structures constructed on the slopes of hills. They consisted of three main elements: the orchestra, the skene, and the audience.
What does theatron mean in Greek?
(Late Middle English via Latin from Greek amphitheatron). From amphi, meaning “on both sides” or “around” and theatron, meaning “place for viewing .” An oval or circular, open-air performance space with tiered seating on all sides.
What were Greek plays called?
The Ancient Greeks took their entertainment very seriously and used drama as a way of investigating the world they lived in, and what it meant to be human. The three genres of drama were comedy, satyr plays , and most important of all, tragedy.
What are three functions of the chorus?
They function, scholars have suggested variously, to offer a sense of rich spectacle to the drama ; to provide time for scene changes and give the principle actors a break; to offer important background and summary information that facilitates an audience’s ability to follow the live performance; to offer commentary ...
Who was the first person to act?
According to tradition, in 534 or 535 BC, Thespis astounded audiences by leaping on to the back of a wooden cart and reciting poetry as if he was the characters whose lines he was reading. In doing so he became the world’s first actor, and it is from him that we get the world thespian.
Why does tragedy mean goat?
The word ‘tragedy’ is built from two Greek roots: ‘tragos’, meaning ‘goat’ and ‘oide’, meaning ‘ode’. It literally means ‘goat song’, referring to the dramatic plays of the ancient Greeks named such for the actors who dressed in the skins of goats to represent satyrs, goat-like mythological deities .
