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The Origins of Theatre

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The Origins of Theatre
The Origins of Theatre

Theatre has been around for thousands of years dating back to the B.C.E era. There are many forms of theatre Ritual Theatre, uses theatrical techniques of song, dance, and characterization but is still firmly rooted in religion. Many scholars agree on two traits that distinguish theatre from rituals. First theatre must have an actor that plays a character, a person that takes on a role of a human, object, or animal. Second theatre usually has a story with conflict; conflict is the key to all drama. Few religions or social rituals have scripted conflict; many rituals have a prescribed line of events but do not act out a story of conflict. When these two traits are present actors who play characters and tell stories of conflict we have theatre.
Wine and Fertility: the birth of tragedy. Greece was made up of independent city states, the main cities were Sparta, Corine, Thebes, and Athens. Although there are many theories about how theatre began in Athens, many scholars accept Aristotle’s claim that theatre grew out of a ritual called the Dithyramb. Dithyramb was a hymn song at the altar of the god Diomysus. Goddess Diomysus was the god of wine and fertility, with dancing singing and improve. In 534 B.C.E. Thestis wrote and acted in a play that won a competition, he created theatre by playing an individual roll.
Built into the side of a hill in Athens the theatre of Diomysus could seat 17,000, the largest of all Greek theatres. There are many types of structure that contribute to a theatre some of which are

An Orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus. A Skene was the background building which connected the platform stage, in which costumes were stored and to which the periaktoi (painted panels serving as the

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