One of the most controversial
questions in the field of theatre history involves the use of the raised stage
in the Attic Greek (5th Century BCE) theatre structure. In my opinion there was
no raised stage for three reasons: 1) there is no mention of its existence in
classical writings; 2) it is not called for in the plays; and 3) it is not
necessary.
Scholars are generally agreed upon the many
parts of the Greek theatre structure: the skene, the paraskenion, the mechane, the
orchestra, the thymele, etc.(1) All these parts are mentioned and discussed at great length. It is
on the subject of the stage that there is disasgreement.
Haigh believes that there was one. Flickinger does not.
Haigh, in his book The Attic Theatre, states that
the stage was the descendent of a platform next to the altar, both called the thymele, upon which the leader of the chorus stood during
the dialogues between the chorus leader and the chorus. Later, this table was
attached to the stage house and used by the actors. (Haigh,
1907, p.80)
One very strong argument against the
existence of a stage is one that I have never seen advanced, and yet I believe
it is an obvious one, perhaps so obvious that it hasn't been seen. That is the
nonexistence of a single word. Every other part of the theatre has a name: skene, mechane, etc.. However, there does not appear to be a word for the bone
of contention, the stage. It is a fact of linguistics that societies do not
invent words for those things which they do not have a referent -- what they
don't imagine they don't name. For example, a society that has no conception of
war will not have a word for war.
Haigh, in The Attic Theatre, has taken a word, thymele, to mean the stage, though the word is also applied
to a quite different part of the theatre, the altar. (Haigh,
1907) However, if thymele is the name for the stage,
why did Phaedrus, governor of
My second point is that the stage is not
called for in any play of the period. The only requirement is for a high place
for gods to stand, and that is amply provided for by the roof of the skene, called the theologion, or
god speaking place.
On the contrary, there is evidence in the
plays against the stage. Throughout the Attic plays there seems to be easy
communication between actor and chorus. This is particularly evident in the
plays of Aeschylus, as in The Suppliant Maidens in which the chorus is
the protagonist and speaks directly and easily with the characters. However, it
is also true of the plays of Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.
In Euripedes' Electra
it is easy to imagine the chorus of Argive peasant
women coming up to Electra and gathering around her to cheer her. (Euripides,
1971)
In Euripides' The Bacchae,
how much more effective it would be to have the chorus of women swirling around
the actors than to have the actors raised above them in a scene of superiority
over foolishness. (Euripides, 1971)
Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae
is a fine example. The actor must mingle with the chorus. How would this be
possible if he were isolated above them on a stage? It is true that he could
descend from a stage to the orchestra, but is seems to me that that would give
an impression of slumming.
It is clear that from the plays the stage
would not be an aid to production -- it would be a hinderance.
If the above is so, what then of the greatest
argument for the existence of a stage, that of visibility? That is my final
point: a stage was not necessary.
First, let us take a look at the physical
surroundings. There is a large raked seating area surrounding on three sides
the orchestra. On the fourth side is the scene house. What interests us most at
the moment is the orchestra.
When one considers the size of the orchestra
a stage seems superfluous. True, a chorus of 50, as in The Suppliant Maidens,
could give the impression that they filled it (if they moved fast enough), but
a chorus that size was soon dispensed with and reduced to 12. (Flickinger, 1936, p. 133)
An orchestra 66 feet across (Brockett, 1968)
is over 3400 square feet in area. If each of the 12 chorus members needs two
square feet to stand, that is only 24 square feet, or less than .7 of 1% of the
area of the orchestra, leaving more than enough room for two or three actors.
In fact, at two square feet per person there is room for 141 choruses, or 1700
people. There is room for three actors, a wildly dancing chorus, and animal
acts on the side.
But what of visibility? This is the greatest argument for a stage, and yet
there is no argument against the many theatres-in-the-round
where often an audience member is blocked momentarily by a member of the cast.
In this light, the argument seems specious. One or two or three actors would be
perfectly visible against a chorus of 12. In addition, with the costumes and,
more importantly, the magnificent masks, the actors would be easily
distinguished from the chorus.
Two advantages of having the actors in the
orchestra is the greater freedom of movement and the fact that the actor could
approach the seating area, thus reducing the 60 foot gap a stage would
necessarily impose.
I believe that, consider the rest of the
physical layout of the Attic Greek theatre, a stage would have imposed a burden
on production, and that, due to the lack of necessity and the lack of a name,
there was no raised stage in the Classical Greek theatre.
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(1) These include A. E. Haigh (The
Attic Theatre, passim pp. 101-120), James H. Butler (The Theatre and
Drama of Greece and Rome, passim pp. 27-37), Roy C. Flickinger
(The Greek Theatre and Its Drama, passim pp. 57-74), T. B. L. Webster (Greek
Theatre Production, passim pp. /-20), Oscar G. Brockett (History of the
Theatre, passim pp. 32-40), Phyllis Hartnoll (The
Oxford Companion to the Theatre, pp. 33-34), and others.
Return
Aeschylus. (1969)
_________. (1968) Aeschylus
II. Edited by David Grene
and
Aristophanes. (1962) The
Complete Plays of Aristophanes. Edited by Moses Hadas. N.Y.: Bantam Books.
Aristotle. (1967) Poetics.
Translated by Gerald F. Else.
Brockett, Oscar G. (1968) History of the
Theatre.
Euripides. (1955)
_________. (1956) Euripides
II. Edited by David Grene
and
__________. (1971) Euripides
V. Edited by David Grene and
Flickinger, Roy C. (1936) The
Greek Theatre and its Drama.
Haigh, A. E. (1907) The
Attic Theatre.
Sophocles. (1957)
Webster, T. B. L. (1956) Greek Theatre
Production.
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