Ancient Comedy

Ancient Comedy

Divided into
1. Old Comedy
  1. Aristophanes
2. Middle Comedy
3. New Comedy
  1. Menander
Aristotle wrote in his Poetics (c. 335 BC) that comedy is a representation of laughable people and involves some kind of blunder or ugliness which does not cause pain or disaster
Structure
1. 1- Parados
  1. Up to 24 performers form the Chorus
    1. Plays would be named after Chorus and what is represented, i.e. Aristophanes The Wasps play
  2. Song and dance routines
  3. Bizarre costumes
2. 2- Agon
  1. Witty verbal contest or debate between main actors
  2. Fantastical plot elements
  3. Fast scene changes
  4. Improvisation
3. 3- Parabasis
  1. Chorus spoke directly to audience
  2. Chorus spoke directly for poet
4. 4- Exodus
  1. Another song and dance routine
The Actors
1. All performers were male
2. 1 protag
  1. 2 other
    1. These are the only speaking parts
      1. Restrictions ensured equality in competition and keep down state costs for funding actors
        So multiple roles
        Use of masks
Chorus, costumes, musicians, rehearsal time funded by private citizen

Resource summary

	Created by Declan Wiseman over 8 years ago