How were classical theatre plays performed to their original audiences

Greek theatre staging

Greek theatre runs from 700bc to 400bc. People would most likely recognise Greek theatre from using masks to represent lots of different characters, this was to show a sign of resepect for religious reasons and also it gave the actors a sense of privacy. For example if they were playing a character that was a antagonist, audeince would get so into it that anything in relation to that character would be bad. The Greeks would have a rule of only three actors on a stage and a time, they would then use the well known masks to change between characters in the scene, these masks were so big and decorated that actors would have to project their lines so much, so that audeince going to sizes like 30,000+ could hear them, this would also include them using big body language to make sure that every gesture and movement was seen by everyone

There were three main playwrights of the Greek era. These were Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides. These playwrights would be most commonly seen in an event called 'the festival of Dyonisis', which is the biggest event in the Greek calendar, where plays would compete in the festival. This festival would contain three different genres of play: comedy, tragedy and satyr.

All of the plays were performed in the Amphitheates, which was open air, and had racked seating, which was usually built into a cliff edge so that all audience members could see. The main theatre in Athens could hold around 30-40,000 people per show, this is a drast difference to modern theatres in the west end which hold around 1000-1500 people. The prime time for shows to perform in were, 1:00-4:30 as this is when the daylight was at its brightest. This was due to the simple fact that there was no non natural light to keep the actors lite when the sun went down.

Elizabethan theatre staging.

Elizabethan theatre took place in the reign of queen Elizabeth 1st. She was very famous for her love of theatre and art, and that is why that during the renaissance this was the prime time for art and history. Elizabethan theatre had lots of playwrights, who would write lots of different plays in different genres. However the two main playwrights were Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, who wrote our play that were are studying 'Dr Faustus'. 

There was a revolution during the Elizabethan era, where all theatres were to be moved out of central London onto the other side of the Thames, this is now where you can find the most famous theatres, such as the rose theatre, the theatre and the globe theatre. The globe theatre is probably the most well known theatre of its time and now, and much like the Greek theatres, it is open air, this would mean that all performances would be open to the elements and would still have to be performed during light hours. Within this theatre there were three levels of seating, and the higher up that you got, the higher the price of the ticket you would get. Much like today, there were a range of ticket prices and you would really get what you payed for. The lowest section of the theatre was known as the groundlings or the pit. This was probably the worst place to be in the theatre, as it had everything in it, from human waste, to bear baiting, all the way to prostitution. This is why you would only end up paying 1pence for a ticket in this section.

Theatre would be a much a quicker turn around than today, were you would see plays be performed for months or years on the westend, whereas in the Elizabethan times plays would only be performed once in the theatres, and would occasionally come back from high demand. This would mean that actors would only have around 5-6 rehearsals per show, to learn everything in it, this would be a very see what happens on the day situation. When it came to production everything was very simple in the theatres, and set would be kept to a minimum and set piece would only be brought on if really needed, for example a desk for Dr Fastus' study. Elizabethan went more out with the costumes, and would put a lot of time into getting big reactions to what they wore, there were also very strict rules about colour in the plays and a lot of colours were banned, and other colours would resemble different characters.

Modern theatre

In relation to Elizabethan theatre and traditional Greek theatre, I see modern theatre as a huge contrast, one example would be the tickets prices, where in modern theatres you would be paying £30+ for a ticket in a westend theatre, where prices would go up the better the seats are, which is similar to Elizabethan theatres yet tickets would start at a much cheeper price. This really made going to the theatre an event that was not for everyone in society, and less of a day to day event. However in Greek theatre all tickets to perfomances would be free, to keep everyone able to go, and making the theatre less of a status linked event and more an event that brought everyone together.