Women in Greek Theatre

How were woman viewed in Greek Theatre? Why? - Well in the time of Greek Theatre women were seen as the lower gender. They didnt really have a voice, they couldnt even go and watch the plays or perform in them. However writers of Greek plays did see how important women are. Women were useful in the aspects of giving new life into the world, they also use to help a lot with the Religious Festivals. In Greek morphology woman are seen as very strong and fierce. Such as Medea, who was a women who was not so powerful as a person but her personality was incredibly powerful. She is seen as this intelligent strong human being. There was lots of great Goddesses, and heroic women, though off stage women were told what to do by their husband and they mostly stayed at home looking after kids and cleaning the house. The writers did this amazing thing of putting the political problems, like views women on stage. 

CULTURAL CONTEXT

What were the performance conventions in Sophocles’ time? - To attend a performance of one of these plays was an act of worship, not entertainment or intellectual pastime.Greek plays were put on at annual festivals (at the beginning of spring, the season of Dionysus), often for as many as 15,000 spectators at once. At the end of each year’s festivals, judges would vote to decide which playwright’s play was the best. In these competitions, Sophocles was king.

What were the trends or fashions within the performing arts? - The most popular plays were Tragedy's and Comedies. Stages were rectangular and the theater itself was constructed out of wood. They uses a large platform on wheels that could be rolled in to show the aftermath of a scene not acted out in front of the audience. They also had a device used like a crane to lift actors so they appeared to be floating in mid-air, they would sometimes use this if they wanted to interpret a God.

Multimedia is usually recorded and played, displayed, or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance.

TYPE OF MEDIA	EXAMPLE OF USE IN PERFORMANCE	POSITIVES OF USING IT…	NEGATIVES OF USING IT…
VIDEO CAMERA	to film parts of the play and show it.	its different and the audience will find it effective	might not be clear footage
PROJECTOR	to projects images onto the back of stage	could be used as scenery	some of the audience members might not see or understand
SOUND EFFECTS	used when a certain sound e.g rain needs to be used	brings the show to life and draws the audience in	its not as effective as the cast making the sounds.
INTERACTIVITY	sending videos or pictures to the audience about the performance	Lets the audience have a better understanding of the play	Some audience members may not have the technology

I went to see Girls Like That, it was a play about how teenagers use media nowadays and how it can be dangerous. They used media in the show, one of the ways they uses media was that they projected different social media sites onto chairs, this was good because it gave the audience an idea of what the play was about. They also used music when they changed scenes or something and at first I thought it was weird but at the end I really liked it and I liked how the songs they played related to what had just happened, I thought it was really effective and made the audience more interested.

Image of live feed being projected behind the performance.

Image of lights being used to create shadows in the background as well as writing that has been projected onto the screen.

What do you think of this story?- I think the story is very impowering, especially for women. It shows how a women can stand up to men and do what she believes is right. I really enjoy the idea of the play and the love she has for her brother and the costs she will go through to let him rest in peace. I think it will be really fun to perform and study.

Why do you think Sophocles wrote this play?- I think Sophocles wrote this play to show how different relationships work, eg. how a father and son relationship is different to brother and sister relationship. I think he also wrote it to show how womens opinion and judgement was seen, as in those times women couldn't even perform in plays.

Why do you think the Greek audiences might have wanted to see this play?- I think Greek audiences would want to see the play because it has a lot of drama in it, from war to death, to imprisonment, to death sentence to love, to suicide! There is so many things going on all the time that there is no mellow part which would be fascinating to watch.

1.What information does Antigone give to Ismene at the beginning of this scene? Antigone tells Ismene about how Creon only wants Eteocles to be buried but not his brother Polynices. She also says how if anyone tries to bury Polynices they will be stoned to death.

2.What has just happened in the sisters’ family? - Both their brothers Eteocles and Polynices have been killed during battle. And their is a divide in the family as Polynices is forbidden to have a funeral and be buried.

3.What does Antigone plan to do? Why? She plans to bury Polynices even knowing the risks if Creon finds out. She wants to because he is family and God told her to.

4.Does Ismene plan to join her? Why or why not? No because she is scared of what Creon will do if he finds out.

5.What story does the chorus tell us about?- They tell the story of the Battle.