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.