Facts About Greek Tragedy and Comedy

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

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Tragedy revolves around a tragic hero who suffers misfortune.
In his Poetics, Aristotle wrote about the qualities of tragedy, which include a catharsis or cleansing. See: Aristotle's Tragedy Terminology.
Greek tragedy was performed as part of an estimated 5-day Athenian religious festival, which may have been instituted by the tyrant Peisistratus in the second half of the sixth century B.C.
The Great Dionysia, the name of this festival, was held in the Attic month of Elaphebolion, from the end of March to mid-April.
The dramatic festivals were centered around competitions, agones.
Three tragic playwrights competed for the prize for the best series of three tragedies and a satyr play.
The subject matter was usually from mythology.
The first surviving full play was not mythological, but the recent history-based play The Persians, by Aeschylus.
Violence usually occurred offstage.
The first competition is thought to have been held in 535 B.C. at which time Thespis, the person credited with the first speaking role, won.
There were rarely more than a chorus and 3 actors, regardless of how many roles were played. Actors changed their appearance in the skene.
The theaters were so capacious that actors couldn't count on people in the back rows seeing their facial expressions; hence, masks.
Actors needed good projecting voices, but the theaters had impressive acoustics.

Greek Comedy is divided into Old and New.
Since the only Greek comedy comes from Attica -- the country around Athens -- it is often called Attic Comedy.
Old Comedy tended to examine political and allegorical topics while New Comedy looked at personal and domestic themes. For comparison, think of the The Colbert Report vs How I Met Your Mother.
Euripides (one of the 3 great writers of tragedy) is considered an important influence on the development of New Comedy.
The primary writer of Old Comedy is Aristophanes; the primary figure for New Comedy is Menander.
The Roman comedy writers followed Greek New Comedy.
The relatively modern "Comedy of Manners" can be traced to Greek New Comedy.

Theatrical performances were religious and political.
Always competitive, the winning Greek choregos and playwrights accrued great prestige.
Men played the role of women.
Actors wore masks and costumes.
Performances were outdoors often on hillsides.
The word "theater" comes from the word theatron which was the viewing area for the Greek audience.