The Chorus and Greek Tradedy

DRAMA ESSAY

The Chorus and Greek Tragedy.

For the modern reader the chorus is one of the most foreign elements of tragedy because although modern styles like opera and musical theatre still exist, song and dance are no longer a convention of modern theatre. Greek tragedy was never just straight drama, like it is today. It was interspersed with song, dance and ritual performed by members of a cast known as the chorus. The chorus was an essential part of the production, whose primary role greatly contributed to the rising action of the plays through their interactions, theatrical visuals, and Dionysian force. The most obvious role of the chorus is to narrate and provide the audience with background or a summary of events that have occurred before the time of the action, but they also comment on any major themes and react to the play the way an audience of the time would have. They can represent “the people”, or a specific group, such as the slave women of the palace of Argos in Aeschylus’ The Libation Bearers. Before the 5th Century the chorus was often a character and not separate from the action of the play, often influencing other characters and providing insight to the audience, but the role later switched to that of a solitary commentator used to recite the moral of each play.

Ancient Greek theatre was dependent on the rituals performed by the chorus, who were traditionally anywhere from 15 to 50 similarly costumed men in masks. Part of why the chorus was so influential to the audience was because they were always mediating the physical space between the audience and the actor providing a visionary experience essential to Greek tragedy. The chorus enters the orchestra, or “dancing space”, which is situated in the middle of the performance space, under the skene where the other actors perform, during the parados (an entrance song), from two ramps known as the paradoi, on either side of the orchestra. They performed songs called stasimon in...