Boston: De Gruyter, 2021, pp. 29-62. (original) (raw)

Nothing to Do with the Theatre? 'The shows in the ancient theatre did not only consist of theatrical and other artistic performances. A large variety of other activities, including ritual actions, took place both on the occasion of thymelic and musical competitions and in context of other celebrations. [.. .] Theatre rituals were perhaps not meant to be spectacles; perhaps the theatre was chosen as their setting only because of the advantages it offered in a practical sense (acoustics, seats, large gatherings of people). But the choice of this particular setting, i.e. the space of thea (the watching of spectacles), sooner or later had consequences for the form of the rituals themselves'. 1 The word (as well as the concept of) theatre did not include only dramatic performances, but rather it held together everything that took place in the orchestra. Angelos Chaniotis' assessment sets forth the position that I am going to develop in this chapter regarding the theatrical dimension of the Athenian Great Dionysia's pre-play ceremonies. Unlike Chaniotis, I will focus on the most important period for the Greek theatre and the origins of its pre-play ceremonies: fifth century BC in Athens. It was there that the ritual space of the ceremonies seemingly coincided with the theatrical space of drama for the first time, thus expanding a theatrical programme which would have provided the audience with a mixed set of civic/religious rituals and dramatic performances within the same venue. Such a coincidence in the orchestra invites us to consider the audience perception of and reaction to the spectacle as a whole: for, once having taken their seats, a heterogeneous public attended both performances, the preplay ceremonies and the dramatic plays. Did the spectators consider all of these performances a holistic and coherent set? What made the pre-play ceremonies suitable to the theatrical context (along with its spaces and conventions)? As far as the evidence goes, and despite the importance of this set of problems, no attempt to ask or to answer such questions has been made.