The use of ancient Greek theatre masks
‘In what sense, were the costumes and masks appropriate to be used in Greek theatre?’ This question is really addressing the uses and advantages of Greek costumes and masks that were utilised by both playwrights and the general actors in the play. Firstly, I shall comment on the uses of the costumes and masks in Greek tragedies. The Greek costume would consist of the following: The actual costume itself was elaborately and painstakingly decorated with patterns mimicking that of the icon of Dionysus, the processional figure before the festival. Heavy fabric was used with a variety of rich colours patterned with extravagant designs. The masks used for tragedy were more life like than any other masks used in comedy and satyr plays were often very large had few features were exaggerated. The masks used genuine human hair as to make the masks realistic and more life like. The cothurnis were sometimes wooden shoes with high heels and contributed to the dignified look and attitude of the tragic actor. Firstly, the masks were very vital to the play but also demanded more skill from the actors. The large mask help
Firstly, I think that was the most original idea of actually reflecting what the actor was playing. I think it would be very confusing without the costume for the audience. The fur and tail lends itself to the fact that the actors were attempting to play an animal and the costumes helped to fill in the void in the audience’s imagination. Inevitably, this also helped the actors to move across the stage ‘like’ an animal so there was a real importance to this most strange costume. Firstly, the costumes were very light. This allowed the comedians/actors to run about in order to act out scenes and this funny and quick pace is an almost contradiction to tragedy so there is a clear distinction even in acting. The short tunic allowed them to easily move as comedy scenes were energetic so the tunic suited their acting needs. To conclude, I think the costumes and mask favoured theatre in all aspects: story, creativity, acting and so on. I think there is no real defined sense in which the costumes and masks were most favourable. ed all the poeple in the theatre even in the back to help them to find out what was happening. Views were not optimal and good from all places in the theatre and mask were vital in helping the audience understand the story line and what was happening. The masks actually extended the cast to around fifteen people as masks often were different and could be swapped around to represent different characters. This meant that one actor could actually play up to five uniqu
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Approximate Word count = 1011
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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