There were three stages in the development of the theatre space in Greek history. The early phase was a simple layout in the Theatre of Dionysus and began around 520 B.C. The orchestra was a full circle used as a ritualistic place. It was roughly 66 feet in diameter. In the center of the orchestra sat a small alter originally used for offerings to the gods, this was called the themele. The orchestra sat in front of the hillside, and on the opposite side was a skene. The skene was a tent-like structure used as what would be thought of us a modern day dressing room. It was also used for props and storage.

The middle stage took place around 500 B.C. The skene was made bigger and was a more permanent structure. Its name was changed to a skene house. Wooden seating was used for audiences. “Occasionally, the roof of the s

hold around 20,000 spectators. Specific seats were reserved for priests and dignitaries. These were called the “thrones of honor” and were made of Pentelic marble.

During the Hellenistic period, the stage basically stayed the same. The only edition was the Episkenion. This was placed along the back wall of the paraskenion and was thought to have been used as a temporary upper story. The auditorium was a lot larger and it had three tiers which could

The evolution of Greek and Roman performance space developed over long periods of time. Many of their ideas exist in today’s theatre society. Theatre was a central event in both Greek and Roman societies. They held festivals and rituals to honor the playwrights. The addition of scenery had a profound effect on theatre by focusing more on its artistic value. It is obvious that many of the Roman’s ideas were created from earlier Greek design. However, it seems that as time went on, the evolution of the performance space became more and more advanced.

Greece started to become more advanced towards the end of the fifth century B.C. following plans of Pericles. The use of deux ex machina came into effect. This being the used as a device to make gods fly over the stage. It was a crane that sat behind the stage, which swung a basket where the god or hero sat while being lifted over the stage. There was also the use of an eccyclema, a small, rolling, and usually ra

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