Style for Actors

Ch.4. Greek Style

Ancient Greek plays were written in the Classical Period, but set in the Bronze Age, seven centuries earlier. They were written for the people of Athens and the surrounding region of Attica. Most of the knowledge that we have of these productions comes from the Hellenistic age, a century after they were first written.

The differences between the times in which these plays were written and the times in which they are set are often pronounced. For example, while Athenian society was strongly patriarchal, many plays hark back to the matriarchal monarchy of the Mycenaean era. They are drenched in history and mythology.

Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides are the foremost playwrights of the era; the first giants of Western drama. Together they create visions of grandeur, serenity, and honesty respectively. Half of their surviving scripts are about one family — the House of Atreus. No dynastic soap opera ever produced a family so fascinating or two women more capable of unsettling their world and changing the course of humanity as the sisters-in-law Clymenestra and Helen of Troy.

Resources

Greek Warm-Up

Aphrodite give me beauty and freedom.
Apollo give me harmony and clarity.
Ares give me courage and power.
Artemis give me vision and light.
Athena give me wisdom and strategy.
Demeter give me growth and renewal.
Eros give me love and magic.
Hades give me intuition and objectivity.
Hephaestus give me skill and creativity.
Hera give me nurturing and commitment.
Hermes give me swiftness and connection.
Hestia give me safety and identity.
Poseidon give me loyalty and feeling.
Zeus give me strength and will!
And Dionysus, to whom my art is dedicated,
Dionysus give me inspiration and passion!!!
Now all the gods fill me with fire.
Drive me to destiny and wonder.
Help me go beyond the real and into ecstasy.
Help me find the god in me.
Let me understand. Let me act.

Quiz

The Greek Interview

This is an audio recording of the ‘period personality’ featured in Chapter 4. Some of you may find you can relate better to this character by actually hearing his inflections and the way he times his ideas. It may also assist in providing examples of the kind of delivery that can work within Greek style.

Ancient Greek Seer: Robert Barton, Interviewer: Andrew Barton

Download Transcript