Theatre Design & Technology - May 1966 - 19

Alexis Minotis, the leading actor-director of the
Greek National theatre, has said "the theatre at
Epidaurus is their (the modern Greek directors')
best teacher."3 Perhaps even more can be learned
from performances in ancient theatres, particularly
if the plays are shown in daylight, without spotlights, and at the same approximate date as when
the original festival took place. Karolos Koun of the
Greek Art Theatre, whose productions of the classics
were highly praised in London and Paris recently,
published an article in The Fulbright Review in
Athens last spring which urged a return to the conditions under which the plays were originally produced. 4

wind s in each locati on. With adequate data, it
might be possible to state with assurance that the
appeal to the ear took precendence over that to the
eye in the earliest days of the drama. An actor whose
facial expression was hidden behind a mask and
whose movements were hampered hy high, wooden
soles under his feet and by padding under an enveloping cloak would appear less human than divine,
especially if in silhouette against the sun; but his
very immobility would tend to increase the auditor's
attention to his words.

Current performances of Greek plays in Greek
theatres cannot approximate the original conditions
of production so long as they are held in the evening.
Much material is now avai lable on the actual ori- Whatever the orientation, all Greek theatres were
entation of principal Greek theatres of ancient built against hills. Meteorologists inform us that
times and on basic wind directions during various on-shore winds blow up the hills in the day but
months of the year. It remains to be learned, wher- reverse to blow down during the evening. 5 Performever possible, the approximate dates for festivals ances with spotlights are thus liable to be less
and the effect of land contours on the prevailing effective acoustically than those held under the sun.
A great majority of theatres near the coast face the
audiences toward breezes blowing unimpeded across
Greek Theatres: Orientati on of the Aud i tori urn Towards: the water.
A test has been made this year at Athens with the
new theatre atop Mt. Lycabettos, where the auditorium is placed in reverse to the ancient Theatres of
Dionysus and Herodus Atticus on the south slope of
the Acropol is. It is too ear Iy to reach any certa in
conclusion, but both the director Alexis Solomos
and architect Zenetos were concerned with the
problem of audibility. Since the top of a mountain
receives winds from all directions, the major difficulty may be in holding the actors' voices within
the shallow depression in which stage and temporary
bleachers are placed. If all goes well, a permanent
structure will be built. Let us hope that we may be
spared the introduction of microphones; the light
and sound show on the Acropolis indicates what
these do to the human voice, whether in Greek,
French, or English.

N
I

KORINTH
KOS
EPIDAUROS
\

AKRAI
MEGALOPOLIS
SEGESTA
IKARIA
ISTHHIA
SIKYON
TYNDARIS

\\
EPHESOS
PIR MUNYCHIA
THASOS

.///
/

AIGEIRA
LENAION ATHEN
THERA

N --------------+---------....

AIGINA

ARGOS

DELOS
NEU PLEURON

MIIET
I(NIDOS
OINIADAI
MESSENE
PERGAMON
HETAPONTUH
TAORMINA
PRIENE
SAMOS
SPARTA
THORIKOS
TROJA

;

'-...

.-.........

\ ATHEN DION.TH. -.........--....
DELPHI
-....... ....
\
DEMETRIAS
MANTINEA
EllS
~

HERAKlEIAO.L'/7)/

ORLHOMENOS-ARC-

GORTYN

lOCRI
MAGNESIA
OROPOS
POMPEJI

ASSOS
CATANIA
DODONA
TEOS
ERACLEA MIN.
THEBfN PHTHIOTIS
ERETRIA
HEPHAIS T1A
PHiliPPI
LARISSA
RHAMNUS
PIRAUS-LEA
I"YRAI(US
TEGEA

....

This brief posing of a theory cannot more than suggest a possible line of future investigation, which
would require the combined efforts of classical
scholars, archaeologists, meteorologists, and theatre
people. Such a study returns to first principles in
the theatre affecting the architect, the audience, the
designer, and the director. How are we best to see
and to hear?

FOOTNOTES
M. F. Gerhouser, Untersuchungen uber die Spielmoglichkeiten
in Theatern,; Darmstadt: 1964.
2

E. G. Marialapaulas. An Outline af the Climate af Greece;
Athens: 1961.
~~
John Russell Brown, "Ancient Tragedy in Modern Greece", in
Rev_i_e~; IX. Number 4 (Summer 1965).

The Tulane Drama
p. 110.

5
4.

Karolos Koun, "The Modern Approach tathe Ancient Theatre",
I, Na. 1 (Spring 1965), p. 12.

J. E. Aranin,
pp 183-5.

Climate an:! Architecture;_ New Yark: 1953;

http://www.DION.TH

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