Talk:History of Western Theatre: Greeks to Elizabethans/The Story of Greek Theatre

Gobackreallyfar machine 6th Century. When Greek theatre fully came into fruition Thespis came upon the scene and snapped his fingers and proclaimed it, “Fabulous. Cast party at my place!”

Scott: Smart one. Rob: Funny one but not that bright. (three watts)

In production of The Trojan Women, Rob and Scott decide to drag out a device they hadn’t used since the Hobbit and that nasty incident with the ring, they talked to jump back into the “Gobackreallyfar machine (tm)” and venture back to greek times to get more insights into the production.

They are talking about the production and how they can make it authentic. Euripides hears Scott and Rob talking about a play. He kidnaps Rob and ransoms Rob to Scott to make a ending for his play. RB gets kidnapped. Scott uses his knowledge to save RB and the greeks build it all. And Euripides steals it all and takes the credit. Scott enlists 15 greek citizens and three more and a few more with slightly better movement skills. Euripides is the villan and needs an ending for ALL of his plays. There has to be a Transformer. Reason that the Chorus all wears masks is so that they can't be noticed. Scott steps in for Thespis when he swinus flu. Thespis gets killed with some kind of weapon... But runs off stage to die. Scott has to step in. Greek Theatre: Some ideas. Introduction to the actual look of the area: Tumbling down the seats as they fall into the Theatron and landing in the orchestra just as someone comes up from the underworld in the middle of a production? Machina picks up one of them and flies them around? Meeting the actor(s)? Actors? Chorus? Writers? Masks and costumes: Maybe Rob sneaks away and puts on a mask to come back and scare Scott? Euripides was notorious for ending plays with a God sweeping in to make it all okay. Maybe Rob and Scott really screw things up and the God sweeps in to make it all good again.

For an intro to one, how about it go something like this?

Rob: What are we doing today Scott? Scott (as he goes for the dial): Rob were are going to investigate City Dionysia. Rob (puzzled): City Dionysia? Where's that at? Scott: Not Where, Rob, but what.

They begin to go backwards in time. The two of them land in the outskirts of a Greek festival. As they arrive they see a man standing off to the side and he is praying to Dionysus. The man is Thespis, and when he notices Rob & Scott, he runs over to the two and excitedly shouts, "Hey you, quickly come here!" He looks up to the sky and shouts, "Praise be to thee Dionysus!" He then averts his attention to Rob & Scott, "We must hurry if we are to get you into you Chorus costumes!"

(If this is like-able then someone who can write well can take this and put it into more of a story.)

Just an idea.

And it came to pass that in the city of Ashe, two men were discussing a production of 'The Trojan Women'. They stood upon the steps of the library and those that passed by could catch little bits of the conversation in passing.

"I am telling you that every single piece of a theatre in the Greek world had a name. Every bit of it." Scott was heard to remark to Rob. "Right. Actor. Scenery. Proscenium. Stairs. Seats." As Rob begins to list off all the words he remembers from his classes as he counts them off on his fingers. "You are slightly right." Scott begins, "Scenery came from the Skene. Proscenium came from Proskenion. So much of our theatre world came from the Greeks." Scott continued to grin even as Rob looked blank to him. "Tell you what, let's go see for ourselves." As he began to move through the theatre as they walked and made their way all the way to the back of the prop room. "Right here, I haven't used this in several years but I can see it could help you." The curtain is drawn back and there stands the Gobackreallyfar machine (tm), or so the gilded sign says across the top of it. Scott reaches for the door, "Step right in. Next stop, ancient Greece." They arrive in Greece and either come upon Thespis as mentioned above or they run into Euripides who kidnaps Rob to get Scott as he is giving Rob a tour of the theatre (thus being knowledgeable enough for Euripides to want Scott to help him with his plays. If we use the Thespis angle, I would guess we let Thespis tour them around the theatre and they meet everyone and chaos ensues when Rob decides to jump on the machina and wreck the set? If we use Euripides, Scott has to step in as the director type and make a whole production happen with the same people from the other angle. We have a lot of good things on the page and need to implement them into this story as well. Working for an ending with Euripides as he finished all of his stories with a God coming in to save the whole place.

I like the idea of them meeting Thespis and moving on to Euripides later. I think that if we start with them meeting Thespis and getting a tour of the parts of the theatre, then we will have a better chance to use more of our research. Maybe Euripides kidnapped them because he didn't want Thespis to have an advantage in the festival, and thought they could help him finish his play.

Zeke's episode plan: Dr. Peascotty and Funkman take the gobackreallyfar machine to 420 B.C.E. They go get some lunch before Dr. Peascotty gives Funkman a lesson on the architecture of the ancient greek theatre. While they are out to lunch, they meet up with a very distressed Euripides who needs their help. The festival Dionysia is only two days away, and he can’t think of a way to finish his latest masterpiece, Electra. What’s worse, he has a bet with Sophocles that he will win first prize in the festival this year, and, due to some recent bad luck gambling, he doesn’t have the money to pay Sophocles if he looses.

Dr. Peascotty and Funkman agree to help him finish his play in return for a tour of the Theatre of Dionysus. Euripides agrees and hurries them off to the theatre where he gives the a brief explanation of the parts of the theatre and what they are used for. He goes over, the Theatron, the orchestra, the skene, the Thymeli and how it is an altar honoring Dionysus, the paradoi, etc. until he finally gets to the Machina. Dr. Peascotty has the idea to just let the Gods fix the plot. Euripides loves this idea and thanks them. The travelers decide to stay for the festival, Euripides wins. Happy ending.

Caitlin's and Kirby's episode plan: Dr. Peascotty and Funkman take the gobackreallyfar machine to 468 B.C.E. Funkman has been cast in Trojan Women, and needs help with his acting so Dr. Peascotty takes him to 468 B.C.E. to watch the City Dionysia and show him how acting was done in Ancient Greece. There was a big hubub. They realize everyone is headed to the Theatre to watch the first play, and the show is about to start. Dr. Peascotty takes him in and explains several aspects of the theatre, such as how actors compensated for the masks and costumes, how important diction was etc. The audience also stomps it's feet, which Peascotty explains. Then, the third actor comes out, and the crowd goes wild.

Episodes
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Episode 2:

Episode 3:

Episode 4: