Classical theatre research

In my Greek theatre research blog post I researched into the layout, performance space and props that would of been used (masks) and how they were built. For Greek times what they made with the limited resources they had was very 'hi-tech', and it worked well as an outside performance space. The horse shoe like shape allowed for easy, 180 degree, viewing for the     audience and made the sound travel to every individual. The seating was raises, which is another way that made it easier for audience viewing, and for the Greeks it was as if you were closer to the Gods, the way in which it was built meant it had excellent acoustics, so no matter how far away they were from the stage, every audience member could hear the actors clearly. 

Nowadays audience seating arrangements is spaced similarly to Greek performance spaces. For example most west end theatres are made with similar, 180 degree, raised seating. However, more modern built theatres are designed in a Bertolt Brecht style, the audience face the stage head on. The idea being to intimidate the audience so they don't become comfortable and drop their attention from the stage/story-line, its a more personable approach and it allows for actors to invade the psyche of an audience member. 

In Greek times if an actor messed up, did something the audience didn't like, or was the main antagonist in the play, they audience would show their disapproval by throwing rotten food at them; often tomatoes. The red juice from the tomato when thrown at the character was representative of blood, so for the audience, it was as if they were killing the character to show disrespect.
Luckily nowadays it is not socially acceptable and there are rules in place to prevent people from doing such things. In theatres there are certain rules and boundaries which prevent audience members from behaving in an unsocial unaccepted manor, It would definitely be regarded as rude, unacceptable and most likely result in an arrest or a law suit if you started throwing rotten vegetables at the actors in this day and age. 


In present society, there is an interval for the actors and audience to break and get refreshments, this happens because we can rely in artificial lighting, so it is not imperative so run an entire show start to finish without breaks. This would have not occurred in Greek times as lighting was natural light and by having an interval the performance could end up being finished in the dark with the audience no longer being able to the actors, this highly suggests that they could only perform a limited amount of times a day and that they could not perform in the evenings.