Cultural Context

CULTURAL CONTEXT 

• What were the performance conventions in Sophocles’ time? 

All the actors were men or boys. Dancers and singers, called the chorus, performed on a flat area called the orchestra. Over time, solo actors also took part, and a raised stage became part of the theatre. The actors changed costumes in a hut called the "skene". Painting the walls of the hut made the first scenery.

The plays were comedies (funny, often poking fun at rulers) or tragedies (sad and serious, with a lesson about right and wrong).

• What were the trends or fashions within the performing arts?

During the Greek plays, the most honourable of the audience sat at the front of the theatre and the rest of the general public sat behind. These honourable audience members ranged from High Priests to Politicians. 
For an example, Sophocles' Oedipus trilogy (all three plays) would have been performed within 8 hours in one day. It was like a theatre marathon and was taken very seriously by many Greeks