Skene

The growing importance of the actor in fifth-century Greek drama created a need for a new type of performance area. A place to set the actor off from the chorus and act as a sounding board for his voice became a necessity. They also needed a place where they could retire between appearances and change costume as required. As in the case of the orchestra, the precise origins of this stage structure remain hypothetical. The technical vocabulary of the Greek theater suggests that the early structures were highly simplistic. Skene, the name the Greeks gave to the scene house, the actor’s place, means literally “hut,” “tent,” “booth.” One unlikely theory suggests that the original skene was the actual tent of Xerxes, which was captured at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

Form

The skene was placed at the top of the orchestra area, most likely first in wooden form and later in more permanent stone. The Theatre of Dionysos shows how this addition took semi-permanent form. Adjoining the rims of the earliest orchestra-circle is a rough stone foundation pierced with slots. These presumably carried uprights for a wooden skene façade. Most archaeologists would date this foundation at about 450 BC, this is, roughly about the time of the production of the Oresteia. Literary references suggest that these type of semipermanent structures survived in use for some considerable time. Dismantled when the dramatic festivals were over, it permitted the use of the area for other purposes.

Two south Italian vases from the fourth century BC are the only existing representations of complete skenai. Both show clearly the paraskenia (literally, beside-the-skene structure) and the skenai, as can be deduced from the thin columns supporting beams that span greater distance than would be possible with stone. One of the kraters, the Wurzburg fragment, shows the first meeting of Pelias and Jason. Due to the fact that neither vase support the standard views of the Greek skene, their validity is often questioned.

Parodos

The circular pathway that surrounds the orchestra is called the parodos and can be accessed from either side of the skene. Serving two primary purposes, the parodos is an important element of the Greek theate. First, it provides the audience with a way to access their seats. However, more importantly for the purpose of staging the play, it provides access to the chorus and some actors to the orchestra. The chorus never entered the orchestra from the skene. Characters returning from a journey, such as Agamemnon in Agamemnon or Theseus in Hippolytus would probably also make use of the parodos.

Backdrop

From the Oresteia onward almost every tragedy makes use of a door in the skene as a means of entry and exit. The door was presumably central, and must have been quite large. Most of these tragedies are set in front of Greek houses or palaces, know as the oikos. The foundations of such houses can still be found throughout Athens but little archaeological evidence is left of their facades, the part of the house which the audience would see. Fortunately, many vase-paintings depict homes of deities or legendary characters, and the earliest instances go back to the sixth century. All the buildings in such cases are shown in the likeness of a temple porch. It is therefore widely believed that the façade of the oikos resembled a temple.

Based on these vase-paintings, a general guess is that the facades were characterized by a pair of columns, joined by an architrave, under a frieze of triglyphs and metopes and a cornice. On the Francois Vase, an early representation, the roof is drawn curving up from either side, either as a result of faulty perspective, or in an attempt to reproduce the gentle pitch of a thick mud roofing.

Altars

It is generally agreed that the City Dionysia of fifth-century Athens involved an animal sacrifice to the good Dionysos and that this event took place in the theater before the beginning of the play competition. The usual assumption has been that this sacrifice was offered upon an altar situated at the center of a circular orchestra. This placement fits well if the theory of the orchestra originating circularly is believed. The second-century BC altar at Priene, the first theater altar ever to be uncovered, remains the only one that is completely verifiable; it is positioned at the edge of the orchestra.

There is also reason to believe that, on the stage in front of the central door, stood a permanent scenic altar, as distinct from the cult altar. This altar would probably be a simple fixture that could be used when required by the action. It could have been used for Jocasta’s prayer to Apollo in Oedipus the King. It was anonymous enough, also, to stand for other objects in special cases, such as the tomb of Agamemnon in the Libation Bearers or of the late Pharaoh in Helen, and perhaps for the rocky projection on which Oedipus first sits in Oedipus at Colonus.

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