COMEDY IN PERFORMANCE
Comedy had its place alongside tragedy in the
Theater of Dionysus during the City Dionysia at the end of March. For most
of the fifth century five comedies were presented at this festival with
a probable reduction to three during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC),
when the festival was limited to a three day period. On each of the
three mornings a tragic tetralogy (three tragedies and a satyr play) was
presented with one comedy each afternoon. Outside of the war period it
is not certain whether the five comedies were all performed on one day
or spread out over five days.
There was another Dionysiac festival in late
January at which both tragedy and comedy were performed, but comedy was
more dominant: the Lenaea. During the fifth century two tragedians
presented their plays at the Lenaea in comparison to three comic playwrights.
The number of comedies was increased to five by the third century BC.
The
scene on the left is the earliest known depiction (420 BC) of a performance
of an Old Comedy. The actor on the stage is portraying the mythological
character Perseus, who can be identified by the scythe in his left hand
(used to decapitate Medusa) and a bag hanging from his left arm (used to
store Medusa’s head). He seems to be dancing and using his right
hand to look into the distance (perhaps to sight Andromeda, whom he rescued
from a sea monster). Although he appears to be naked, he is wearing
a skin-tight costume as the lines on his wrist and ankles indicate.
The costume seems padded, although that would be clearer in profile, and
has an attached phallus. This is a typical costume of the actor in
Old Comedy. The artist has eliminated the orchestra so that he can
depict the first row (prohedria) of the audience. The two
seated figures could represent the audience in general or more specifically
the priest of Dionysus with a priestess of some goddess or Dionysus himself
along with his love, Ariadne.
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