Los movimientos escénicos en la comedia de Aristófanesun estudio de técnica teatral

Abstract

The comedies of Aristophanes, as with all classical Greek theatre, were intended to be performed. When Aristophanes was writing his comedies he did not have in mind a reading public but rather the spectators who would attend the open-air theatres of the time to watch the actors perform. Hence the interest in analysing these plays – the comedies and the tragedies – not only as literature but also as performance. The doctoral thesis “Stage movement in the comedies of Aristophanes. A study of theatrical technique” follows this line of research and examines a stage action which is fundamental in the theatre: the entrances and exits of the characters. The work focuses on Aristophanes’ early comedies and is divided into four chapters. 1) The first analyses the entrance announcements, that is the words used by a character to inform of the arrival of another. The form, content and functions of the announcement are studied. 2), 3) In the second and third chapters we analyse how contact is established between the new arrival and the characters already on stage. It has been seen how deviations from the usual patterns sometimes produce significant dramatic effects. 4) Finally, chapter four deals with different aspects related with the scenes (such as number, extension, stage occupation) and the characters (number of figures, stage presence throughout the play or verbal participation). As an annex, there are two tables which show the scene divisions from the studied comedies and a kind of stage data sheet of the characters. This doctoral thesis reveals certain conventions related with stage movement in the comedies of Aristophanes, along with the use the author sometimes makes of the entrances and exits of the characters in order to produce different effects; humour, expectation, surprise, or to visually liven up the scene with striking figures or continuous entrances and exits of certain characters are some of these effects.