Comparing A Greek Audience To A Modern Audience

From my previous blog posts I have explained the Greek theatre and how they used to be built and portrayed so that they felt they had one of the best designs for theatres. In the Greek times I would agree I would think the layout of the Greek theatre is good, especially for outside. It is shaped in a horse-shoe shape making the audience around the stage in a 180 degree way. The seating was built up making it if you were in 'the gods' you would be far away from the stage, this is why the theatre was built upwards in a semi-circle, this allowed the audience to hear to actors. 'The Gods' means the people who sat furthest away from the stage, this term came from the Greek times and is still used now-a-days.


The audience are sometimes in this way for a modern theatre. For example most west end theatres are still in this horse-shoe effect. However, more modern built theatres are designed in a Brecht style meaning that the audience would be straight on, facing the stage. The idea behind this setting was to alienate the audience so they don't become attached to the storyline. However, this is usually assisted with the style of play and acting performed on stage, because it doesn't completely alienate the audience.


In the Greek times if the actors got something wrong, or the character was not approved by the audience (antagonist) they would show this by throwing rotten foods at them; often tomatoes. The red from the tomato when thrown was seen as similar to blood so connotes 'killing the character' from the perspective of the audience.


This would never happen in a modern theatre because of health and safety. Furthermore, a modern audience are usually quiet in theatre, this is because its a rule of courtesy in theatres. It would be regarded as rude and unacceptable if you started throwing rotten vegetables at the actors. Furthermore, this would class as common assault, which wouldn't be classified as common assault in the ancient Greek times.


In modern theatres, there is an interval for the actors and the audience to break and get refreshments. This wouldn't occur in the Greek times as lighting was natural light and by elongating the performance this could effect the timing of the show, suggesting that they savoured the light times, and they couldn't perform in the evenings. On the other hand, modern audiences can view performances any time around the clock as lighting is ambient and theatres don't rely on natural light.