AristophanesAristophanes (; Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοφάνης [aristopʰánɛːs]; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens. He wrote forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete. The majority of his surviving plays belong to the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are considered its most valuable examples.
The WaspsThe Wasps (Classical Greek: Σφῆκες, romanized: Sphēkes) is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the Peloponnesian War and shortly before the death of Cleon. The Wasps follows a son's attempt to stop his father from constantly serving jury duties as it is detrimental to his father's health.
Greek chorusA Greek chorus (Ancient Greek: χορός, romanized: chorós) in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, and satyr plays, is a homogeneous group of performers who comment with a collective voice on the action of the scene in which they appear, or provide necessary insight into action which has taken place offstage. Historically, the chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison, and sometimes wore masks.
Old ComedyOld Comedy is the first period of the ancient Greek comedy, according to the canonical division by the Alexandrian grammarians. The most important Old Comic playwright is Aristophanes – whose works, with their daring political commentary and abundance of sexual innuendo, de facto define the genre. The only extant plays of Old Comedy are credited to Aristophanes. There are only fragments and 'testimonia' of all other Old Comedy playwrights and plays.
The KnightsThe Knights (Ancient Greek: Ἱππεῖς Hippeîs; Attic: Ἱππῆς) was the fourth play written by Aristophanes, who is considered the master of Old Comedy. The play is a satire on the social and political life of classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and in this respect it is typical of all the dramatist's early plays.CleonCleon (; Ancient Greek: Κλέων Kleon [kléɔːn]; died 422 BC) was an Athenian politician and general (strategos) during the Peloponnesian War. The son of Cleaenetus, a wealthy tanner, Cleon was among the first prominent Athenian politicians of the 5th century BC to obtain power from outside the established elite.
Ancient Greek comedyAncient Greek comedy (Ancient Greek: κωμῳδία, romanized: kōmōidía) was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece; the others being tragedy and the satyr play. Greek comedy was distinguished from tragedy by its happy endings and use of comically exaggerated character archetypes, the latter feature being the origin of the modern concept of the comedy.
RecitativeRecitative (, also known by its Italian name recitativo (), is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines as formally composed songs or arias do.
Northrop FryeHerman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, Fearful Symmetry (1947), which led to the reinterpretation of the poetry of William Blake.AnapaestAn anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, and also called antidactyl or antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. It may be seen as a reversed dactyl.
Ancient GreekAncient Greek (Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ [hellɛːnikɛ̌ː]) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (c. 1400 – c. 1200 BC), Dark Ages (c. 1200 – c. 800 BC), the Archaic or Homeric period (c. 800 – c. 500 BC), and the Classical period (c. 500 – c. 300 BC).MetatheatreMetatheatre, and the closely related term metadrama, describes the aspects of a play that draw attention to its nature as drama or theatre, or to the circumstances of its performance. "Breaking the Fourth Wall" is an example of a metatheatrical device.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.