This research examines the characteristics of Hellenistic theatre, including both the physical plant and the plays that appeared during the period. The research will examine the historical context in which Hellenistic theatre flourished and then discuss how the playwrights and poets functioned in the theatre, with a view toward identifying how the Hellenistic model influenced modern theatre.
The Hellenistic period of world history dates from the time Alexander the Great assumed the throne of Macedon in 336 BC until the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. Its principal characteristic is that the territory of the Eastern Mediterranean area, from the Greek peninsula and the Balkans to Asia Minor and Persia, came under the domination of Greek culture, which was the heir of the Athenian classical tradition. Of primary artistic significance to Greek culture was the theatre, and theatre in the Hellenistic period took the classical theatre of Greece as its model, although certain adaptations from the classical model distinguish the later period.
Some 40 Hellenistic theatres had been identified by the 20th century, with the best extant theatres located in Priene, Oropus, Ephesus, Epidaurus, Pergamum, Corinth, and Alexandria. As a group they follow the floor plan of the physical theatre of Dionysus in Athens; however, certain departures from the classical model may be discerned. One element of the classical theatre plan that was retained in the Hellenistic plan was the circular orchestra, with the auditorium seating surrounding it in a more-than-semicircle configuration. However, by about 150 BC, the orchestra circle began to be invaded by the proskenion, the front, colonnade wall of a permanent, stone version of the classical skene, which had been a temporary wooden structure. Between the columns of the proskenion were placed removable painted panels (pinakes). The illustration is based on drawings of the theatre at Ephesus, after Nicoll (185):<...