A Comparison Between Ancient Greek Women And Modern Women

Introduction

Greek is one of the ancient civilizations whose women roles in Theatre were restricted. Generally, their presence on stage was mentioned to be “dangerous”. How or why it was deemed so was not explained and can thus be taken as a prejudice Hager & Fragkou (2017). Men with related attributes as those of women took up their roles as a result. A look at women who formed part of audience is important because restrictions against acting did not mean they could not attend. The fact that some kind of women attended (improper) plays and some did not (well-mannered) means that there were some cultural expectations of women (Puchner & White, 2017). Thereafter, these restrictions are juxtaposed with plight of modern women in theatre to see how they have progressed. Whereas the history of women in Greek Theatre has been done before, the objective of this research is to use its inception and practices as the initial standard from which women fought their way towards equality in the Theatre. This is possible by comparing what more freedom female actors have now that they did not in the Ancient Greek (Dean, 2005).

Findings from this research helped with further increasing access and equality in Theatre roles for women because progress made is not yet absolute. Some prejudices such as women acting in theatres is “dangerous ” which were held as true in Ancient Greek can help us reshape policy making processes so that guidelines used always have scientific backing (Tomlin, 2015).

Included Studies

A total of 10 sources were reviewed and only 5 met the inclusion criteria. They are (Hager & Fragkou, 2017), (Puchner & White, 2017), (Julia, 2018), (Syssoyeva & Proudfit, 2016) and (Luckhurst, 2008). Hager & Fragkou (2017) mentioned the alternative to drama other than what women were offered while Puchner & White (2017) focused on Festival of Dionysus and the dramatization of goddesses. Julia, (2018) talks about women leaders in ACE and the other two major on the way forward as far as quest for gender parity is concerned.

Results of the search

Role of women in Theatre is very important and frequent. In as far as religious activities were concerned; they took part in theatre fully. However, this is the best instance of participation they got. Other types of drama always excluded women. In religion, for example in the Minoan culture, female actors portrayed goddesses. This can be considered as more of dramatization than theatre performance .They simply embodied goddesses for worship by personifying them. It lacked fun fair of constituent aspects of theatre performance such as cabaret, opera, and circus (Hager & Fragkou, 2017).

Women, during festival of Dionysus, did not act women roles in plays and the decent ones were not even supposed to be among attending audience. They were expected to have separate parallel arrangements where they dramatized goddesses. This arrangement was actually one of Plato’s Laws (7.817c) which forbade the imagination that women would be allowed to act alongside men in the market places. The law captures the quality of tone and pitch of female voice which it was willing to let go of regardless. Also in the same law is a mention of attendants. Of special interest is women in attendance who are referred to as harangue. The law had other specific concern over women actors saying things men thought were contrary to what should actually be said. Therefore, women could not perform in the Festival of Dionysus. This did not necessarily bar women from taking part in drama (observe: not goddess dramatization). Clearly, women were held in low regard and laws imposed therefore to uphold higher status associated with venues of Festival of Dionysus. Women had the liberty to partner with Tragedians who held plays in roadsides and market places for money. This happened in the same time in history as the Festival of Dionysus. At that time, the activity which was considered as “conventional” drama - Festival of Dionysus – had no place for female actors. Drama was strictly a part of the worship of Dionysus. However, what they participated in had a part to play in development of modern theatre and their progress in the industry (Puchner & White, 2017).

The fact that women could be allowed to take part in Tragedians drama for money and not the Festival of Dionysus for free is important for this paper. Proper women were expected to stay at home and not attend plays. Perhaps hetaerae and slaves were the only women forming part of audience. Anyway, they were though so low of that their presence was not recognized by some characters (Hager & Fragkou, 2017).

Following the work already done in past researches, the niche of my paper: analyzing how women were regarded in the Ancient Greek, expectations of a decent women when it comes to drama and dramatization, their experience in alternate Tragedians plays and progress they have made today in Theatre (Hager & Fragkou, 2017).

Significant strides have been made. Sphinx theatre reported that about 20% of theatres in the country are led by women and subsequently control 13% of Arts Council England (ACE) budget (Julia, 2018). While there are calls for gender parity, we can note how women have progressed from not being allowed to watch, to being allowed to play and finally to leading and managing theatres. They now fight for better representation, equal chances to compete for prizes and lack of modern dramas portraying the complicated life of the modern woman (Syssoyeva & Proudfit 2016). Active activism against these ‘new’ impediments is hindered by threat of blacklisting. For those who have not made it yet, and need constant male directorial sanction, they are forced to look the other way. Clearly, women are at yet another crossroads. The consequences of their choice will directly impact plight for 50/50 representation which will bring gender parity for posterity (Luckhurst, 2008).

Discussion

Women took part in dramatization of goddesses which was not considered as conventional drama, which developed into theatre performances that we have today. While both dramatizing goddesses and Festival of Dionysus were both religious, the latter was more revered and thus led to institution of laws to bar women participation. The laws further barred women who cared about their decency from being part of the audience. However, the laws were not express in their definition of drama and held no restrictions against women partnering with Tragedians to do market plays. Also, women who did not mind losing their decency could watch the market plays. The laws cared enough to bar women from Festival of Dionysus but held no reservations against women getting paid to play in Tragedian shows. Needless to say, the steps towards equality women have made today draw major support and motivations of the women who took part in Tragedians plays and or watched them without the fear of being labeled aloof. According to report by Sphinx theatre, women have achieved a lot. However, goal posts have been moved as there are new issues of underrepresentation and gender disparity in leadership. Women’s stance now defines the future of theatre with respect to equal representation of gender.

Conclusion

This paper debunks a history of impediments hindering progress of female actors appreciates how far they have come. A case study of theatre and women in ancient Greek is adopted to best understand religious, cultural and gender concepts affecting women in theatre. It however does not stop here. It appreciates the steps they’ve made, establish the problems they now face and why they have not made headway henceforth. Systematic review is adopted for convenience of study and suitability of this method is addressed above. We appreciate the significance of peer review and seeking ethical approval.

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