§ 3 The Entrances to the Stage
The question as to the number and the character of the entrances leading upon the stage is of some importance in connexion with the Greek drama. In order to avoid confusion in dealing with this subject, it is necessary to distinguish carefully between the permanent doors in the walls surrounding the stage, and the temporary doors or entrances which were left when the scenery had been put up. First, as to the permanent doors. We have shown already that the remains of the purely Greek theatres are so defective, that it is impossible, from the evidence which they supply, to come to any conclusion as to the number of these doors. But it is evident, from the statements of Pollux, that the Hellenistic type of theatre, which is the one he describes, must have possessed at least five such doors. It must have had three doors in the wall at the back of the stage, and two doors at the sides, one leading from each of the wings. Probably the same plan was adopted in the older buildings of the fourth and fifth centuries, whether of stone or wood. In later times, when the Graeco-Roman theatres were erected, the stage was considerably lengthened, and in consequence the number of the doors in the wall at the back was raised to five. But it has been pointed out in the last chapter that in all probability only three of these doors were used in the course of the actual performances, and that the two outer ones were either covered over by the scenery, or concealed by temporary side-wings of wood.591
The next point to be considered is the number of the entrances which had to be provided when the scenery was erected, and the stage was made ready for a dramatic performance. Pollux and Vitruvius, in speaking of the scenery and stage decorations, agree in saying that there were three doors at the back of the stage.592 But this statement is much too universal. In the majority of cases, no doubt, there were three such doors. When the scene represented a palace, or temple, or dwelling-house, three doors appear to have been always used. But when the scene was of an exceptional character, the number of the entrances from the back of the stage would vary according to the requirements of the play. For instance, in the Philoctetes there would only be a single entrance, that from the cavern. In the first part of the Ajax the only entrance would be that leading out of the tent; in the second part there would be no entrance at all, the background consisting merely of a solitary region by the sea-shore. In the Cyclops, the only opening at the back of the stage was the mouth of Polyphemus’ cave. In such plays as the Prometheus of Aeschylus, and the Andromeda of Euripides, the background consisted of rocks and cliffs, and there was no entrance from that quarter. It is clear, therefore, that the statement that a Greek scene was provided with three doors or entrances at the back is not universally true, but only applies to the majority of cases.
Some details concerning the character of the three doors may be gathered from the statements in Pollux and Vitruvius.593 When the scene was a palace, the central door was decorated with regal grandeur. The side-doors were supposed to lead to the guest-chambers. Occasionally one of the side-doors led to a guest-chamber, the other to a slaves’ prison. In comedy, the character and arrangement of the doors would vary considerably, according as the scene was laid in front of one, or two, or three dwelling-houses. In the last case, of which an example is supplied by the Acharnians, there would be one door for each of the three houses. Sometimes one of the side-doors represented the way into an outhouse, or workshop, or stable. Sometimes it led into a temple, as in the Thesmophoriazusae. In comedy, no doubt, there was much greater diversity as to scenic details than in tragedy.
A curious regulation concerning the usage of these three doors is mentioned by Pollux.594 He says that the central door was reserved for the principal character, the door to the right for the secondary characters, the door to the left for those of least significance. It is plain that this statement must be taken with very considerable deductions. In the first place, it only applies to tragedy, and only to those plays in which the background represented a palace or similar building. Even then it cannot have been by any means universal. In fact it only applies to dramas of the type of the Oedipus Tyrannus, in which the principal character is at the same time a person of the highest rank. In such cases it is very likely that his rule about the doors was observed. It would be in harmony with the statuesque and conventional character of Greek tragedy. But there are many plays in which it would be absurd to suppose that any such regulation was adopted. For instance, in the Antigone it can hardly be imagined that the tyrant Creon entered only by a side-door, while the central door, with its regal splendour, was reserved for the oppressed heroine Antigone. Similarly, in the Electra, it is ridiculous to suppose that Clytaemnestra entered from the inferior part of the palace, Electra from the more magnificent. There can be no doubt that Pollux, in his statement about the doors, has been following his favourite practice, and has made a general rule out of a few special instances.
The openings at the back of the stage always led out of some building, tent, cavern, or other dwelling-place. They could only therefore be used by persons who were supposed to be inside the dwelling-place. People coming from the neighbourhood, or from a distance, had to enter the stage in a different way. For this purpose doors in the side-wings were provided.595 The subject of these side-entrances on to the stage has been much discussed in recent years.596 Many scholars have endeavoured to prove that they were a late invention, confined to the Hellenistic theatre, and that they never existed in the fifth century. They suppose that in the old Athenian theatre the only side-entrances were those in the orchestra, and that the actors who entered or departed otherwise than through the back-scene always used the orchestra for this purpose. Now it is no doubt true, as we have already shown, that they used it sometimes. There are about twenty cases in which actors and chorus leave together in a sort of procession, chiefly at the end of a play597; and there are two cases in which they enter together.598 There are also those scenes—about five in number—when the actors enter in chariots.599 On all these occasions it can hardly be doubted that the actors entered and departed through the orchestra. But the other examples which have been brought forward are entirely conjectural. It is said that, when the actors and the chorus were supposed to come from the same place, they must always have used the same entrance. In the Philoctetes, for example, Odysseus, Neoptolemus, and the chorus all come from the ship. If, therefore, the sailors entered by the orchestra, the two heroes must have done the same. But there is no necessity for such an assumption. It would be absurd to demand this minute accuracy in the representation of a play. Then there are cases where an actor on the stage sees another from a distance; but about ten lines intervene before the second actor comes near enough to enter into conversation with the first.600 It is argued that he must have had a long way to go, and must therefore have come round by the parodos. But in all these places there is nothing to show that the person approaching was seen by the audience as soon as he was descried from the stage. He may have received his ‘cue’ some time after his advent was announced. It is common enough on the modern stage, when the scene is in the open air, for an actor’s approach to be announced some time before he actually appears. Also, there are several cases in the ancient dramas when an actor begins to converse with the people on the stage only two or three lines after he is first seen.601 These passages might be cited to prove that he had only a short way to go, and must therefore have come in by the stage. But in reality all inferences of this kind are far too subtle to be of any value. We can hardly imagine the ancient dramatists counting the number of yards to be walked before they settled the number of verses to be spoken. Another set of instances are those in which a character, after coming into sight, takes a long time to reach the point he is aiming at. Euelpides and Peisthetaerus stumble about during the delivery of fifty-three lines before they reach the hoopoe’s dwelling-place. Dionysus and Xanthias converse for thirty-five lines before coming to the house of Hercules.602 They too, it is said, must have entered by the orchestra, otherwise they would have reached their destination much sooner. But there is no need to suppose, in these and similar cases, that the characters were moving straight forward all the time. Any actors of ordinary experience would know how to arrange their progress in such a way as to come to the right place at the right moment. Lastly, there are scenes in which an actor, on making his entrance, fails to perceive at once another actor on the stage; or addresses the chorus before the actor; or is seen by the chorus before he is seen by the actor.603 All this is said to prove that he must have come in by the parodos, and that the other actor was at first concealed from view by the intervening side-wings. But in the first place the ancient stage was so low and narrow that, as soon as an actor had fairly entered the orchestra, he could not fail to see the persons on the stage just as well as those in the orchestra. In the second place these arguments all depend on the same fallacy. They assume that in a dramatic performance, when an actor comes in, the question as to whom he shall see first, and which person he shall address first, is decided, not by the convenience of the poet, but by the science of optics. The experience of the modern stage is sufficient to prove that this is not the case.
It would be unsafe then to lay any stress on the instances just cited. The cases in which there are adequate grounds for supposing that the actors entered or departed by the orchestra amount to no more than about thirty. The question is whether these cases are sufficient to justify a wider inference. Are we to assume that, because the actors sometimes used the parodoi, they did so always? On the one hand it may be said that in the early theatre, with its low stage and easy communication between stage and orchestra, there was nothing to stand in the way of such a practice. On the other hand there is the fact that in the later Greek theatre the actors, when coming from a distance, usually entered by the side-wings.604 Of course in this later theatre, with its twelve-foot stage, there were obvious reasons for doing so. Still, the existence of the practice in late times is a presumption in favour of its existence previously. Moreover, when side-wings had once been introduced, nothing could be more natural than to use them as entrances. The convenience to the actors would be very great. It is difficult to see why they should have been compelled to go all round by the parodoi when there was an easier mode of entrance close at hand. On the whole, therefore, it seems most probable that the side-entrances were generally used by the actors even as early as the fifth century, and that the orchestra was only employed in special cases, such as processions with the chorus.
As regards the use of these side-entrances the Athenians had a special regulation which was due entirely to local causes. The theatre at Athens was situated in such a position that the western side looked towards the city and the harbour, the eastern side towards the open country. In consequence of this fact the side-entrances upon the Athenian stage came to acquire a peculiar significance. If a man entered by the western side, it was understood that he was coming from the city where the scene of the action was laid, or from the immediate neighbourhood; or else that he had arrived from distant parts by sea, and was coming from the harbour. The eastern entrance was reserved for people who had journeyed from a distance by land. The same regulation was applied to the entrances to the orchestra. If a chorus came from the city, or the harbour, or the suburbs, it used the western parodos; if it came by land from a distance, it used the eastern.605 It is obvious that at Athens, where play-bills were unknown, a conventional arrangement of this kind would be of great assistance to the audience, and would enable them to follow the action of the piece with greater ease and intelligence than they could otherwise have done. The custom originated in the topographical situation of the Athenian theatre, but was afterwards adopted in all other Greek theatres, and became a conventional rule of the Greek stage. The entrances to the right of the audience were used by persons from the neighbourhood; the entrances to the left by persons from a distance.