§ 3 Extra Performers
For every Greek play a chorus was provided by the choregus, and three actors were supplied by the state. But in most plays a certain number of additional performers was required. The parts which these extra performers had to fill may be divided, roughly speaking, into three classes. In the first place there were the various mute personages, who simply appeared upon the stage, and did nothing more. The second class consisted of minor characters with only a few words to say. In these cases extra performers were required, either because the regular actors were already occupied, or because the part was that of a boy or girl, which the regular actor would be unable to take. Thirdly, in many cases a small subordinate chorus was required, in addition to the ordinary one. The general name for the persons who undertook these parts was ‘parachoregemata’.706 This word obviously means something which is supplied by the choregus in addition to his ordinary expenditure. It follows, therefore, that the cost of the extra performers was borne by the choregus. Properly he was only responsible for the chorus; but if additional men were required, he had to supply them. This conclusion is confirmed by Plutarch’s story of a certain tragic actor who was going to appear as a queen, but refused to proceed with the part, unless the choregus provided him with a train of female attendants.707 Extra performers were especially necessary in the Old Comedy, in which a great number of characters appear upon the stage.
It remains to consider more in detail the three classes of ‘parachoregemata’708. The mute personages appeared most frequently in the shape of attendants, body-guards, crowds of people, and so on. The Oedipus Rex opens with a number of suppliants kneeling at the altar before the palace of the king. In the Choephori Orestes and Pylades are accompanied by attendants. The judgement scene in the Eumenides requires twelve performers to play the parts of the members of the Areopagus. In the Agamemnon, when the king and Cassandra arrive in the chariot, servants stand ready to spread carpets beneath their feet.709 Probably in many other instances great personages were accompanied by attendants, although there is no special reference to them in the play. Not infrequently more prominent characters appeared upon the stage as mute figures. Pylades says nothing throughout the Electra of Sophocles and the Electra of Euripides. In the latter play one of the Dioscuri must also have been a dumb figure, since two actors were already upon the stage when the Dioscuri make their appearance. The person of Force in the Prometheus Vinctus is another example. A very frequent occasion for the employment of mute characters was in pathetic scenes between parents and their children. The children appear as silent figures, but give occasion for touching speeches by their parents. There is an example in the Ajax of Sophocles, where Ajax addresses his son Eurysaces. But the instances in Euripides are much more frequent. There is the celebrated scene in the Medea, where Medea half relents at the sight of her children. There is the address of Megara to her children in the Hercules Furens. Other examples are to be found in the introduction of Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, in the Phoenissae, and of Polymestor’s children in the Hecuba.710 Mute figures were also very useful in occasionally personating one of the regular characters of the play, when the actor of the character was temporarily required for another purpose. It has already been pointed out that in the middle of the Oedipus Coloneus the part of Ismene is played by a dumb personage, to enable the previous actor of the part to appear in another character. In the final scene of Orestes, most of the prominent characters are brought upon the stage together, after the fashion of a modern drama. But only three of them can speak: Helen, Hermione, Electra, and Pylades are all mute figures. The silence of Pylades is especially unnatural. In cases of this kind an attempt is made to produce effects which were hardly compatible with the limited resources of Greek tragedy.
The second class of extra performers took all those minor parts in which there was a certain amount of speaking or singing, but which it was impossible for the regular actors to take. In tragedy such performers were mostly required for the boys’ parts, which were unsuitable for grown-up actors. Euripides was especially fond of introducing boys upon the stage. In the Alcestis Eumelus bewails his mother’s death in a short ode. Another example is the mournful dialogue between Andromache and her little son Molossus.711 In the Old Comedy these additional actors were frequently needed to perform small parts at times when the three regular actors were already on the stage. Examples are very numerous. There are the daughters of Trygaeus in the Peace, and the daughters of the Megarian in the Acharnians. The herald and Pseudartabas are additional examples from the Acharnians.712
In the third place an extra chorus was sometimes required. The Propompi in the Eumenides, and the chorus of boys in the Wasps, both appear side by side with the regular chorus, and must therefore have been personated by extra performers. An additional chorus, consisting of shepherds, was also required in the Alexander of Euripides.713 Sometimes the extra chorus was not visible to the spectators, but sang behind the scenes. In such cases the singing might be done by members of the regular chorus, if they had not yet entered the orchestra. Examples are to be found in the chorus of frogs in the Frogs of Aristophanes, and Agathon’s chorus in the Thesmophoriazusae.714 Their part would be taken by members of the regular chorus. In the opening scene of the Hippolytus a band of huntsmen sing a short ode to Artemis upon the stage. Immediately after their disappearance the regular chorus, consisting of women of Troezen, enters the orchestra. In this case the huntsmen cannot have been personated by members of the regular chorus; but it is possible that the singing was done by the chorus behind the scenes, while the huntsmen were represented by mute figures.715