§ 4 Various Arrangements in Connexion With the Audience
The performance of plays began soon after sunrise, and continued all day long without intermission. There was no such thing as an interval for refreshments; one play followed another in rapid succession.1045 Apart from direct evidence upon the subject, it is manifest that, considering the large number of plays which had to be gone through in the time, any delay would have been out of the question. Consequently the spectators were careful to have a good meal before starting for the theatre.1046 There was also a plentiful consumption of wine and various light refreshments in the course of the actual performances. The time for such an indulgence was during the tedious portions of a play, but when one of the great actors came upon the stage the provisions were laid aside, and the audience became all attention.1047
The theatre must have presented a bright and festive appearance. Crowns were worn in honour of Dionysus by the express command of the oracle.1048 The gaily-coloured dresses of the spectators would add greatly to the brilliancy of the scene. At the same time the comfort of the audience was not very much consulted. The seats were of wood, or in later times of stone, and had no backs; the people had to sit there all day long, packed together as closely as was possible. Many men brought cushions and carpets with them. Aeschines draws a contemptuous picture of Demosthenes escorting Philip’s ambassadors to the theatre in person, and arranging their cushions and spreading their carpets with his own hands. The toady in Theophrastus, when he accompanies a wealthy man to the theatre, is careful to take the cushion out of the slave’s hands, and to insist upon placing it ready for his patron.1049 There was no shelter from the sun. The theatre faced towards the south, and was entirely uncovered. But as the dramatic performances took place at the end of the winter, or early in the spring, the heat would not usually be excessive. Probably the sun was in many cases very welcome. If, however, any shelter was required, hats appear to have been worn, though the Athenians generally went bare-headed except upon a journey.1050 It has been suggested that small awnings were sometimes erected upon rods by individual spectators for their own convenience, and that the ‘purple cloths’ which Demosthenes spread out for Philip’s ambassadors were awnings of this description.1051 It is true that an awning was provided for the priest of Dionysus, as the chief dignitary of the meeting. But it is improbable that the same convenience was extended to any other members of the audience, at any rate in the period of the democracy. In Roman times awnings were erected for the front rows of spectators; but this was a late innovation.1052
To keep order among a gathering of about twenty thousand persons, crowded together in a comparatively small space, must have been a matter of some difficulty. Certain officers called ‘staffbearers’ were stationed in the theatre for the purpose.1053 Superintendents were also appointed to maintain discipline among the numerous chorus-singers.1054 Disturbances were not infrequent, and arose from various causes. Sometimes the rivalry between two choregi resulted in actual violence. For example, on one occasion, when Taureas and Alcibiades were competitors in a dithyrambic contest, a fight broke out between them, in the course of which Alcibiades, being the stronger man of the two, drove Taureas out of the orchestra.1055 That the feeling between the choregi often ran very high has already been pointed out in a previous chapter. Disputes about seats were another fertile source of disturbance. With the exception of the front row, the individual places were not separated from one another, but the people sat together on the long benches. Such an arrangement was very likely to cause confusion. Demosthenes mentions the case of a highly distinguished citizen, who ran great risk of being put to death, owing to his having forcibly ejected a man from his seat. Personal violence in the theatre was regarded as a crime against religion, and was strictly prohibited. If any dispute arose, the proper course was to appeal to the officers; and the man who took the law into his own hands was guilty of a capital offence.1056