Legend has it that the performing arts began when a Greek singer named Thespis invented tragedy. In 534 B.C., Thespis was performing a hymn（赞美诗）to the god Dionysius. Such hymns, called dithyrambs, were usually sung by a lead singer and a chorus. Thespis added a speaking actor. Performances at the annual Dionysian festival soon included plays with three actors as well as the standard hymns. By 449 B.C., the Greeks were giving prizes to the best actor and the best playwright at the festival. A modern word for actor—thespian recognizes the debt today's drama owes to Thespis.
Performing in a Greek play required physical strength. Because each play had only three actors, performers had to play several roles. Chorus members both sang and danced. Being in the chorus for the many performances given at a festival was said to be as demanding as competing in the Olympic Games.
The Theater of Dionysius in Athens could hold 20,000 people. Even those in the front rows were quite a distance from the actors. Performers used grand gestures and wore masks so that they could be seen by everyone in their huge audience. Tragic(悲剧的)actors wore long clothes and masks. Comic actors wore short costumes that let them move freely and masks designed to make them look ugly or silly. Sometimes the chorus were dressed up to look like animals.
Another legacy(遗产)of the ancient Greeks is the deus ex machina, or "god from the machine". If a playwright was having trouble with the plot, he might have a god appear through a trap door(天窗).The god would rescue the main character and find a solution to any difficult plot situations. Modem writers might not call on gods, but they do sometimes use unlikely ways to end a story. A character or an event that brings a complicated plot to an unlikely conclusion is still called deus ex machina.
