Macchine teatrali e funzionalità drammaturgica nella tragedia classica greca

In a context characterized by considerable limitations and substantial technical poverty, the Greek dramatists of the 5th century could sometimes have recourse to rudimental theatre machinery in order to meet specific needs: among these the ekkyklema, used to make visible the inside of the stage setting, occupied by people or various objects, and the mechané, a sort of crane used to keep actors suspended or make actors land onto the roof while flying. Since the most ancient evidence of this machinery is not univocal and dates back at least to the first Hellenistic period, the moment they were first built in the Greek theatre, the dramaturgic context in which that could happen and, especially as far as the ekkyklema is concerned, the shape of the machine itself are still debated by scholars. However, on the basis of numerous textual records and specific dramaturgic needs in some tragedies, as well as on the basis of some passages by Aristophanes, where their use is parodied, most scholars agree that ekkyklema and mechané were already present in some dramas of the 5th century, both in tragedy and comedy, starting at least from 458 (the year when Oresteia was performed), and that ekkyklema was a wheeled platform with a perpendicular wall and characterized by a front-back movement through the door of the stage setting. However, the use of these machines has not to be intended as expedient to search for realism, but (and in this research it has to be considered as such) as a device to compose tableaux having a strong emotional effect on the audience during crucial dramatic moments. Therefore, this research analyses the tragic passages about which the use of ekkyklema is evaluated (and in particular): Agamemnon ll.1372 ff., The Libation Bearers ll.869-930 and 973-1076, Eumenides ll.64-233 by Aeschylus; Ajax ll.344-594, 815-865, 891 ff., Antigone ll.1293 ff., Oedipus the King ll.1297 ff., Electra ll.1458-1507 by Sophocles; Hecuba ll.1049 ff. by Euripides), and about which the use of mechané is evaluated (and in particular): Prometheus, ll.1-396 by Aeschylus; Philoctetes, ll.1409 ff. by Sophocles; Alcestis, ll.1-76; Medea, ll.1316 ff.; Andromache, ll.1226 ff.; The Suppliants Women, ll.1183 ff.; The Trojan Women, ll.1-92; Ion, ll.1-59 and 1549 ff.; Iphigenia in Tauris, ll.1435 ff.; Helen, ll.1642 ff.; Orestes, ll.1567 ff.; Bacchae, ll.1-63 and 1330, by Euripides) or about which the use of both machines is evaluated (Hippolytus, ll.1-56, 170 ff., 808 ll., 1283 ff.; Hecuba, ll.1-58 and 1049 ff.; Heracles, ll.822-875 and 1028 ff.; Electra, ll.1172 ff. by Euripides). The dramaturgic analysis of the passages leads to suppose: the stage use of the ekkyklema for Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers (ll.973-1076), Ajax (ll.344-594), Electra by Sophocles, Hippolytus (ll.808 ff.), Heracles (ll.1028 ff.), Electra (ll.1172 ff., but with some doubts in this case) by Euripides; the stage use of the mechané for the ll. 284-396 of Prometheus (by using the roof), 1409 ff. of Philoctetes (probably without using the roof), 1316-1370 of Medea (by using the roof), 1283-1466 of Hippolytus (by using the roof; but in this passage some doubts persist), 822-873 of Heracles (by using the roof; and with some doubts also in this case), 1238-1359 of Electra (by using the roof), 1226-1283 of Andromache, 1435-1489 of Iphigenia in Tauris (by using the roof; but there is substantial uncertainty), 1549-1618 of Ion (by using the roof, but doubts still remain about this last point), 1642-1687 of Helen (doubts remain; more probable on the other hand the use of the roof), 1625-1690 of Orestes (with the roof of the stage platform occupied by other actors) by Euripides. It seems that the simple use of the roof can be assumed for ll.1183-1234 in the Euripidean Suppliants Women. On the other hand, the use of these machines, especially the mechané, can be excluded in the characteristic Euripidean expository prologue. In the specific instance, the following elements seem to be propaedeutic to the use of the ekkyklema: backstage cries and reference to door opening; anapaestic announcement of entry and reference to flight or air crossing can be propaedeutic to the use of the mechané. As previously said, the result is a strong emotional and spectacular impact in moments which are particularly important to the dramaturgic development of the tragic event, which in turn undergoes a decisive change or draws to an end. Also, some lines of development can be detected in the use of dramaturgic modules, which becomes more and more conventionalized and targeted to a highly spectacular dramaturgic result in later tragedies (such as Hippolytus, Heracles and Electra by Euripides and Electra by Sophocles).