17　古希臘戲劇

戲劇是最早的公眾娛樂形式，它是如何起源的

在希臘歷史的早期，古希臘人就開始收集詩歌。他們創(chuàng)作詩歌，是為了頌揚(yáng)勇敢的祖先把佩拉斯吉人趕出古希臘，并毀滅了特洛伊。這些詩歌在公共場(chǎng)合誦讀，每個(gè)人都來聆聽。但戲劇這種藝術(shù)形式，作為我們現(xiàn)代生活中不可或缺的重要組成部分，卻并不是為傳頌這些英雄故事而產(chǎn)生的。它有著不可思議的起源，為此我會(huì)專門用一章的篇幅講給你們。

古希臘人一直喜歡游行。他們每年都會(huì)舉行莊嚴(yán)的游行活動(dòng)，紀(jì)念酒神狄奧尼索斯。人人都要喝酒（古希臘人認(rèn)為水只是用來游泳和航行的），所以你可以想象這位特殊的神是如何大受歡迎的。

由于大家認(rèn)為酒神應(yīng)該住在葡萄園，和一群快樂的薩梯（半人半羊的怪物）在一起，所以參加游行的人群通常披羊皮，學(xué)羊叫。在希臘語中，羊讀成“tragos”，歌手讀成“oidos”。因此，像羊一樣咩咩叫的歌手是羊歌手“tragos-oidos”。就是這個(gè)奇怪的名字，演變成了今天的“悲劇”一詞。從戲劇角度來說，

sense a piece with an unhappy ending, just as Comedy（which really means the singing of something “comos” or gay）is the name given to a play which ends happily.

But how, you will ask, did this noisy chorus of masqueraders, stamping around like wild goats, ever develop into the noble tragedies which have filled the theatres of the world for almost two thousand years?

The connecting link between the goat-singer and Hamlet is really very simple as I shall show you in a moment.

The singing chorus was very amusing in the beginning and attracted large crowds of spectators who stood along the side of the road and laughed. But soon this business of hee-hawing grew tiresome and the Greeks thought dullness an evil only comparable to ugliness or sickness. They asked for something more entertaining. Then an inventive young poet from the village of Icaria in Attica hit upon a new idea which proved a tremendous success. He made one of the members of the goat-chorus step forward and engage in conversation with the leader of the musicians who marched at the head of the parade playing upon their pipes of Pan. This individual was allowed to step out of line. He waved his arms and gesticulated while he spoke（that is to say he “acted” while the others merely stood by and sang）and he asked a lot of questions, which the bandmaster answered according to the roll of papyrus upon which the poet had written down these answers before the show began.

This rough and ready conversation—the dialogue—which told the story of Dionysos or one of the other Gods, became at once popular with the crowd. Henceforth every Dionysian procession had an “acted scene” and very soon the “acting” was considered more important than the procession and the meh-mehing.

?schylus, the most successful of all “tragedians” who wrote no less than eighty plays

這個(gè)詞指的是有悲慘結(jié)尾的戲劇。就好比喜劇（它的真正含義是為高興的事情而歌唱），因戲劇有快樂的結(jié)局而得名。

你或許會(huì)問，化裝成羊那樣又跳又叫的嘈雜的合唱，是怎么發(fā)展成為占據(jù)世界舞臺(tái)近2000年的高尚悲劇的呢？

接下來，我要告訴你，羊歌手和《哈姆雷特》之間的聯(lián)系其實(shí)非常簡(jiǎn)單。

合唱?jiǎng)傞_始很有趣，吸引了路邊的觀眾，并讓他們開懷大笑。但不久，學(xué)羊叫的絕活就令人厭煩了。古希臘人把乏味看成一種邪惡，僅次于丑陋和疾病。他們希望合唱更有趣一些。這時(shí)，阿提卡地區(qū)的伊卡里亞村誕生了一位富有創(chuàng)造力的年輕詩人。他想出了一個(gè)新主意，并取得了巨大成功。他讓羊合唱隊(duì)走在游行隊(duì)伍的前面，吹著潘神的笛子，再派一個(gè)隊(duì)員到前面去與隊(duì)長(zhǎng)交談。派出的隊(duì)員可以走出隊(duì)列，邊說話，邊揮動(dòng)臂膀，擺出各種姿勢(shì)（那就是說，當(dāng)別人只是站著唱歌時(shí)，這個(gè)隊(duì)員還要“表演”），而且還要問許多問題。隊(duì)長(zhǎng)會(huì)根據(jù)這位詩人事先寫在莎草紙卷上的答案來回答。

這種簡(jiǎn)單的交談——對(duì)話，講的是狄奧尼索斯或其他神的故事。這種表演很快受到群眾的歡迎。此后，每場(chǎng)狄奧尼索斯游行都有“表演”。沒多久，“表演”就變得比游行和學(xué)羊叫更重要了。

埃斯庫羅斯是最優(yōu)秀的“悲劇作家”之一，他一生中（主要是公元前526～前455年）寫了至少80個(gè)劇本。他勇敢地把戲劇向前推進(jìn)了一步，把演員從一個(gè)變成兩個(gè)。后來，索福克勒斯又把演員增加到三個(gè)。公元前5世紀(jì)中期，歐里庇得斯開

during his long life（from 526 to 455）made a bold step forward when he introduced two “actors” instead of one. A generation later Sophocles increased the number of actors to three. When Euripides began to write his terrible tragedies in the middle of the fifth century B.C, he was allowed as many actors as he liked and when Aristophanes wrote those famous comedies in which he poked fun at everybody and everything, including the Gods of Mount Olympus, the chorus had been reduced to the r?le of mere bystanders who were lined up behind the principal performers and who sang “this is a terrible world” while the hero in the foreground committed a crime against the will of the Gods.

This new form of dramatic entertainment demanded a proper setting, and soon every Greek city owned a theatre, cut out of the rock of a nearby hill. The spectators sat upon wooden benches and faced a wide circle（our present orchestra where you pay three dollars and thirty cents for a seat）.Upon this half-circle, which was the stage, the actors and the chorus took their stand. Behind them there was a tent where they made up with large clay masks which hid their faces and which showed the spectators whether the actors were supposed to be happy and smiling or unhappy and weeping. The Greek word for tent is “skene” and that is the reason why we talk of the “scenery” of the stage.

When once the tragedy had become part of Greek life, the people took it very seriously and never went to the theatre to give their minds a vacation. A new play became as important an event as an election and a successful playwright was received with greater honors than those bestowed upon a general who had just returned from a famous victory.

始創(chuàng)作他那震撼人心的悲劇時(shí)，他想用多少演員都可以。之后的阿里斯托芬創(chuàng)作了一些著名的喜劇，在劇中嘲笑很多人和事，包括奧林匹斯山的神靈。這時(shí)，合唱隊(duì)已淪落到旁觀者的位置，被安排在主要演員的后面，當(dāng)前臺(tái)主角“犯下罪行、褻瀆神的意愿”時(shí)，由他們唱“這是一個(gè)可怕的世界”。

這種新的戲劇娛樂形式需要一個(gè)適當(dāng)?shù)膱?chǎng)地。不久，每個(gè)古希臘城邦都擁有一個(gè)劇院。劇院是從附近山巖中開鑿出來的。觀眾坐在木椅上，前面是一個(gè)寬大的圓圈（就是我們現(xiàn)在的樂隊(duì)席，你可以付3美元30美分得到一個(gè)座位）。這個(gè)半圓形的場(chǎng)地就是舞臺(tái)，演員與合唱隊(duì)就在這里表演。他們后面有一個(gè)帳篷，是用來化裝的地方。演員戴上很大的泥面具，以便告訴觀眾，角色是在高興、微笑，還是憂愁、哭泣。在古希臘語中，帳篷讀作“skene”，那就是為什么我們把舞臺(tái)布景稱為“scenery”的原因。

一旦古希臘人把悲劇看成生活的一部分，他們就會(huì)把它看得很嚴(yán)肅，去劇院也就不再是放松和娛樂了。一部新劇的上演如同選舉一樣，是重要的大事。與凱旋的將軍相比，成功的劇作家會(huì)得到更多的榮耀。