- Parabasis
In
Greek comedy , the parabasis (plural parabases) is a point in the play when all of the actors leave the stage and the chorus is left to address the audience directly. The chorus partially or completely abandons its dramatic role to talk to the audience on a topic completely irrelevant to the subject of the play.For example, in the play "
The Wasps " byAristophanes the first parabasis is about Aristophanes' career as a playwright to date, while the second parabasis is shorter, and contains a string of in-jokes about local characters who would be well known to the ancient Athenian audience (e.g. the politicianCleon ).A parabasis usually consists of three songs (S) alternating with three speeches (s) in the order S-s-S-s-S-s. The first speech often ends with a passage which is to be rattled off very quickly (theoretically in one breath - called a 'pnigos').The parabasis is exclusively a feature of
Old Comedy , and as the overall role of the chorus declined, the parabases were abandoned.References
*
Aristotle , "Poetics".
* Feder, Lillian, "The Handbook of Classical Literature", (uniform title: "Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature"), New York : Da Capo Press, 1998. ISBN 0306808803. Cf. especially the articles on "Comedy", "The Clouds", pp.100-105.
* Freund, Philip, "The Birth of Theatre", London : Peter Owen, 2003. ISBN 0720611709. Cf. Chapter 6, "Greek Laughter"
* Gassner, John, and Quinn, Edward, [editors] , "The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama", New York, Crowell, 1969. Cf. article on "Comedy", p.140
* Harsh, Philip Whaley, "A Handbook of Classical Drama", Stanford University, Calif., Stanford university press; London, H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1944. Cf. Chapter V, "Introduction to Old Comedy".
* Harsh, Philip Whaley, [http://www.jstor.org/pss/283027 "The Position of the Parabasis in the Plays of Aristophanes"] , in "Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association", Vol. 65, (1934), pp. 178-197, The Johns Hopkins University PressExternal links
* [http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/clasdram/chapters/081earlygkcom.htm Early Greek Comedy] - Mark Damen, Utah State University
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