Discuss the methods Aristophanes employed to create a popular piece of theatre in 5th century Athens

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Discuss the methods Aristophanes employed to create a popular piece of theatre in 5th century Athens The classical dramatists of the ancient world laid the foundations for thousands of years of literary replication and have held influence over both playwriting and literature alike long since their initial popularity with ancient Greek audiences. This time gave rise to the theatre and it became a prolific source of entertainment, introducing the concept of both the Comedy and Tragedy and much classical literary material of the latter condition still survives. However we now have only a handful of comic plays that remain today. Aristophanes is regarded as the ‘Father of Comedy’ and is famed for his success in the dramatic festivals of the Dionysia and the Lenea which earned him reverence amongst his contemporaries as he won both festivals on numerous occasions, as well as securing him a place in the theatrical world up to two thousand years later, with eleven of his forty plays still surviving. Being the only example with complete surviving works he is therefore taken as representative of Old Attic Comedy. A running theme within his writing is the political satire of current events, such as the Peloponnesian war which heavily influenced his plays such as The Wasps and Lysistrata. Now, almost considered to be literary relics, the works of Aristophanes along with other famous classical writers are held as an opportunity to learn more about the ancient world. However, his plays are not just examples of timeless literature, as it may be perceived today, but vital components of entertainment in ordinary Athenian life during the Peloponnesian war. Theatre in Aristophanes’ time was very different to what an audience would experience in the twenty-first century and this was characterised not only by the nature of the writing and the performance but also the physical

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