Theaters
Twenty-five hundred years ago, two thousand years before
Shakespeare, Western theatre was born in Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC,
the ancient Athenians created a theatre culture whose form, technique and
terminology have lasted two millennia, and produced plays that are still among
the greatest works in theatre. There have been only two other periods in theatre
history that equaled the greatness of ancient Athens — Elizabethan England and
the Twentieth Century.
Elizabethan England produced one great
playwright in Shakespeare, but Athens produced at least five great playwrights.
The Twentieth Century produced thousands of fine plays and films, but they owed
much to the innovations of the ancient Athenians.
