Performances and Pottery

The content of the performances are relatively unknown, however there are a few painting depicting the types of scenes that would have been performed. These paintings show comedic plays for entertainment, while it is known that Greeks performed tragedies and comedies. Phlyax plays were performed and what we know of them remains on pottery. Many of the pottery paintings were from Paestum and depict burlesque scenes.It is interesting that there is no structure at Paestum that suggests that there was a theater. Although most of the works of art depicting comedies are from Paestum, they had no theater. This begs the question whether these artists saw the plays in person, or they painted them as a common stock scene. If the plays were saw in person, there is a greater chance that these paintings are a somewhat accurate representation of the plays. On the contrary, if these artists were painting them as stock scenes, having never seen the comedy they were trying to represent, the representation is going to differ more from the play. The general content of the performances was known and could therefore be represented despite seeing the performance live, but the details would have need to be seen live. The costumes, gestures, actors, and masks are all details we know from pottery. The accuracy of these details is similar to that of Roman copies in sculpture, where we have to assume that they are close to the original because the original no longer exists. Since few performances have survived to the present, much of what we know of performances comes from paintings that may not accurately represent the plays.
Much of what we know about the actual performances comes from painting on pottery including full pots and fragments. Fragments present another challenge of determining who the artist was and where they originated from. Where the artist is painting can tell a lot about the type of performance and the likelihood that the artist actually saw the performance live.

Asteas Painter, 350 BCE

Ponormos Painter, 410 BCE