The Chorus in ancient Greek theatre played a very important role in a play. Their main role was to play the choral ode inbetween acts but they also gave a lot more to the theatrical experience.

They consisted of about 5-30 men who would sing (and might have danced as well). There were instances where women were used instead of men. In Euripides' Medea, Electra and Hippolytus the Chorus was probably made up of women rather than men since they suited the play better.

The Chorus were made up of amateur actors as opposed to the other actors in the plays who were semi-professional (there was only about 3 or 4 main actors in Greek plays since they used masks). The leader of the Chorus was called the Koryphaiois and it was this person which participated with the other actors in the play most of the time.

The play didn't start properly until the Chorus had come onto the stage (they arrive singing and dancing to accentuate their arrival). The part before the Chorus arrives is called the prologue and the last choral ode signifies the epilogue. The Chorus sometimes ends the play as well with a one or two sentence farewell.

The Chorus was the most expensive part of the play a lot of the time since there were so many actors expecting to be paid and needed a fair amount of training to teach them the lines/songs and dances and to get them all moving as one. This required a lot of time (thought to be about 11 months training) but once it was done the Chorus enhanced the play dramatically.

Functions of the Chorus