What was the mekhane (crane) used for in Greek plays?To remove scenery between actsTo lift the king and his court to their viewing boxFor actors playing the godsIt was only used in building and tearing down the set
Behind the stage there was sometimes a crane called the 'mekhane'. Actors could be hung from the crane to play gods or monsters flying through the air. These were early special effects!
For actors playing the gods. The Greeks loved theatre, and just like today, there were cheap productions with little merit or wothiness for remembrance. In these cheaper plays, the creators would try to appeal to the people's religious convictions by having one of the gods (usually Zeus) descending from heaven to resolve the conflict and set things right. To present this in theatre form, the actor would be lowered down to stage on a crane in order to simulate the god descending from heaven. This became such a tired cliche in ancient Greece that the phrase Deus Ex Machina, which translates to God of the Machine, has come to mean An unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot.
for actors playing gods. that's where the phrase deus ex machina comes from -- god in a machine.
