Skene (theatre)

[1] It was initially a very light structure or just cloth hanging from a rope, but over the course of time the skene underwent fundamental changes.

First, it became a permanent building, whose roof could sometimes be used to make speeches, and as time passed it was raised up from the level of the orchestra, creating a proskenion, or "space in front of the skene".

[2] Ancient Greek theatre began in the 6th century BC and traces its origins to religious rituals such as the Festival of Dionysus and choral odes to the gods known as dithyrambs.

At some point at Athens in the Classical period a small stoa colonnade was constructed behind the scene-building with its back to the theatre and would have provided a permanent backdrop for the action.

The skene no longer supported painted sets in the Greek manner, but relied for effect on elaborate permanent architectural decoration and consisted of a series of complex stone buildings.

The interior of the logeion ('building') behind the skene facade remained normally outside the view of the audience, and fulfilled the original function as a changing room and place for props.