roofed building was the 'backstage' area, but in visual terms it was not so much 'behind' as 'within', an enclosed space which, like a real house, was the dominion of female characters. As a rule, actors could and did step out of the skene and join the chorus in the orchestra, but the chorus did not enter the skene. The masks of Greek Old Comedy were distorted caricatures, sometimes of real people. They were meant to be ugly and silly in keeping with the ludicrous padded costumes worn by comic actors. While tragic actors wore elaborate pattern-woven garments which were similar to the robes of priests and musicians, comic actors wore loose body stockings padded at the breast, buttocks, and stomach, with long floppy phalluses for the male characters. The chorus of Old Comedy was often composed of non-human creatures, such as wasps, frogs, birds, or even clouds. ...
