Costumes were often silly in nature, and a marked contrast to the elaborate and serious-looking garments donned by actors in tragic plays. In plays of the Greek Old Comedy style, actors wore body stocking outfits with padding at the breast and stomach. Since the main actors were entirely male, actors playing men wore stuffed phalluses attached to their crotches, which were either erect or flaccid. Actors playing women would wore tall-heeled shoes. New Greek Comedy performers wore similar costumes but lost the padding.
As well as help an audience distinguish between character genders, clothing implied further details about a particular character for viewers. Ceremonial robes might suggest a character was a priest for instance, while other outfits could indicate how rich or poor the character was meant to be or what he did for a living.
Masks used in ancient Greek comedy were grotesque in nature, sometimes parodying the features of people the audience would recognize. Typically, a comedy mask would be set into a grin or a leer, in contrast to the more serious expressions found on tragic masks. Later comedies saw more naturalistic masks utilized by actors. Masks were created from one of several materials, such as from a combination of cloth and flour paste, or sometimes from wood.
Masks indicated the kind of character an actor was portraying in much the same way as the outfit an actor was wearing did, establishing personality, emotion and gender. A bold indication of the character's role and traits, the mask had a special purpose in that it allowed even spectators far away to be aware of each character, since the mask was easy to spot from a distance. The masks were also designed with exaggerated features, which aided them in this function, and helped to amplify an actor's voice, so that those at the back of the audience could hear the play's dialogue. Since ancient Greek actors often doubled parts, the mask became a disguise to allow the actor to swap identities with ease.