Intro To Theatre Midterm

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Theatron

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a place for showing, or performing.

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What are the Stage Directions?

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•Up/down: derived from raked stage use—down is close to audience, up is far•Right/left: from the viewpoint of an actor facing the audience

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Ritual

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Actions performed for symbolic Value, often Connected to religious or supernatural beliefs.

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Representational Theatre

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Theater can be broadly categorized in two ways. Representational theater incorporates a more naturalistic style. The audience is meant to intellectually and emotionally buy in to the "reality" of the plot, setting and characters.

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Presentational theater

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Theater can be broadly categorized in two ways. Presentational theater is a non-realistic style in which the audience is forced into awareness that they are watching a play.

(breaking the 4th wall)

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Live performance

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Performed in front of an audience

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Aristotles' six parts of a play

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1.plot

2.character/characterization

3.thought

4.diction

5.music

6.spectacle

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Konstantin Stanislavsky, Moscow Art Theatre

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a Russian actor and theatre director. His system of acting (THE METHOD) has developed an international reach.Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. Throughout his life, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection. His development of a theorized praxis – in which practice is used as a mode of inquiry and theory as a catalyst for creative development – identifies him as the first great theatre practitioner.

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Springboard

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An artistic concept or vission

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Tragedy

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Tragedy – a serious play (although may include humorousparts) where central character or characters confrontsuffering, decline, and often death. Typically involves thedownfall of a character of an elevated stature.

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Comedy

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Comedy – a humorous play in which characters confrontthemselves and each other with amusing results. Itsrevelation of the dramatic experience elicits more laughterthan shock.

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Tragicomedy

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Tragicomedy – bridges comedy and tragedy maintaining aserious theme but varying the approach with humorousdevices. Gives serious plays a happy ending or happy playsa serious ending.

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Melodrama

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Tragicomedy – bridges comedy and tragedy maintaining aserious theme but varying the approach with humorousdevices. Gives serious plays a happy ending or happy playsa serious ending.

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Farce

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Farce – a wildly humorous play on a trivial theme that oftencontains mistaken identity, illicit romance and elaboratemisunderstandings.

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proscenium arch

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frames proscenium stage and separates actors from audience

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Thrust configuration

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Made famous during Elizabethan era and Shakespeare’stime. The stage thrusts into the audience. Seating configures 3 sides around the stage. Thrus isalso called three-quarter round

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Arena Configuration Stages

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surrounds the playing area.Also called Theatre in the round. Allows for more seatingand is well suited for intimate theatre.

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Director

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Selects or approves the playInterprets play adhering to playwright’sintentions (rule of thumb: If you notice thedirecting, it’s over-directed.)Primary coordinator of auditions rehearsal andproduction scheduleWorks in tandem with designers to create an artisticconcept (springboard) and vision

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Actor

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Training the instrument (body and voice)•- Relaxation•- Working in period styles in and outof costume•Script Analysis•Build Character Framework•Improvisation – (originating fromCommedia dell ’arte in the ItalianRenaissance period) Creatingcharacters and situations by building anon-scripted scene from a looseframework.

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Sound Designer

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Amplifies actors;provides recorded sound effects; selects &commissions music

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Set Designer

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In charge of a floor planthat defines the performance space creating aphysical environment for the play’s action.Provides clues of the time, setting, and location.Set design should also include masking to hide offstage, wings and fly areas from audience view and any set dressing (details that complete the stage picture like books, mirrors, lamps, etc.)

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Lighting Designer

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Responsible for illuminating the actors and scenery to communicate time, place, or mood; and for lighting transitions

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costume Designer

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Responsible for dressing actors with clothing, hats, hair styling (which may include wigs.)

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Stage Directions: upstage, downstage, stage right, stage left

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"down" means closest to audience, "up" is further away from audience, it is the point of view of the actor!!

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Theatre Seating

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Orchestra seats - in the front

Balconies (Galleries or Mezzanines)Box Seats – Located on the side walls near

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Dionysus

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God of wine

Ritual theory evolved from religious rituals devoted to the god Dionysus

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What played at the City of Dionysus

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City Dionysia Festival (aka Great Dionysia) sponsored 3 playwrights to submit 9tragedies and 3 Satyr plays - a short, comic piece featuring goatskin-clad followers ofDionysus that followed the tragedies.

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Greek Playrights

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Aeschylus

Sophocles

Euripides

Aristophanes

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Costumes and masks

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With few actors playing many parts, costumes and masks became essential. Characters were identified by these items. Conversely, costumes and masks of the Chorus were similar if not identical.

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Mechane

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a crane-like device allowing people and objects to fly in andout. Euripides in particular made use of this so often for bringing ingods at the end to tie up the story that later this “contrived” play endingbecame known as a deus ex machina (god from the machine).

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Paradoi

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The Paradoi were the spaces at either side between the Skene and the Theatron, used as entrances and exits (especially the Chorus.)

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Orchestra

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Circular playing area at its base called The Orchestra (The dancing Place). Originated from dancing and singing of the Dithyramb which came before our earliest known plays.

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Skene

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Skene (root of “scenery”) – a tent, booth or hut which served as a place to which actors could exit as possible changing room off stage . It was made out of wood and most likely had 3 doors- a large central doorway flanked on either side by smaller doors. It provided background and acoustical support

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Eccyclema

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Eccyclema – a moveable platform that could be rolled out of the Skeneto reveal result of off stage action. Often used to show corpses of characters who were slain.

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Aristotle’s Poetics

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Set the boundaries for dramatic theory with major points about tragedy:

There are three unities of Time, Place and Action

- The Unity of Time: The action of a play takes place within 24 hours.

- The Unity of Place: The action of a play takes place in a single location.

- The Unity of Action: The play follows one main action with no or few subplots.

Imitates action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude.

Takes the form of action not narrative.

Produces Pity and Fear and the “catharsis” of emotions.

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Catharsis and Hartia

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Catharsis is a “cleansing of emotions” for the audience that purifies them after witnessing the depths that characters experience.

Hamartia – A Fatal flaw that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero. Oedipus’ fatal flaw was pride and a relentless pursuit of the truth to seek the killer of King Laius. He ignores the warnings and ultimately pays the price.

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Difference between

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Roman culture showed very little interest in arts, literature and philosophy during theGolden age of Athens

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What was the most popular genre in roman theatre?

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Comedy

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Roman Playrights

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Titus Maccius Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus

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Buildings and Scenery

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Basic Theatre Configuration same as Greeks with Skene house, Parados, Orchestra

• Roman theatres differed from Hellenistic

- Stood on level ground (not hillsides) with built-up stadium seating

- Orchestras were half circles

- Long, deep stages closed at both ends

- First to use a front curtain

• Periaktoi – revolving prisms that represented scene changes to another location

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Roman theatre, first art form that accepted woman.

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Mime

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Secular Drama

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Grew out of outdoor religious drama. Enabled theatre to thrive as a profession. Audiences paid.

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vernacular drama

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plays translated and performed by laypeople to reach a wider audience.

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Liturgical drama

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Liturgical drama (or Latin Music drama).Examples included Quem Quaeritis. These plays weresung/chanted by clergy, choirboys, monks (all male except nunsin convents)

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Types of Corpus Christi Plays

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Mystery Plays – events in life of ChristMiracle Plays – events in lives of saintsMorality Plays – Allegories about struggle to salvation.

Right from wrong. Most of popular morality play is Everyman.

Plays taught church doctrine

Formulated as melodrama punishing evil, rewarding good

Dramatized human history from creation to doomsday within the lessons of God’s influence on humankind.

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Morality Plays

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Morality Plays – Allegories about struggle to salvation.Right from wrong. Most popular morality play isEveryman.

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Miracle Plays

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– events in lives of saints

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Mystery Plays

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events in life of Christ

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Everyman

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Everyman represents all humankind

Everyman tries to convince others to accompany him to improve his chances (Knowledge, Fellowship, (material)Goods, Beauty are among those he seeks to join him on hispilgrimage)

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Pageant wagons

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Movable Staging – Pageant wagons Audience spread out along a route (similar to a parade today)

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Mansions

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Fixed Staging – mansions (or scaffolds) set up outdoors in available spaces such as courtyards, town squares and the remains of Roman amphitheaters. Mansions were scenic structures representing locations.

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Plateas

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One play might require more than one mansion. Platea –general acting area adjacent to the mansions.

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Noh Theatre

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Noh Theatre – Japanese musical dance-drama that combines dance, poetry, music, mime and meditation.

• Began in 1350, translates to “accomplishment” or “artplay.”

•Rooted in Zen Buddhism, Noh is heavily ritualistic as youmight see in a Japanese tea ceremony. Its virtues include:yu`gen (“mysterious beauty”) and ran~I (“the sublime”)

•A father and son duo Kanami (1333-1384) and Zeami(1363-1443) took earlier less developed Japanese art formtraditions and coalesced them into this major art formknown as Noh drama.

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Kabuki Theatre

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Established early 1600’s by Izumo Okuni, a female dancer(referred to as weird and flashy)

Referred to as the “rock entertainment of the 17th century.”Noh remained theater of the nobility, Kabuki was less formal and had popular appeal. (Barranger 44).

It was an epic, energized spectacle-driven, actor- first artform.

Involves extremely fast costume changes, freezes andposes.

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Bunraku

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Traditional puppet theater with high-quality artistictechnique

Joruri music (sung narrative) ―each puppet requires three puppeteers to bring it to life.

Other puppet art forms hide how puppets are handled.

But in Bunraku, the manipulators appear openly, in full view of audience.

And is why Bunraku is called the most highly developedpuppet theatre art in the world.

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Renaissance theatre

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Renaissance means “rebirth”

First developed in Italy, rest of Europe followed with explosion of new ideas, discoveries, social attitudes
By 1550, medieval religious drama gave way to rise of humanism– a new admiration for humankind, intelligence, and beauty and secularism – a break from religious rule to that of independent and philosophical systems of thoughts and ideas (included religiousfreedom).

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Masterless men

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16th century acting esd not accepted as a profession. Actors were considered “masterless men.” To get around, acting companies petitioned nobleman to serve as patrons, so actors became “servants” of patrons and no longer“masterless.”

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PHYSICAL THEATRES IN LONDON Public Theatres – outdoor theatres such as The Swan, The Hope, The Rose, and The Globe.

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Flag

Frons Scenae

Galleries

Gentlemen's Rooms

Hut

Heavens

Hell (trap to below)

Musicians' Gallery & Lords' Gallery

Stage

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Six traits of Golden Age Plays (including Shakespeare):

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Early point of attack: Audience sees story develop onstage rather than learning second-hand

Subplots: First appearing separate then coming together by the end of the play

Mixture of Moods and Styles (variety of incidents in your book):Blend tears and laughter; Love and Action/fights

Freedom of Time Place: Action unfolds over days, months, years

Varied characters: From kings to clowns, old, young, rich, poor

Language reflects character: Rhyme, blank verse, prose