Theater Vocab For Midterm

Front 1

Archon

Back 1

city magistrate who chose wealthy citizens to finance one of three central tragedies

Front 2

Dithyrambs

Back 2

hymns sung by chorus with dances

Front 3

Machina

Back 3

crane used to raise or lower performers

Front 4

Parodos

Back 4

entrance of chorus, also refers to song

Front 5

Episodes

Back 5

scenes in which central characters engage one another and the chorus

Front 6

Catastrophe

Back 6

sudden turn of events, sprung from idea of movement, hero leaves stage

Front 7

City Dionysia

Back 7

plays to honour Dionysus, god of pleasure

Front 8

Chorus

Back 8

selection of young men who sang and danced (dithyrambs) (17-21 years old)

Front 9

Choregos

Back 9

prestigious honour to be called upon, financiers of plays

Front 10

Trilogy

Back 10

three interconnecting plays by the same playwright staged over 3 days

Front 11

Satyr play

Back 11

Satire after the three trilogies, starred satyrs, half men half goats

Front 12

Amphitheatre

Back 12

semi circle hilled seating for large audiences of 1400

Front 13

Orchestra

Back 13

center where dancing took place around Dionysus' alter, often much of play took place there

Front 14

Skene

Back 14

temporary wooden building, early version of backstage/ offstage actions took place there

Front 15

Prologue

Back 15

opening speech

Front 16

Odes

Back 16

songs and dances by the chorus to enunciate and enlarge on the play's pivotal issues, written in lyric meters different from central characters

Front 17

Exodos

Back 17

final song and dance and departure of chorus

Front 18

Protagonist

Back 18

first or main actor competing for the prize

Front 19

Peripeteia

Back 19

reversal of situation

Front 20

Anagnorisis

Back 20

recognition of change

Front 21

Catharsis

Back 21

purgation of the emotional stake audience develops in play

Front 22

Hamartia

Back 22

the error or mistake that invokes the tragedy

Front 23

Shogun

Back 23

hereditary military leader, supported the arts

Front 24

Sarugaku-no

Back 24

"monkey music" largely religious performances given in Buddhist temples

Front 25

Dengaku-no

Back 25

more ritualistic, Shinto derivative, acrobatics, role playing, dance

Front 26

Chonin

Back 26

class of artisans and merchants, townsmen

Front 27

Samurai

Back 27

warriors who had allegiance to Shogun, honour code

Front 28

Daimyo

Back 28

various warrior lords

Front 29

Rōnin

Back 29

outcast samurais (often in no theatre)

Front 30

Yugen

Back 30

state of grace, only way to sufficiently enjoy performance

Front 31

Shite

Back 31

primary actor, desguises himself as a human, leaves, then comes back as his true form MASKED

Front 32

Waki

Back 32

secondary actor, often enter with travelling song, UNMASKED

Front 33

Kyōgen

Back 33

brief farce between scenes

Front 34

Bashira

Back 34

4 pillars that support main roof over the stage, they are landmarks on stage

Front 35

Hashigakari

Back 35

long bridge that connects stage and backstage

Front 36

Kagam noma (mirror room)

Back 36

green room where actors get into character and makeup

Front 37

Zen

Back 37

Buddhist concept of repose and withdrawal from worldly desires

Front 38

Butai

Back 38

stage which extends into audience, high polished wood

Front 39

Kan’ami Kiyotsugu (1333-1384)

Back 39

leader of one of four main sraygaku troupes, playwright

Front 40

Zeami Motokiyo

Back 40

son of Kan'ami, control of troupe until exilled by shogun's son, a mirror to the flower

Front 41

Ariwaka no Yukihira

Back 41

famous poet, courtier and scholar who was exhiled to bay of suma (setting of matzukaze)

Front 42

Liturgical drama

Back 42

short dramatic section of catholic mass performed as part of the service, may have inspired cycle plays

Front 43

Mystery cycle plays

Back 43

a series of plays dramatizing Christian history, devised and performed in the middle ages by craft guilds called "mysteries". Performed outside on the feast of corpus Christi

Front 44

Saint plays

Back 44

plays detailing the lives of saints

Front 45

Morality drama

Back 45

a late medieval dramatic form using allegorical characters to dramatize and moral and ethical problems in leading a Christian life (MT Greek, Dale)

Front 46

University plays

Back 46

plays by students for students, performed indoors

Front 47

Trope

Back 47

an enlargement of the catholic liturgy, through song or dramatic performances

Front 48

Antiphonal performance

Back 48

alternative or responsive singing between individuals or groups, in the midle ages, commonly involved two choirs. Musical dialogue (MT, opera)

Front 49

Mansions

Back 49

structure placed at several locations inside medieval churches as settings for liturgical dramas

Front 50

Anachronism

Back 50

usually people places or things that are chronologically out of keeping with the rest of the fictive world of a play

Front 51

Feast of Corpus Christi

Back 51

a holiday inaugurated in the 14th century ti celebrate the doctrine of the Eucharist

Front 52

Allegory

Back 52

a literary of dramatic technique that uses actual characters, place and actions to represent more abstract ideas

Front 53

Interludes

Back 53

a short, usually comic play, performed during courtly feasts in 16th century

Front 54

Pageant wagons

Back 54

wagons carrying the sets for productions of medieval cycle plays, on which the plays were performed

Front 55

Pantomime

Back 55

roman empire, mythological characters communicated through gestures
Vulgarized tragedy

Front 56

Pantalone

Back 56

vecchi character, old VENETIAN man. Business man who often became a fool in romantic matters. Pants were named for him. Black half mask with mustache

Front 57

Capitano

Back 57

Non Italian military man. Not a category. Always exposed as a fraud by end of play. Often in love with female innamorati. Father's favorite, loathed by innamorati. Often Castillian. Working class anti-hero. Black mask, long nose

Front 58

Arlecchino (Harlequin)-

Back 58

Zanni. Somewhat of a fool. Checkered shirt with red pants. Agile and comedic, often in love with columbina. Basic needs, food, shelter etc.. Use of the slapstick. Black face. From lower Bergamo

Front 59

Pulcinella

Back 59

no gender or race. Usually a Zanni, interchangeable though. Can be murderer. Black half mask with chicken like nose. Dressed all in white. Dreamy, melancholic (MT, Mikey recess)

Front 60

Dottore

Back 60

mustached mask. Doctor from Bologna. Other Vecchi. Dressed in long black coat with beret. Often talks about things he knows nothing about.

Front 61

Piro/Pierrot-

Back 61

zanni, no mask, white powedered face. French liked him. Companion to arlequino.

Front 62

Columbine

Back 62

female zanni, started off simple, then moved to more elegant dress. Sharp of wit, often with Arlequino. Confidante to Innamorati. NO MASK

Front 63

9. Tartaglia-

Back 63

 a minor character in the Commedia dell'arte. He is nearsighted and with a terrible stutter (hence his name; cf. Spanish tartamudear), he is usually classed as one of the group of old characters (vecchio) who appears in many scenarios as one of the lovers (innamorati). His social status varies; he is sometimes a bailiff, lawyer, notary or chemist. 

Front 64

Brighella

Back 64

rom upper Bergamo. Slapstick. Higher ranking Zanni. Steal threaten and manipulate to get what he wants. Violent and arrogant (MT- Reggie)

Front 65

Afterpiece

Back 65

short farce after main show

Front 66

Lazzi

Back 66

comic business- resorted to when mood was down or actors were worn out

Front 67

Carlo Goldoni

Back 67

prolific Venetian dramatist, a major reformer of Italian comic drama, he advocated a return to scripted comedies: “I proposed to reform the masks of the Italian comedy and to replace farces by comedies” (qtd. Duchartres 48); left numerous letters, memoirs and play prefaces from which we have gathered important information about the commedia. In charge of the Italian Theatre at the Royal Court in Paris (1761-89). Lost his income at the onset of the French Revolution; died in poverty.

Front 68

Intermezzi

Back 68

comic, spectacular interludes presented between the acts of scripted plays, usually involving buffoons. Different actors

Front 69

Afterpiece

Back 69

short play (patomime/farce) that followed the theatrical banquet common in England in 1880-90s