Lecture 5Outline of Last Lecture I. General Background on Asian Theater II. Classical Indian TheaterIII. Classical Chinese TheaterIV. Japanese Theater FormsOutline of Current Lecture I. General Context: Two Parts of Middle Agesa. Early Middle Ages (aka “Dark Ages”)b. High Middle AgesII. Liturgical DramaIII. Mystery PlaysIV. Morality PlaysV. Elements of ProductionVI. Popular Art FormsVII. Episodic FormCurrent LectureI. General Context: Two Parts of Middle Agesa. Early Middle Ages aka “Dark Ages” (500-1000)i. Source of stability was the Catholic churchii. Mostly agricultural lifestyleiii. Have feudalism as type of governmentiv. Not much organized theater; entertainment was fairly limitedv. Technological advances increased (created more productivity)b. High Middle Ages (1000-1500)i. Towns and cities began to regain importanceii. Increase in commerceiii. Knowledge spreads (more education)1. Becomes important to growth of theater2. Universities come about and spread3. 1450 = Gutenberg’s printing press4. Monasteries are funded by church and used for educationII. Liturgical Dramaa. Evolved out of liturgical musicb. Eventually there are short call and responses through singing THAR 281 1st Editioni. These are called tropes c. Tropes are spoken in Latini. They are first produced in monasteriesii. Then start to be performed in churches and cathedrals because of larger space iii. They eventually move from Latin to the language of the people iv. Eventually become religious vernacular drama v. Then, religious vernacular dramas moved to be performed outside because:1. Cost2. Space limitations3. Opposition of church officials that plays shouldn’t be performed at church III. Mystery Playsa. Also known as cycle plays because are done in cycles sometimesb. They are biblically basedc. Independent from churchd. Usually presented in Spring and Summer because of good weathere. Filled with anachronisms, an object or event outside of its proper historical context f. Spectacle is really importantg. There was an introduction to comedyh. Second Shepard’s Play i. One of most famous mystery playsii. Biblical story was the birth of Jesus iii. Anachronism of it is that they pray to Jesus when they haven’t even met himiv. Has a comedic side to itIV. Morality Playsa. Secular (did not mention Jesus or Bible explicitly)b. Presented similar to a mystery playc. Are about good vs. evil in most casesV. Elements of Moralitya. Vary throughout Europe because of diversity of landscapeb. In France, women are allowed on stagec. In England, women are NOT allowed on staged. Mostly produced with amateur actorse. Typecasting was a big deal i. Ex: honest, scrawny guy casted as Abelii. Ex: big, strong guy casted as Cainf. Had to be loud because no microphones and because of the audienceg. Secrets = what they called special effectsh. Pageant Masters = kind of like directors; made sure everything was in order and calm; also announced what was yet to come during the play (like when an angel entered stage)VI. Popular Art Formsa. Pantomimes, jesters, mistrals, juggling, and interludei. Interlude = short play that would exist between the corsets of a banquet b. Were other festivals where plays were performed that eventually became farce i. Farce = over the top comedy VII. Episodic Forma. Action is less focused than in climatic; side plots can occur or separate stories intertwineb. Stories switch from scene to scenec. Time and place change frequentlyd. There is a de-emphasis on realistic or literal showing of the
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