Rebecca Shnitkin THET110 Final Review Sheet October 15 2012 What are the difficulties in studying theater history We are focusing on Western Theater We make large generalizations about time and geographies Theater is ephemeral There is limited extant in existence material Sources of information about Greek Theater Extant texts Archeological remains Visual art in Greece primarily statues and vase paintings Commentaries such as Aristotle Shakespeare s The Globe Theater De witt Van Buchell drawing of The Swan Theater 1596 Origins of Western Theater Ritual Theories o Origins of Tragedy Dithyramb o Choral odes to honor Dionysus o Origin of comedy Phallic processions Gerald Else s Great Man Theory Ancient Greece Political structure o Democratic o City states Polis Example Athens artistic center Sparta military center Delphi magic center Religion o Polytheistic o Gods interacted with humans Cultural Values o Competition o Wisdom and reason o Actor Thespis stepped out of dithyramb chorus to enact role of god thespians o Playwright Aeschylus introduced second actor Dionysus and Theater God wine fertility revelry Theater Practice in Ancient Greece Occasional and competitive o Tragedy means goat song Festivals o 534 BC first festival specifically devoted to theater o After each year three major festivals Largest festival was City Dionysia o Five days o Day 1 processional o Days 2 4 playwrights presented a package 3 tragedies and 1 satyr play o Day 5 comedy Audience whole polis unsure about women slaves Theater as a Civic Duty Choregus o Houses feeds and trains chorus actors Theoric fund o Free tickets for poor Athenians Three Types of Plays Tragedy Comedy Satyr play from 4 playwrights There were thousands of plays written but only 32 tragedies and 12 comedies survive Based on Oedipus what are the qualities of tragedy Part of a trilogy Based on historical or mythic stories Hero has a flaw hamartia that leads to his her downfall Teaches the audience a lesson and allows them to release their emotions catharsis Feature kings queen gods Comedy Everyday people The main character faces a difficult situation and has happy idea Humor comes from sex jokes scatological potty jokes and satires of famous people Satyr Play Parodies mythical stories Features the satyr part man part goat Only 1 extant satyr play Cyclops Thespis First actor Euripides wrote 90 plays medea 1st prize five times Aeschylus earliest play existing introduced 2nd actor Sophocles introduces 3 actors never have more than 3 on the stage Greek Theater Practice October 17 2012 Actors All men Maximum of 3 actors Exempt from military The Chorus What was the role of the chorus o Between 14 50 men o Characters o Source of discussion with protagonist o Ideal spectator o Spectacle o Dancing strophe and antistrophe Characteristics of the Physical Theater Theatron seeing place Up to 15 000 seats Orchestra dancing place Skene building at the back Fa ade stage Special Effects The Ekkyklema Revolving or rolling platform hidden behind skene doors o Robes and accessories to show character Costumes Tragedy Comedy Satyr o Padded body suits o Phallus Chorus o All costumed alike o May be human or mythical animal Masks and Shoes Masks o Actors could play multiple characters o Had emblems to communicate gender race job o Later developed built in megaphone Theater in Rome Adapted from Greek drama Actors all male and masks Comedy more popular than tragedy o Different style of comedy than in Greece more like a sitcom Performed at festivals called Ludi with other entertainment Paratheatricals at the Ludi Bread and Circuses 200 BC 11 days of performance 27 BC 43 days of festival By the end of Roman Empire there were 100 days of Ludi Slaves were trained to fight to the death Mimes Men and women unmasked Gladiator combats Bestirarii Beast fights Naumachia Naval battles they would flood the coliseum The Medieval Period Roman Emperor Constantine moved the Roman Capital to Constantinople Approximately 500 years without theater Fall of Rome Middle Ages or Medieval Period Power of church After 10 AD October 22 2012 The Medieval Period Quem Quaeritis Medieval Theater Hell s mouth they would make hell appear really bad Make heaven appear really good Primarily church ideals Pageant wagon Hroswitha of Gandersheim German Nun Modeled plays on Roman comedy Christian themes especially the virtue of chastity The Renaissance of Rebirth 14c 17c Rebirth from middle ages Return to classics of Greece and Rome Humanism free will Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation and Henry VIII and Anglican Church Trade and exploration Gutenberg and Printing Press o Bibles printed in vernacular Elizabethan England 1558 1603 1588 English defeated the Spanish Armada Religious stability she secured Anglican power Patron of the arts Elizabeth Staging Practice Public theaters Private theaters indoors more expensive Locations of the Theaters In London in the theater district across the Thames River Characteristics of the Theater Polygon many sided Partial roof Many level auditorium held approximately 2 500 Yard groundings standing lower class Characteristics of the Stage Raised thrust stage Traps system comes up from the floor Backed by a tiring house fa ade stage similar to the skene house Heavens Discovery space Bare stage During the day Scenery Elsinore platform before the castle For Profit Theater Sharing companies Commercial theater Acting All male casts Declamatory style Contemporary costumes Limited rehearsal time Sides William Shakespeare Born in Stratford on the Avon Son of merchant Wrote 38 plays History plays to praise house of reigning monarch Tragedies o Hamlet o Othello o King Leon Comedies o Midsummer o Much To Do About Nothing Other Playwrights Christopher Marlowe Ben Johnson The Cult of Shakespeare Over 350 Shakespeare films exist of his works Around 75 20 are of Hamlet Transition to Romanticism and Realism England o 1642 Charles I beheaded by Puritans who establish commonwealth o 1669 The Restoration Charles II returns to England from France and brings with They shut down theater him women on stage o Neoclassicism In France New Classics return of the ideal forms of theater modeled after Greek and Roman theater Rigid and rule based Unites time place and action Purity of genre tragedy was about nobility and comedy about lower classes Decorum people need to behave in appropriate ways for their social class Romanticism Roughly 1750 1850 Context Rousseau 1712 1778 o Nature over
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