THET110 FINAL EXAM REVIEW Difficulties in studying thet history Focusing on Western theater Make generalizations about time and geography Limited surviving material Epochs in Pre Modern theater history in Mediterranean Europe 1 Greek theater 2 Roman theater 3 Medieval theater after fall of Rome 4 Renaissance theater Greece How do we know about it commentaries ex by Aristotle Origins o Surviving texts archaeological remains visual art in Greece ex statues o Origin of tragedy dithyramb choral odes to honor Dionysus god of wine and fertility Great man theory o Origin of comedy phallic processions sexual inappropriate o Actor thespis was a singer of dithyrambs but then he was the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character thespians Gerald Else also saw Aeschyulus as the other founding father of greek tragedy Ancient Greece o Political structure Democratic City states polis Athens artistic scene Sparta military Delphi magic o Religion Polytheistic many gods gods interacted with humans o Cultural values Competition Wisdom and reason Rhetoric and oratory o Theater Occasional and competitive Tragedy means goat songs Festivals First festival devoted to theater Tetralogy package of three plays 3 tragedies and 1 satyr o Satyr combo of tragedy and comedy used phallic props Audience whole polis Civic duty Theoric fund free tickets to festivals for poor Athenians Choregos wealthy Athenians who house feed train and cover all expenses not covered by the state for chorus actors Qualities of tragedy plays based on Oedipus Based on historical mythical stories Features kings queens gods Hamartia a hero s flaw that leads to his her downfall Catharsis allows them to release their emotions and cleanse Teaches the audience a lesson o 3 types of plays 1 Tragedy 2 Comedy 3 Satyr o TRAGEDY Playwrights Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides o COMEDY play Qualities of comedy plays based on Lysistrata a comedic Everyday people Main character has a difficult situation and a happy lead Humor comes from phallic sex jokes and satires of famous people Playwright Aristophanes o SATYRS Qualities of satyr plays Features the satyr part man part goat Written to accompany tragedies Parodied mythical stories ONLY surviving satyr play Cyclops Greek theater o All males o Maximum of three actors o Actors are exempt from the military The chorus o Between 12 50 male members o Sources of discussion with protagonist o Idea spectator o Spectacle Dancing Antistrophe o Sang Antistrophe west to east Strophe east to west Characteristics of Physical Theater o Theatron seeing place o Orchestra dancing place o Skene building at the back of play area like a Facade stage used by Romans o Parados entry ways o Thymele alter platform Special effects of the Physical Theater o Ekkyklema revolving rolling platform hidden behind skene doors o Mechan crane standing behind stage used for appearance of gods deus ex machine god from the machine Rome Roman theater o Improved theater to amman Greek was epidaurus SIMILARITIES between roman greek theater Both had arena style seating Both were outdoors Both use masks Both had male only performances Both had theaters in major cities DIFFERENCES of roman theater Had death on stage Built from the ground up advance in architecture o greek built their theaters from side of mountains made seats steeper to fit a larger audience had a back wall called scenae frans enclosed space on stage o greek was kept open o Vitruvius Roman architect who wrote De Architectura instructions on building theaters o Comic Playwrights Plautus widely popular and influential Plays about 2 twins finding each other in same town Terrence wrote 6 plays uses everyday language combined multiple greek sources into one play Seneca most famous plays adapted from greek originals famous for rhetoric and aphorisms short sayings plays were violent Roman entertainment o Chariot racing o Wild animal fights o Wrestling Fall of Rome o Barbarians attacked infrastructure o Empire was too big to control o Church was left to pick up the pieces Rise of Christendom o 1 Was illegal initially to be a Christian in Rome o 2 Christianity made legal o 3 Christianity made official religion of roman empire o 4 Decline of empire Medieval Theater Anti theatricalism belief that theater is wrong and bad o 1 Theater tells lies lies are against Christianity o 2 Theater is violent violence murder is against religion o 3 Theater promotes prostitution prostitution against religion o 4 Theater promotes gambling gambling against religion Church theater o Medieval church against theater o Church eventually starts to use performance o Mystery plays tell stories from the Bible lives about saints Part of festivals Inside churches Passion play major type of the mystery plays that show last part of Jesus life o Morality plays stories about virtue right way to live Allegorical symbolic everydayman main character sloth ex of a vice characteristics Renaissance begins in Italy greek and roman are rediscovered Renaissance rebirth mass produce ideas re learn greek latin as lingua franca universal language discovery old greek plays scenic design invented in renaissance o perspective scenery neoclassical unities o desire to follow Arisdotle s Rules Academics 1 Unity of action only tell one story 2 Unity of place only one setting 3 Unity of time only one day o People study how greek roman plays were produced o Fascinated by greeks romans o Built teatro olimpico as a scenae frans but showed a greek play in a Renaissance scenery wrong Who pays for theater o Greek and roman civically funded o Medieval church funded o Renaissance Academies wealthy renaissance men o Renaissance courts wealthy courts Commedia erudite Professional Theater o Commedia del l Arte theater of the professional first modern professional theater first professional actress started in Italy touring was important importance of music and dance influential throughout Europe o audience pays for theater o arte skill technique crafts Shakespeare His life o Born in Stratford England in 1564 o Poor family Theater in London o Develops from commedia del l arte o Develops from religious plays o Elizabeth I queen at the time patron of the arts allowed theaters to be established o the theater the first theater outside London o Lords Chamberlain s Men Shakespeare s theater Became the kings men under James I Located at The theater Theater Architecture o Know what it looks like because of contemporary drawings and
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