THET110 Final Exam Review Rewrite of Notes Greek Theatre It is difficult to study theatre history because we must make large generalizations about time periods ands geographies We have to do this because theater is ephemeral and there is limited extant Sources of information about Greek Theatre come from extant texts archeological remains primary sources visual art statues and vases and government records Greek s main loyalty was to their polis city states where the people of each polis spoke Greek and all worshiped the same set of gods Greece is very mountainous with limited travel other than by boat on the material coastline They were 167 theatres around Greece They were centered in Athens were a civic event and were costly The Origins of theatre are Dionysia Dithyrambs and Thespis Dionysia G d of fertility wine festival celebrated Dionysus and occurred every march in Athens Dithyrambs were hymns in praise of Dionysia and included a chorus of 50 men and boys with dancing and singing Thespis was the first actor Behind the Scenes city Dionysia included archons choregos theatrones theoric fund playwrights and Greek actors An archon was a government official that selected plays sponsors and judges Choregos were men who were paid to house feed and train the chorus and actors as civic duty Theatrones were building managers Theoric fund consisted of free tickets for poor Athenians Playwrights were upper class men who were well educated and not making Greek Actors were men who were always amateurs exempt from the military money and became teachers Three types of Greek plays were comedy tragedy and satyr plays Comedies were about everyday people and had happy ideas Lysistrata all are full and tell that women stop having sex with husbands until peace treaty is signed They of sex and jokes scatological potty jokes and political comedy In comedies the costumes were stuffed body parts there was a chorus of humans and animals and masks that let actors play multiple roles us things about the characters Aristophanes is the only extant comedic playwright Tragedies consisted of mythic kings queens and warriors and involved a hero with a character flaw A trilogy is composed of 3 tragedies only 1 extant were meant to go together and a tetralogy is 3 tragedies and a satyr play The main characters in tragedies wore very decorative and elaborate outfits such as robes The chorus all dressed alike with good shoes to satyr dance in And there were masks that were different skin colors and hairstyles to distinguish age class and status Satyr Plays were always performed after tragedies and there is only one extant Cyclops A satyr is part man and part goat that attends Dionysus The interacts with heroes in mythical stories Writers of tragedies and satyr plays were Aeschylus Sophicles and Euripides Aeschylus added the 2nd actor and shrank the chorus he focused on fate Sophicles added the 3rd actor and focused on hubris Euripides wrote disillusioned and violent plots The physical Greek Theatre consisted of the theatron audience orchestra stage skene place to change and parodos entryways Thorikos is the oldest surviving theater space Special effects in Greek theatre included ekkyklema hidden platform and mechane crane Aristotle and the Poetics philosopher that attempted to analyze what makes an effective tragedy 6 elements of tragedy are plot complex or episodic character thought idea verbal language music and spectacle Theatre in Rome Performed at festivals called Ludi with other entertainments and was adapted from Greek drama The actors were all male and masked and consisted of much more comedy but in a different style than Greece Para theatricals entertained the masses and kept them out of trouble Consisted of mimes gladiator combats bestiarii beast fights and Naumachia flooded coliseum floor and naval ships battled The medieval period was approximately 500 years without theater and the power of the church was dominant Medieval theatre was full of very Christian views Renaissance was the rebirth of classical culture was a return to the classics of Greece and Rome trade and age of exploration idea of humanism or free will Elizabethan Theatre Queen Elizabeth was a patron of the arts and the leading playwrights of this time were Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare King James I wrote a book on witches was formerly king of Scotland and Shakespeare Theatre companies in this time were invested in by shareholders and were compromised wrote Macbeth for him of men and boys boys played girls Lord Chamberlain s men Richard Burbage touring Actors wore clothing of their own time and spent a lot of money The stage had no scenery no scene changes and doubling one man playing many parts Plays were performed at court at private playhouses indoor pricey candlelight and public playhouses outdoor bare stage daylight Audiences were poor and could not afford while the rich did not attend theater Other forms of entertainment were bear baiting dog fights bull baiting and cock fights Audiences ate and drank and were interactive with the actors Theatres consisted of the swan theater the globe and black friars The Swan Theater had three levels of seating a thrust stage a balcony and a tiring house The Globe was Shakespeare s theater and caught on fire during Henry the 8th Blackfriars was indoors and in the city and was built by Shakespeare s company Shakespeare was an actor shareholder and a playwright he was a householder of the globe and blackfriar and he wrote three types of plays historical dramas comedy and tragedy Othello was a play in London where Richard Burbage who played Othello performed in blackface then the first African American played the role the play then moved to American and in DC Othello was played by a white man while the rest of the cast was black Transition out of Elizabethan occurred when plays started to become more bloody and dark Neoclassicism Romanticism Realism and Naturalism operas Melodrama Romanticism Neoclassicism BORING is rigid and rule based unites time place and action had tragedy about nobility and there were 5 acts shifts in literature Hunchback of Notre Dame Les Miz Franenstein that went against law and had ugly characters that were virtuous was the opposite of neoclassicism and consisted of revolutions which led to Individual can have inspiration not rules or laws Richard Wagner directed operas at the Beyreuth Opera House and was a master artist that oversaw the entire production he
View Full Document
Unlocking...