Transcript History of Theatrical Arts

History of Theatrical Arts
Part 1: Roots of Theater
Greek and Roman Theater
• 600 B.C. through 700 A.D.
• Dithyramb-
▫ hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus
▫ Chorus of 50 men
▫ Related episodes from the god’s life.
• Golden Age of Grecian and Roman Drama
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Invented Western drama
500-400 B.C.
Myths and heroic legends
Greek-Reflected contemporary issues and helped people
confront current political or religious problems
▫ Roman-Based on Greek forms, but used more for
entertainment
Greek and Roman Theater (cont.)
• Golden Age of Grecian Drama (cont.)
▫ Famous playwrights
 Tragedy: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
 Comedy: Aristophanes, [Plautus, and Terence]Roman
▫ Staging
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Large choruses telling the story
Masks-exaggerating facial expressions
Amphitheaters
Etc.
Greek and Roman Theater
Greek and Roman Theater (cont.)
• End of Classical Western Theater
▫ During Byzantine Era, Church firmly opposed the
theater
▫ Church council passed resolution to forbid
theatrical performances in 692 A.D.
Medieval Theater
• Origin
▫ Grew out of religious ritual
▫ 925 A.D., singing of hymns telling Easter story
▫ Dramatic dialogue delivered by priests
impersonating an angel and the three women
visiting Christ’s tomb
▫ Source of the Mystery Play
Types of Medieval Drama
• Mystery Plays
▫ Depicts stories from the Bible
• Miracle Plays (Saint Plays)
▫ Depicts stories about the lives of saints and
martyrs
• Morality Plays
▫ Depicts moral struggle of the soul
▫ All usually had a narrator
Medieval Theater
English (Elizabethan) Drama
• Origins
▫ 1500’s Queen Elizabeth I bans all religious plays
▫ Secularization of theater
• Shakespeare
▫ Greatest playwright in the English language
▫ Also actor-manager of professional company
▫ Wrote 38 plays in different genres: comedy, tragedy,
and history
▫ Incorporated long verses of poetry
▫ No narrator in most cases, relied on purely acting to
tell and express the story.
Globe Theater
• Built in 1599 by Lord
Chamberlin’s Men, the troupe
Shakespeare belonged to
• Accidently burnt in 1613
during cannon mishap in
Henry VIII
• Rebuilt in 1614
• Closed by Puritans 1643
• Demolished in 1644
French Neoclassical Theater
• Origins
▫ Based on theories of Aristotle and Horace
▫ Most popular during the mid-1600’s
▫ The French Academy evaluated plays entirely on how
closely they adhered to neoclassical principles
• Moliere
▫ French playwright who incorporated neoclassical rules
in his comedies
▫ Controversial writer of his times
▫ Church forced him to rewrite Tartuffe twice (most
famous play studying religious hypocrisy)
Genres of the 1700’s and 1800’s
• Ballad Opera
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Early 1700’s
Burlesque form of Italian opera in England
Combined spoken dialogue and songs set to popular tunes
John Gay-Beggar’s Opera
First sign of crossover between opera and musical theater
• Sentimental Comedy
▫ Emphasis on virtue triumphant, not laughter
• Laughing Comedy
▫ More realistic and humorous
• Melodrama
▫ More realistic and more humorous than sentimental
▫ Swiftly paced, witty dialogue
Genres of the 1700’s and 1800’s
• German Romantic Drama
▫ Romantic movement called Sturn und Drang
(Storm and Stress)
▫ Idolized Shakespeare
▫ Dismissed neoclassical dramatic unities
▫ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe-Faust
Influences on American Acting
• Meiningen Troupe
▫ Duke of Saxe-Meiningen from Germany
▫ Late 1800’s made his court theater most highly
respected touring company of the period
▫ Influenced innovators such as Stanislavski and
Antoine
▫ Long rehearsals, technical advances in stagecraft,
actor preparation
Influences on American Acting
• Moscow Art Theater
▫ Founded by Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir
Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1898
▫ “Artistic Truth” rather than external effect
▫ Influenced by movements in naturalism and
realism
▫ Stanislavski method brought to US where it is the
American “Method” style of acting
Stanislavski 1863-1938
• Born Constantin Sergeivich Alexeiev
• Stanislavski was a stage name to hide activities from
parents
• Believed in “living the part”
• emphased the actor's use of imagination and belief
in the given circumstances of the text rather than
her/his private and often painful memories.
• Opened studios in Russia, classes available in US
• An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, Creating
a Role
Stanislavski
Theater in America
• Origins
▫ First playhouse built in Williamsburg, VA in 1716
▫ 1752 English acting troupe headed by William
Hallam marked beginning of professional theater
in America
▫ Easier to produce than orchestras
Famous American Playwrights
• Tennessee Williams
▫ Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof
▫ Known for creating fully developed in characters
that challenged actors
• Arthur Miller
▫ Death of a Salesman
▫ Combined realism and symbolic expressionism
▫ Personal wealth vs. personal value
Famous American Playwrights
• Thorton Wilder
▫ The Skin of Our Teeth
▫ Applied contemporary theatricality to simple
parables on nature of life
• Lorraine Hansberry
▫ A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney
Brustein’s Window
▫ Female African American dramatist
▫ Created believable black characters rather than
comedic roles
Famous American Playwrights
• Neil Simon
▫ Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple
▫ Comedies
▫ Catered to entertaining audiences instead of
challenging art form
• August Wilson
▫ Portrayed African Americans realistically and
sensitively to “raise consciousness through theater”
▫ Seven plays set in different decades, form cycle
presenting African American life in the 20th Century