Theatre
Chapter 1:
The Essentials
Chapter 1: The Art of the Theatre
Theatre:
a performing art that requires an actor
performing some form of story or idea for
a live audience. It is also the modern
English term for a building or structure
where performances are held.
The Key Elements of Drama
According to Aristotle, a piece of theater
should contain most or all of the following
things: (in order of importance)
Plot: the story, what’s being told, what’s
going on.
Character: the people that hold your
interest.
The Key Elements of Drama
Diction: (speech)
Music: sets the mood or tone. This comes
from actor’s voice, sound effects (door
slamming, glass breaking)
Spectacle: the gimmick or thing that drives
us to go see something.
The Key Elements of Drama
Thought: The central theme around a play.
Can I sum this whole play up in one
sentence? That is what this is.
The Key Elements of Drama
Theatron: [TE-AT-RON] :
origin of the word Theater. Ancient Greek word
that means “seeing place”. This word defined
the area where the audience sat during the
performance.
Dran:
Ancient Greek verb meaning “to take action or to
do something”. It is from this word we get
drama.
DRAMA!
Drama:
A specific form of theater that tells a story.
Most plays are dramas.
What is the essence of drama? If someone
is dealing with drama in their life, they are
experiencing conflict.
The essence of drama is conflict.
Licensing Act of 1737:
An English law that gave the Lord
Chamberlain the authority to license plays.
Fr over 200 years, no play could be
performed on the English stage without
authorization. This is often cited as one of
the primary acts of theatrical censorship.
The Basic Elements of Theatre:
1) What is Performed
2) The Performance
3) The Audience.
The most basic definition of theatre is:
someone performing something for
someone else. A performs B for C.
What is performed?
What is the essence of theatrical
performance?
Possibilities:
The Staged performance of a text
Storytelling
Entertainment such as juggling or
improvisation.
The Audience
The Audience completes the cycle
of Creation/Communication.
It also provides immediate
feedback to the performers.
3 Way Theatrical
Interaction
Performs  Audience
Audience  Performers
Audience  Audience
Conventions?
Recognized social customs (shaking
hands). In theatre, conventions are
specific rules (no talking in the theatre,
cell phone policies, etc.) and customs
(ushers, flashing the lights before, dim
the lights before the show starts)
traditional to certain forms of theatre in
certain societies. (Also: programs,
getting autographs, etc.)
What makes theatre a
unique art form?
Theatre is often a collaborative art
form.
Theatre is live.
Theatre is ephemeral.
Say What?
Collaborative: multiple individuals
combine their talents/efforts to
achieve a goal.
Ephemeral: fleeting, short lived,
momentary. That which is
ephemeral can never truly be
repeated.
What makes theatre a unique art
form?
Good theatre holds a mirror up to life: We
get to see ourselves, or society, and out
world being acted out on stage.
What makes theatre a unique art
form?
Theatre is often a collaborative art form:
Theatre is live performance, and becomes
a part of the past immediately after it
occurs.
What makes theatre a unique art
form?
Theatre is ephemeral: Each performance is
unique and those moments in time can
never be repeated; just as in real life.