Topic
Influence of Play Topic
Ancient Grecian Theater
- Driven by giving thanks to the Gods
- Used as “prayer”
- Warnings to the audience of what will happen to you
Use of Set and Props
- No set, few props
Chorus
- Chanting, singing, dancing
-Multiple functions: restated plot, asked audience
questions
- Used masks for exaggerated facial expressions
-Used masks to protect the actors’ identities
-Few actors played multiple roles
-Needed to be talented in projection of voice
Actors
Influential Playwrights
Theater Experience
Theaters
Literary Techniques
- Socrates
-Euripides
- Celebration, only lasting 3 days of the year
- Eat food
-Contest for the best play
-Entrance fee if you could pay; free if you couldn’t afford it
-Amphitheatre style
-Hard, stone benches
-Stadium style seating
Elizabethan Theater
- The Renaissance!
- Focused on political topics
- Needed to be careful not to insult the monarch
- Some plays were just for entertainment/ escapism
- Minimal set, few props
- Used language to describe the setting
- Usually 1 person
- Function: introduce the plot, give background
information, ask the audience to listen
-Acting was a lowly profession
-Men played all roles; considered prostitution if
women were actors
-Larger casts
- Often lived a “vagabond” lifestyle
-Shakespeare
-Theaters open majority of the year
- Tickets cost money based on seat
-Open to all classes, but sat in different sections
-Lower classes stood on the ground floor
-Upper classes in the “box seats”
- Made of wood and dirt
- Not extremely comfortable (the more people
packed in the more money they make!)
-Different style of stages (proscenium style stage or
thrust style stage)
-Stage was angled so the standing audience could
see the back of the stage