THEATRE ARTS 214
THEATRE IN WESTERN CULTURE
Don David
overhead notes
Questions
How does theatre differ from other art forms?
What did the Greeks mean when they called theatre a seeing place?
What is special about theatrical space?
Why are the actor and the audience the theatres two unchanging components?
How did Thespis create dialogue?
Why/how is theatre an immediate art?
How is theatre a collaborative art?
What kinds of audience feedback are we likely to experience in the theatre?
"THAT BODY OF ARTISTIC WORK IN WHICH
ACTORS IMPERSONATE CHARACTERS IN A LIVE
PERFORMANCE OF A SCRIPTED PLAY"
"THEATRE IS THE ART OF PEOPLE ACTING OUT AND GIVING WITNESS TO - THEIR MOST
PRESSING, MOST ILLUMINATING, AND MOST
INSPIRING CONCERNS"
WHAT IS THE THEATRE
WORK
ART
IMPERSONATION
PERFORMANCE
LIVE PERFORMANCE
SCRIPTED PLAY
WORK
acting
directing
designing
playwrighting
producing
stage managing
house managing
building
running
ART
"pure?" collaborative / creativity / an 'immediate art?'
an 'interpretive art?'
IMPERSONATION
involves actors impersonating characters,
illusion
mask
PERFORMANCE
direct - directly to the audience
indirect - staged as if no one were present
"willing suspension of disbelief"
theatrical convention
LIVE PERFORMANCE
versus film and TV
immediacy/happens now / live (mistakes)
audience feedback
"illusion of the first time"
SCRIPTED PLAY
record of the work
finished scripts are not original scripts, they are
working scripts
WHAT IS A PLAY
DURATION
Length
Acts, scenes
GENRE
TRAGEDY,
elevated character falls
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet
protagonist vs. antagonist
Oedipus Rex
COMEDY,
humorous, Tartuffe
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
involves serious human conflict
MELODRAMA
serious play with trivial theme
FARCE,
wildly humorous,
Noises Off, A Flea In Her Ear
MUSICAL,
Chicago
Sweeney Todd
Structure
Aristotle and "The Poetics" (325 B.C.)
COMPONENTS
Plot
mechanics of storytelling
Character
the people
Theme
statement, message, what it's about
Diction
the text, dialogue, rhyme, verse
Music
mainly the past
Spectacle
visual aspects of production
Convention
with the audience
ORDER OF PLAY
Gathering of the audience
Transition
Exposition
what's going on, reveal the story
Conflict
in life, action, events
Climax
heightening of conflict
Denouement
resolution
Curtain call
Criticism
Theatre Organization
 Producer
 Artistic Director
 Director
 Music Director
 Choreographer
 Stage Manager
 Actors
 Set Designer
 Costume Designer
 Light Designer
 Sound Designer
 Production Manager
 Technical Director
 Scenic Artist
 Properties Master
 House Manager
 Usher
The Theatre Process
 CHOOSE THE PLAY
 ADVERTISE/SELL TICKETS
 PRODUCTION CONCEPT
 DESIGN
 CAST THE SHOW / REHEARSE
 BUILD THE SHOW
 LOAD-IN
 TECHNICAL REHEARSAL
 DRESS REHEARSAL

PREVIEW
Professional Theatre
AEA
Actors’ Equity Association
USA
United Scenic Artists
IATSE
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
Commercial Theatre
Broadway
37 theatres
capacity of at least 300
$5-10m for musical
$1-2m for non-musical
limited partnership agreement
tours
Miss Saigon, $10m, 30 weeks to recoup
Les Miserables, $4m, 24 weeks to recoup
Off Broadway
less stringent terms and regulations
299 seats or less
$350K for musical
$ 325K for non-musical
Not-for-Profit Theatre
- funding from ticket sales and subsidies
LORT, League of Resident Theatres
avg. cost $300K
U/RTA, University/Resident Theatre Association
Off-off Broadway
miniscule production budgets
less than 100 seats
primarily showcase for new talent
The Actor
"the great reward"
THESPIS
HYPOKRITES
WHAT IS ACTING ?
MIMESIS : IMITATION
EMBODIMENT : BECOMING
VIRTUOSITY
MAGIC
BECOMING AN ACTOR
THE ACTORS INSTRUMENT
THE ACTOR’S APPROACH
EXTERNAL - technique, ability, physicality
INTERNAL - Stanislovsky,
Moscow Art Theatre (1898)
"You must live the life of your
character onstage"
“emotional recall”
Lee Strasburg,
The Actors Studio
"The Method"
THE ACTORS ROUTINE
THE DESIGN PROCESS
"Designer's collaborate with the director to focus the audience's
attention...Designer's shape and fill the stage space. They create the
actor's environment and make the play's world visible to us."
Read the play, again, again
Discuss with the Director - Concept
Thumbnail sketches
Discuss with Director and other designers
Research
Sketches and drawings
Approval of ideas and/or design form Director
Design the show
Present design to Director and shops
Revisions - if necessary
SET DESIGN
THUMBNAIL SKETCHES
GROUNDPLAN AND SECTION
DESIGNER'S ELEVATIONS
WHITE MODEL
COLOR OR PRESENTATION MODEL
COLOR ELEVATIONS
COSTUME DESIGN
COSTUME RENDERING
FABRIC SWATCH
PRODUCTION NOTEBOOK
FITTINGS
MUSLIN MOCK-UP
LIGHT DESIGN
LIGHT PLOT
HOOK-UP AND INSTRUMENT SCHEDULE
LIGHT CUE
COLOR, VISIBILITY, FOCUS
THE DIRECTOR
TEACHER DIRECTORS
REALISTIC DIRECTORS
STYLIZING DIRECTORS
"THE DIVERSE ELEMENTS OF SCRIPT, PERFORMANCE,
COSTUMES, SCENERY, LIGHTING, AND POINT OF VIEW ARE
BROUGHT TOGETHER INTO AN ORGANIC WHOLE BY THE
DIRECTOR."
DIRECTORIAL FUNCTIONS
PREPARATORY PHASE
PLAY SELECTION
CONCEPT,
script interpretation
spine
central image or metaphor
DESIGNER SELECTION
DESIGNING
CASTING
IMPLEMENTATION PHASE
STAGING,
the stage picture
ACTOR COACHING
PACING
COORDINATING
PRESENTING
THEATRE HISTORY
GREEK THEATRE
534 BC - approx. 100 BC
SOPHOCLES OEDIPUS THE KING
WORE MASKS
CITY OF DIONYSUS FESTIVAL
THEATRE OF DIONYSUS
5th c. BC, ON SLOPE OF ACROPOLIS
ORCHESTRA, "dancing place"
THEATRON, "seeing place"
SKENE, "stage house"
PRESENTATION WAS FORMAL, NOT REALISTIC
CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH RELIGION
PERFORMED ONLY ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS
A COMPETITIVE VENTURE
UNITIES OF TIME, PLACE, ACTION
CHORAL, TRAGEDY HAD 15 PERFORMERS
COMEDY HAD 24 PERFORMERS
ROMAN THEATRE
240 BC - AD 476
COPIED GREEK DRAMA, PLAYS, PLOTS, STYLE
ELABORATED ON THEATRES AND STAGING
ROMAN THEATRICAL FESTIVALS (LUDI)
MIME
MEDIEVAL THEATRE
AD 975 - mid 16th C.
AD 975, QUEM QUAERITIS
CYCLE PLAYS, Creation through Doomsday
CORPUS CHRISTI FESTIVAL, throughout Europe by 1350
MANSION, fixed stage
PAGEANT WAGON, similar to a float
LITURGICAL DRAMA
BEGAN IN CHURCHES AND THEN GRADUALLY MOVED
OUTDOORS
WAS PERFORMED DURING SPRING & SUMMER ON
HOLIDAYS
USED SIMULTANEOUS SETTINGS
HAD COMPLICATED PLAYS, NUMEROUS CHARACTERS
HAD MANY LINES OF ACTION
RENAISSANCE
1300 – mid 16th century
Affected by change in the arts – a rediscovery of Greek and
Roman art and literature. A rise of kings and princes who became
patrons of the arts.
ITALIAN THEATRE
Opera – a believed re-creation of the Greek tragic style
Commedia dell’Arte (comedy of professional artists)
Thrived 1550-1750
Stock characters
Lazzi
Neo classical ideals -
kept to the three unities
purity of the tragic and comedic genre
Teatro Olimpico -
forced perspective
Serlio -
the proscenium arch
Wing and drop staging
Raked stage
ELIZABETHAN THEATRE
1558, Elizabeth I banned all liturgical drama
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine
Dramatic verse – iambic pentameter
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men
A commercial venture
Used medieval stage practices
No women allowed onstage
Swan Theatre
The Globe Theatre, first built in 1599
a public theatre
thrust stage
multilevel façade
galleries
pit or yard
FRENCH THEATRE
Greatly influenced by the Italian Renaissance
Sought to copy the Greeks and Romans
Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin 1622-1673)
Tartuffe
Hotel de Bourgogne, 1548
Palais Royal, 1641 – a proscenium arch theatre
RESTORATION DRAMA
England, 1660-1700
Commedies of Manners
Women performers
Rise of theatrical entrepreneurs
Proscenium arch theatres
18th CENTURY THEATRE
A time of transition, the Age of Enlightenment. The American and
French revolutions. An emergence of new dramatic forms.
Complicated scenery, costumes, lighting
Introduction of the box set
Emergence of the modern director
19th CENTURY THEATRE
A time of social change, the Industrial Revolution.
Charles Darwin and Karl Marx
Romanticism, and interest in nature, art served an exalted
purpose. A belief in human equality. Truth must be sought out, but
attainment is unlikely.
Melodrama
Realism
Ibsen, Chekhov
Stage areas increased, more complex designs and technology.
MACBETH
WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST ?
WHO IS THE ANTAGONIST ?
WHERE IS THE CLIMAX ?
WHAT ACTION FOLLOWS THE CLIMAX ?
WHAT IS THE THEME ?
IF MACBETH IS A TRAGEDY, HOW IS MACBETH A TRAGIC
CHARACTER ?
WHAT CONFLICTS ARE CRUCIAL TO MACBETH ?
DOES THIS PLAY HAVE ANY RELEVENCE TO A MODERN
AUDIENCE ?
WHAT IS :
AN ASIDE
A SOLILOQUY
BLANK VERSE
Macbeth
pg 1
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair
Hover through the fog and filthy air."
pg 9
"This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
commencing in a truth?..."
pg 13
"The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies."
pg 14
"Yet do I fear thy nature.
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way."
pg 15
"Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty!"
pg 27
"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?"
pg 60-61 "Beware the Thane of Fife."
"...none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth."
"Macbeth shall never vanquished be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him."
pg 78
"Out, damned spot! out, I say!"
pg 86
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;..."
pg 90
"Of all men else I have avoided thee.
But get thee back! My soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already."
A Streetcar Named Desire
BLANCHE
find protection, image of herself cannot be accomplished
in reality - it is her effort to do it in fantasy.
STANLEY
keep things his way, he's got it all figured out.
STELLA
hold onto Stanley, he has made a woman out of her.
MITCH
mama's boy, wants the protection his mother gives him.
WATER
ALCOHOL
LIGHT
NAPOLEONIC CODE
ELYSIAN FIELDS "the abode of the good after death"
A Streetcar Named Desire
pg 15
"They told me to take a streetcar named Desire..."
pg 72
"In this dark march toward whatever it is we're approaching...
Don't - don't hang back with the brutes!"
pg 118
"Flaming! No! Tarantula was the name of it! I stayed at a hotel
called the Tarantula Arms!"
pg 142"Whoever you are - I have always depended on the kindness of
strangers."
Cyrano de Bergerac
Edmond Rostand 1868-1918
Primarily a poet- Cyrano was his primary success
Cyrano written in 1898
a romantic play
a virtuoso play
a historical play
Literary importance
Romantic Style
Historical References
Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, 1619-1655
Roxane (Madeleine Robin)
Comte de Guiche
Le Bret
Jacob Montfleury
Constant Coquelin - 500 consecutive performance
Hotel de Bourgogne
Siege of Arras
Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac
Christian de Neuvillette
Roxane, described as a precieuse
Comte de Guiche
Le Bret
Ragueneau
Ligniere
Valvert
Montfleury
ACT I: HOTEL DE BOURGOGNE
ACT II: PASTRY SHOP OF RAGUENAEU
ACT III: THE HOUSE OF ROXANE
ACT IV: THE SIEGE OF ARRAS
ACT V: CONVENT OF THE LADIES OF THE CROSS
THE CRITIQUE
WHO IS YOUR INTENDED AUDIENCE.
CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC, POINT OF VIEW.
NO CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS, NO BOOK REPORT.
BE INFORMED, ORDERLY, DEFENSIBLE.
READ EACH SENTENCE OUT LOUD.
REWRITE
USE PARAGRAPHS; NOT JUST ONE, NOT JUST ONE PER SENTENCE.
USE TOPIC SENTENCES.
DON'T BREAK INTO CATEGORIES WITH TITLES.
DON'T RAMBLE.
CHECK SPELLING.
READING THE PLAY
"Reading the play means making the effort - and knowing how to make
the effort - to understand the play as it will appear in the theatre."
It is not the same as reading a novel or story - they are complete in
themselves.
Think in terms of Aristotles breakdown; plot, character, etc...
FIRST READING
What happens in the play?
What makes things happen?
relative importance of the characters.
What key words, images, ideas run through the play?
GOALS
Understanding the first reading.
Analyzing the play and its parts.
Organizing a response (for you) to the play.
QUESTIONS
What kind of theatre?
What is the historical period of the play? Can the reader carry
this into the reading?
What is the opening mood?
How do the characters get on/off stage?
The setting - inside or outside? Doors? How do characters enter?
HINTS
Title, The Taming of the Shrew, Streetcar Named Desire.
Cast of characters.
Opening stage directions.
How do you perceive the dominate characters?
- through stage directions.
- through what the characters say.
- through what the characters say about themselves.
- through what the characters do.
Ideas are found in the language - before and after crises.