Greek Theater
 Dithyrambs
 Thespis
 Ritual festivals feature
competition of plays
 Tetralogy
 Singing and dancing chorus
 1 – 3 actors
 Use of masks to portray a
variety of characters
 Aristotle’s Poetics
Dramatic Genres
 Tragedy
 From the Greek word “tragos,” meaning goat song.
 Serious portrayal of human suffering, through
protagonist’s hamartia and decline.
 Concluded with catharsis
 Satyr Play
 Bawdy comedy that satirized accompanying trilogy.
 One complete satyr play survived: The Cyclops, by
Euripides
 Comedy
 Humorous handling of political issues, sexuality, and the
gods.
 Often included nudity, animalistic characters
 Performed separately from tetralogy
Greek Playwrights
 Aeschylus – Orestia, Prometheus Bound
 Sophocles – Oedipus Tyrannos, Antigone
 Euripides – The Trojan Women, The Cyclops, Medea
 Aristophanes – Lysistrata, The Birds
Greek Theatron
 Orchestra
 Thymele
 Skene
 Eisodoi (or parados)
 Ekklyklema
 Deus ex machina
Hellenistic Period
 Period spans the rule of Alexander the Great to the rise of
the Roman Empire.
 Greek culture extended into Europe and Asia, due to military
conquests.
 Drama included Greek tragedies and new comedy
 Chorus reduced in importance, and provided music and
dance, light entertainment.
 Playwright
 Menander - Dyskolos (The Grouch), Epitrepontes (Men at
Arbitration) Samia (Girl from Samos)
Roman Theater
 Adapted from Greek drama
 Mainly comedies, performed for ruling classes during festivals
and holidays
 Lacked religious and cultural meaning.
 Performed alongside circuses and gladiatorial competitions.
 Chorus was removed from performance.
 Persona
Roman Playwrights
 Plautus – The Menachmi Twins, Aulularia, Pseudolus
 Terence – The Eunuch, Andrian, The Brothers
 Seneca – Hercules, Octavia, Phaedra
Roman Auditorium
 Platae
 Frons scaenae
 Vomitorium
 Orchestra
Roman Theater, Orange, France
The Middle Ages
 Christian doctrine dominated
literature, culture
 Rise of feudal system, nobles and
peasants, and rural communities
 Tropes – Quem Queritis
 1210 AD, Pope removed drama
from the Mass
 Cycle Plays – The York Cycle
 Morality plays – Everyman
York Mystery Play, 2010
The Cycle Play
 First dramas written in English
 Playlets relating the stories of
the Bible
 Community guilds responsible
for production of each playlet
 Large scale productions lasted
several days (40+) with large
casts (300+)
 No notable authors
 Rolling procession
 Performed at high religious
events
 Written in verse to elevate status
of characters, subject matter
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The Renaissance
 Creative movement that
influenced all of Europe
 Emphasis on discovery, individual
potential, creativity, reasoning
 Rediscovery of Greek and Roman
ideas, including humanism: “man
is the measure of all things”
 Decline of feudal system,
religious dogma
England – Shakespearean Era
 1559 – Queen Elizabeth I bans religious cycle plays
 Drama written in verse, prose, and doggerel
 Included foreign locales, complex stories, historical
reference
 Travelling players
 Named after sponsor: Lord Admiral’s Men, Lord
Chamberlain’s Men
 Skilled actors, musicians, acrobats writers
 All male troupes; boy companies
 Public Theater
 Enclosed yard, with 3-story gallery for viewing
 Raised stage, backed by tiring house
 The Rose, The Globe
England – (con’t.)
 Playwrights
 William Shakespeare – Romeo &
Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest
 Christopher Marlowe –
Tamburlaine the Great, The Tragedy
of Dr. Faustus
 Ben Jonson – Volpone, The
Alchemist
 1642 – Puritans named actors and
drama “sinful,” banning all
theatrical performances. Ended
with the return of Charles II to the
throne in 1660.
The Globe Theater, London, England
Italy
 Renewed interest in Greek and Roman culture by elite
society
 Developments in architecture, painting, literature: Filippo
Brunelleschi, Leonard da Vinci, Petrarch
 Proscenium Arch
 Travelling troupes were skilled
actors, musicians, acrobats, female
performers
 Commedia dell’arte
 Stock characters
 Use of masks, costumes,
portable stages, slapstick
 Lazzi
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Spain – Spanish Golden Age
 Spanish Inquisition (1480)
 1400’s - Dramas were liturgical, religious in nature
 1500’s – secular pasos performed by travelling companies
 Women permitted to perform in productions
 Dramas included themes of personal honor, chivalry,
blended genres
 Corrales de comedia
 Playwrights
 Lope de Vega – Fuenteovejuna
 Pedro Calderon de la Barca – Life is a Dream
 Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote, stage adaptations
The Royal Theater
 Royalty became patrons of
theater, commissioning plays
and entertainment, establishing
aesthetic standards
 1600’s - Started in Spain, and
progressed to France, then
England.
 Performances became social
gatherings for elite society
France
 French Neoclassicism
 Established strict format for playwriting, limiting creativity
 Drama focused on social commentary, domestic issues;
lacked plot and action
 Tennis court performances
 Public theater - Parterre, proscenium arch, loges
 Playwrights
 Pierre Corneille – Le Cid, Medee
 Moliere, (aka Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) – Tartuffe, The
Imaginary Invalid, The Bourgeois Gentleman
 Jean Racine – Phaedra, Alexander the Great, Andromaque
England
 English Restoration (1660)
 Restoration Comedy – aka “Comedy of Manners”
 English Royal Patent of 1662 – allowed female actresses at
“legitimate” theaters
 The Drury Lane
 Covent Garden
 Raked stage, proscenium arch, bench seating in pit
 Playwrights
 William Wycherly – The Country Wife
 William Congreve – The Way of the World
 Aphra Behn – The Rover
 John Dryden – A World Well Lost
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Romanticism
 Developed in reaction to elitist styles of French Neoclassicism
and Restoration Comedy
 Began as sentimental comedy
 Appealed to the masses
 Focused on appeals to emotion rather than intellect
 Reflected the virtues of private life
 Featured action, exotic locales and exaggerated passion
 Evident in Opera and early musicals
 Playwrights
 Richard Steele – Conscious Lovers
 Joseph Addison – Cato
 George Aiken – Uncle Tom's Cabin, based on novel by Harriet
Beecher Stowe
 Alexandre Dumas – Camille, The Three Musketeers
 Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe – Faust
 Edmond Rostand – Cyrano De Bergerac
Realism – likeness to life
 Influenced all facets of theater: playwriting, direction,
acting, and design
 Examined social, psychological and political complexities of
life
 Complex characters and relationships
 David Garrick – Actor-Producer of the Drury Lane Theatre
 Fourth Wall
 Playwrights
 Henrik Ibsen – A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts
 George Bernard Shaw – Major Barbara, St. Joan
 Anton Chekhov – The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters
Naturalism – a slice of life
 Extreme form of realism where natural and social
environment override individual willpower
 Character development versus plot development
 Established in France by theorist, Emile Zola
 Playwrights
 August Strindberg – Miss Julie
 Arthur Schnitzler – La Ronde
Antirealism –
 Began in Paris, 1880, by artists who saw Realism as ordinary
and mundane
 Plays explore the human condition; characters are symbolic,
facing universal conflicts, and withstanding adversity
 No principles or formulas for aesthetics, but some with
similar characteristics
 Drama included verse, novelty, fantasy, superhuman
abilities, extravagance
The Age of “Isms”
 Symbolism
 Explored inner human reality not directly or literally perceived
 Symbolic characters represent philosophical ideals or warring
internal forces
 August Strindberg – A Dream Play (1902)
 French Avant Garde
 Abandoned conventions of Realism to create new theatrical
style
 Alfred Jarry – Ubu Roi (1896)
 Expressionism
 Attacked senses with bright lights and color, abrasive sound
effects, and aggressive pace
 Eugene O’Neill – The Hairy Ape (1921)
The Age of “Isms”
 Theater of Cruelty
 Explored the source of dreams, using cruelty, savagery,
criminality
 Employed language for its sounds rather than meaning
 Theater of Alienation
 Use of theater to influence public issues and motivate social
action
 Bertolt Brecht – The Good Person of Szechuan, The Caucasian
Chalk Circle
 Theater of the Absurd
 Themes based on the search for meaning or purpose in life
 Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot, Endgame
 Harold Pinter – The Birthday Party, The Homecoming
American Realism
 First major theatrical form in United States
 Confronted impact of social issues on normal people
 Enhanced by realistic acting style developed by theater
companies
 Popularized by American film industry
 Playwrights
 Eugene O’Neill – Beyond the Horizon, Mourning Becomes
Electra, Anna Christie
 Clifford Odets – Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing!
 Arthur Miller – Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons
 Tennessee Williams – The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named
Desire
 August Wilson – Fences, The Piano Lesson, Gem of the Ocean
Postmodernism
 1970’s – sexuality, profanity,
violence, used to shock audience
 1980’s – focused on diversity to
raise public consciousness,
global awareness
 21st Century – became a platform
to debate issues of terroism,
war, religious rights, and political
control
Theatrical styles
 Experimental theatre
 Dadaism
 Nonlinear theater
 David Auburn, Proof
 Harold Pinter, Betrayal
 Open Theater
 Joseph Chaikin, Open Theatre Company
 Diversity
 Feminist theatre ensembles
 Negro Ensemble Company
 Color blind, and cross gender casting
 Fusion theatre
 Macaroni theatre
 Exploration of sexual preferences – Tony Kushner, Angels in
America
Theatrical styles
 Spectacular Theatre
 Advances in lighting, sound and computer technology
 Apparent in cinema, performance art, musicals, music
concerts
 Verbatim Theatre
 Moises Kaufman – The Laramie Project (2002)
 My Name is Rachel Corrie (2005)
 Workers’ Theatre
 El Teatro Campesino, California (1965)
 Free Southern Theater, Mississippi (1963)
 Cornerstone Theater, California (1986)
 Movement art and dance theatre
 Solo performance
 William Luce – The Belle of Amherst (1976)
 Jay Presson Allen – Tru (1989)
Asian Theater
 Developed in isolation from
Western culture
 Emphasis on imagery and
symbolism, rather than realism
and literary merit
 Drama includes dance, song,
chant, mime, acrobatics,
puppetry
 Centered around folk history,
cultural myths, ancient religion
 Drama featured multiple authors,
improvisation, and adaptations
India
 Sanskrit Dance-Theater
 Documented in treatise Natyasatra, detailing play
structure, stage buildings, performance, etc.
 Died out in 10th century due to Mongol conquests and
fragmented culture
 Kathakali – “story play”
 Developed in 17th century
 Based on stories from the Mahabharata
China
 Shadow Plays
 Xiqu – “tuneful theater”
 Performers must be skilled in all: singing, speech, acting,
movement, acrobatics, martial arts
 Teahouse performances
 Included both humorous and serious elements
 Beijing Opera
 100 Words Festival
Japan
 No
 Ceremonial drama, retelling myths and supernatural
events
 Characters include shite, waki, and chorus
 Comic interlude called the kyogen
 Bunraku
 Developed in 6th century, using life-like puppetry
 All-male puppeteers, musicians, and chanters
 Three puppeteers per character, cloaked in black
 Kabuki
 Originated in 17th Century
 Multi-act play, utilizing stylized costumes, face paint,
scenery, movement
Notable Asian Playwrights
 Rabindrinath Tagore (1861 – 1941) - India
 Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for poetry
 Challenged classical sanskrit, and wrote poetic, political, and
personal works
 Ts’ao Yu (1910-1996) - China
 Influenced by Greek and Western drama, wrote “spoken theater”
 Kuan Han Ch’ing (1241 – 1320) - China
 wrote in zaju style, The Injustice of Dou E
 Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653 – 1725) – Japan
 Domestic dramas, usually ended with suicide of one or both lovers