Theatre History
Rituals to Renaissance
Rituals - 38,000-5000 BC
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Oldest form of expression – storytelling
Used masks, costumes, and visual art
Begins with primitive man as dance and rhythmic
movement
These rituals explained tradition, tribal history, religion,
why thing happen in nature
Rituals evolved into pantomime - stories shown not told
Gave youth of a culture a guide and plan for their own
lives
Rituals
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Rituals are related to 3 basic concerns:
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Power – influencing and controlling events
Pleasure – social events, entertainment
Duty – worship, god(s) related
Often times the acting/leadership role was
filled by elders and priests.
Acting space (theaters) developed as
more elaborate rituals were created.
Egypt - 4000 - 500 B.C.
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“Pyramid” plays - religious plays about the
deceased king’s soul being resurrected
Coronation Festival plays - celebration of the
new pharaoh
Passion plays - murder of a king; battle,
voyages, and a scary resurrection scene
“Ra” plays - Ra (sun god) fought Apophis
(snake god) of the underworld. Ra always won.
Potential Test Questions
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Rituals are a type of _______________.
Prehistoric tribes were able to
communicate ________ through rituals
How have the elements of rituals
influences modern theatre?
Performance Assessment for
Ritual
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Get into groups of 3-5 and pick up 1 rubric
Create a ‘ritual’ performance which includes the following
 A who, what, where, and conflict
 Explain the tribes tradition/history or natural
occurrence
 Use pantomime and gibberish and facial expressions
 Use rhythmic movement and appropriate music
This assignment will be performed the last 30 minutes of
class as is worth 15 points
Greeks 1200-500 B.C.
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Performances grew out of religious
festivals in honor of Greek God Dionysis
Festivals (5-6 days) were held once a year
in the THEATRON (“watching space”)
which is where we get our word THEATRE
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All citizens were expected to attend
Largest seated 1400 (1/2 population of Athens)
Theaters were semi-circles built of stone into the hillside
Greek Theatre (continued)
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Greek Theatre focused on TRAGEDY (issues of
death, the gods)
Actors all male/wore masks
 Chorus (12-50) acted out the
story/life of the Gods together
 First producer/director/actor was
THESPIS - “invented” acting when
he steps out of the chorus to
answer them --this created stage dialogue
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life,
Greek Theatre (continued) - Playwrights
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Aeschylus - (525?-456 B.C.) “Father of Tragedy”;
considered to be the first playwright
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Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)
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Idea of the play is the most important thing - not the
character
Adds a 2nd actor
Writes about right vs wrong, the idea that man can not solve
all the problems in the world
Focuses on character -- drives the plot
Euripides (480?-406 B.C.)
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First “Modern” playwright
Writes plays of characters in relation to society and mocks
them
Characters are realistic
No chorus
Roman Theatre - 6th century B.C.
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Borrowed from the Greeks and “improved”
on them
Less philosophical than the Greeks
Actors/performers were called “histriones”
Encompassed more than drama :
acrobatics, gladiators, jugglers, athletics,
chariots races, naumachia (sea battles),
boxing, venationes (animal fights)
Roman Theatre (continued)
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Pantomime/Mime - solo dance, with music (lutes, pipes, cymbals)
and a chorus.
 Used masks, story-telling, mythology or historical stories, usually
serious but sometimes comic
Spoken
Usually short
Sometimes elaborate casts and spectacle
Serious or comic (satiric)
No masks
Had women
Violence and sex depicted literally
Scoffed at Christianity
Needless to say, the Church did not
look kindly at Mime.
Roman Theatre (continued)
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Theaters are free-standing buildings with
stadium seating
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Large stages (20-40 deep and 100-300 feet long)
Could seat 10-15,000 people
Stage covered with a roof (often
Audience covered with a awning to
protect them from the sun
Trap doors common
Around 78 B.C. a cooling system
put in place --- air blown over
streams of water
Sand on the stage floor
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v
=JwtxtmJInww
Potential Test Questions
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Who was the 1st actor?
Greek festivals were held in the ________.
Roman festivals were held in the _______.
Greeks used _____ to express emotion.
Who is the chorus?
What are the elements of Tragedy
Performance for Greeks/Roman
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Get into groups of 5-6 and pick up 1 rubric
Create a performance that has the following:
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A who, what, where, and conflict
A character of high status who “falls” because of a
fatal flaw
A chorus and at least 2 characters
Dynamic choreographed motivated movement
This assignment is worth 15 points and will be
performed the last 30 minutes of class today
Medieval Theatre
(950-1550)
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Theatre is dead in Europe but active in Asia
Traveling Troupes performed on wagons which
opened to create a fixed stage - used props and
costumes but in Europe no women performers
3 Types of plays performed
Miracle Plays - enacted the lives of saints
 Mystery Plays - Bible stories sometimes also called
“passion plays”
 Morality Plays - taught moral lessons - right vs
wrong and the struggle between good and evil for
the soul of Man
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Potential Test Questions
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True/False – Woman were allowed to perform in
Medieval theatre.
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Everyman is a ___________ play.
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_____________ stories teach right from wrong.
Stories about the bible are ___________ plays.
How does Medieval Theatre reflect what is going
on historically during this time period?
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Performance Assessment
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Get into groups of 4-6.
Create a performance with the following
A who, what, where, and conflict
 A type of medieval play (Morality, Mystery, or
Miracle) with the proper elements
 Appropriate character choices
 Choreographed and motivated movement.
This will be performed the last 30 minutes of
class today. It is worth 20 points.
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Italian Renaissance
(1470-1550)
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Built indoor theaters
Church no longer “calling the shots”
Commedia Dell’Arte - 1st form of improvisation; still
traveling troupes that performed for $ from the crowd
that gathered; plot summary learned by actors
beforehand
Considered to be the 1st “professional” theatre
First in Europe to put Women on stage
English Renaissance
(1470-1550)
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Focused on the plays of Shakespeare, Marlowe,
and Jonson
Theatre saw an incredible burst of energy and
talent -- 1 in 8 people regularly went to the
theatre
Purpose to entertain the rich. They got the good
seats in the balcony and the poor stood below
Roles were played by men (including women
roles
First time costumes fit the character
Shakespeare April 24,1564-April 24,1616
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Noted to be the greatest playwright in
history, although authenticity is questioned
by many.
He was an poet, actor, playwright, and
producer
Wrote 38 plays: histories, comedies,
tragedies, and fantasies
Balanced plot and character
The Globe Theater
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Built in 1599 - considered “indoor”
Thrust Stage
3 Stories high
Audience Sits
around the stage
Little furniture
Burned down in
1613 during a
performance of
Henry 8th
The Globe today
The Globe Today
The Globe Today
French
Renaissance
(1550-1700)
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Best playwright - Jean-Baptiste Moliere (1622-1672) wrote
comedies that focued on social “rules”; also called “Comedy of
Manners”
French Theatre had several rules
 Unities - time, place, and action had to be 24 hours or less
 Purity of Form - no mixing of Comedy and Tragedy
 “Verisimilitude” - the appearance of truth with the following
categories - Reality (could happen in real life), Morality (teach
a lesson), Generality (normal attirbutes), and Decorum
(stereotypes)
Potential Test Questions
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The Lazzi in Commedia Dell’Arte is a
 Piece of food
 Type of character
 Comedic bit
 None of these
What elements of modern entertainment do we
see being borrowed from the Renaissance Era?
19th Century Theatre (1800-1900)
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Naturalism (1850-1922)
The relationship between character and
enviroment
 2 important “creators” - Anton Chekhov (Russian
playwright) and Konstantin Stanislavsky (19631938). Both men demanded natural reponses from
their actors. Psychological reactions of the
characters could be more important than the
situation itself.
 Stanislavsky created “The System” or “Method”
acting - actor uses an “emotional memory” to
create character/motivation.
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19th Century Theatre (1800-1900)
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Realism (1850-1950)
A style showing life as “it really is” reflects real life
 The FOURTH WALL is established as a result - the
idea that the actors can see through an invisible
wall into the lives of the characters.
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Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
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Playwright who saw theatre as a means to
challenge “mistakes” he saw in the society he lived
in. Most famous play A Doll’s House helped pave
the way for women to be seen as equals.