Rituals to Renaissance

 Oldest form of expression - storytelling
 Begins with primitive man as dance and rhythmic movement
 These rituals explained tradition, religion, why thing happen in nature
 Rituals evolved into pantomime - stories shown not told


“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.

 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
 All citizens were expected to attend
 Largest seated 1400 (1/2 population of Athens)
 Theaters were semi-circles built of stone into the hillside

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Greek Theatre (continued)


Greek Theatre focused on TRAGEDY
(issues of life, 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
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.




Greek Theatre (continued) - Playwrights
Aeschylus - (525?456 B.C.) “Father of Tragedy”; considered to be the first playwright


Idea of the play is the most important thing - not the character
Adds a 2nd actor
Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)


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.)

First “Modern” playwright
 Writes plays of characters in relation to society and mocks them


Characters are realistic
No chorus


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)


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
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
look kindly at Mime.








 Theaters are free-standing buildings with stadium seating
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
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
Sand on the stage floor

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.




Roman Playwrights
Titus Maccius Plautus (254-184 B.C.)




130+ plays total
Wrote comedy
Extremely popular in his own time
Lots of slapstick and dialog with short lines
Publius Terenius Afer (Terence) (195 or 185 to 159 B.C.)




Came to Rome as a boy slace, educated and freed
6 plays (all “survived”)
More complex stories --- all from Greek originals
Less popular than Plautus
Lucius Annaeus seneca (4 or 5 B.C. to 65 A.D.)



Wrote 9 plays - 5 adapted from Euripides
Popularity declined and committed suicide in 65 A.D.
Characters in plays dominated by a single passion
 Violence and horror onstage (unlike Greeks)

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.



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

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.





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

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF ( Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see thi s pi ctur e.
English Renaissance
(1470-1550)





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

April 24,1564-April 24,1616
 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

 Built in 1599 considered “indoor”
 Thrust Stage
 3 Stories high


Audience Sits around the stage QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.
Little furniture
 Burned down in
1613 during a performance of
Henry 8th

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

QuickTi me™ and a
TIFF ( Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see thi s pi ctur e.
French
Renaissance
(1550-1700)


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)

 Naturalism (1850-1922)



The relationship between character and enviroment
2 important “creators” - Anton Chekhov (Russian playwright) and Konstantin Stanislavsky (1963-
1938). 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.

 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.
 Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
 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.