history of drama final exam review. hebrew/egyptian drama egyptian drama dates back to 3000 b.c....

History of Drama Final Exam Review

Hebrew/Egyptian Drama

Egyptian drama dates back to 3000 B.C.

Drama means “to do” or “to act”

Egyptian Drama revolved around religion

5 Types of Plays

Medicinal Play-play about healing

The Heb Sed was a play celebrating the pharaoh's 30th year on the throne

Coronation Festival celebrated the crowning of a pharaoh

Isis, Osiris, and Set were the main characters in the Abydos Passion Play

Pyramid Plays-done to ensure safe passage into afterlife.

Hebrew Drama

Job and Song of Songs both have dramatic structure

God and the devil are the first speakers in the book of Job.

No reference to definite theatre in Bible

Staging

Blocking—the director’s planned movement for the actors

Stage Directions—usually included in the script, the entrances, exits, and some movements or expressions for the characters

Staging: Body Positions

Greek Drama

Golden Age of Greek Drama: 500-400 B.C.

Drama was sacred and religious in Greek culture.

Tragedy literally means “goat song”

Hubris is defined as excessive amounts of pride or arrogance

Deus ex machina is a machine used to fly in a god to “save the day”

Winners of the Dionysus festival won an ivy wreath

Costuming

RobesRaised BootsWigsMasks

Greek Chorus

Sang in unison

Wore masks

Changed in number depending on the playwright

Were constantly on stage

Greek gods

Dionysus-god of wine, drama, and fertility

Zeus-king of the gods

Greek Playwrights

Sophocles wrote Oedipus

Aeschylus-the Father of Greek Tragedy

Euripides is known as “The Great Humanizer”

Aristotle-wrote rules of drama called The Three Unities

Theatron “Seeing Place”

Audience

Orchestra

Altar

Paraskenion

Skene

Roman Drama-Terms

Acted on a raised stage called a pulpitum

Closet dramas were too graphic to be shown on stage.

A claque was a person paid to influence the audience

Romans focused on comedy in their plays.

Roman Playwrights

Terence-first black playwright

Seneca-only major tragedian

Plautus-used Greek plays

Roman Theatre’s Decline

Spectacles in the Coliseum and the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. lead to the fall of Roman Drama.

Theatres were banned

Hindu Drama

Golden Age 500-300 B.C.

Plays written in Sanskrit

First culture to promote women actors

Always ended happily

Chinese Drama

Themes of ancestor worship, military glory, faithfulness to husband

Women were forbidden to act until the 18th century

Costume colors signified a meaning

Propaganda Period

Propaganda period began after WWII

Plays were used to promote government policy and Communism

Japanese Drama: Noh

Formal

Characterized by sedate postures expressing an attitude

Polished floor with jars underneath for a unique sound

Japanese Drama:Kubuki

Common man’s drama

Began in 1600 A.D.

Every movement has a meaning

Kabuki Theatre

Trap Door

Revolving Stage

Extravagant Scenery

A “flowerway” for actors to enter

Kabuki Costumes

Silk Costumes

Thick Makeup

Heavy Wigs

Medieval Drama

Also called Dark Ages because of the lack of culture and growth after the fall of Rome

Medieval Terms

Trope-short dramas turned into masses by the church

Hell’s Mouth was a stage device—a dragon jaw that would open with smoke and flames

Passion Play—Started in Oberammergau—depicted the life of Christ

Commedia dell’ Arte-professional improv

Pageant Wagon

Plays performed in “cycles”

Double-Decker

Bottom used for costume changes

Similar to parade floats

Action on upper stage and on the street

The M’s

Mummings

Mystery

Morality (Everyman)

Miracle

Manners

Elizabethan Theatres

Famous Theatres: Globe, The Rose, The Swan—nicknamed “Wooden O’s”

Elizabethan Staging

Balcony (for love scenes)

Tiring House (for exits)

Discovery Space (Small interior settings)

Platform surrounded by audience on three-sides

Open air for light—no artificial lighting used

Groundlings

“Cheap Seats”

People stood in the space right in front of the stage

For everyday citizens (all were welcome to the theatre)

Famous Playwrights

Christopher Marlowe—killed in a bar brawl at 29

Ben Johnson—gifted in Satire

William Shakespeare—coined thousands of words and phrases; born in Stratford-on-Avon; had a wife and three kids; loved by Queen Elizabeth; 38 plays attributed to him