egyptian roots c.2500 bce ritual enactment abydos passion play re-enacted the story of the death...
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Egyptian RootsEgyptian Roots
c.2500 bce Ritual Enactment Abydos Passion Play re-enacted the story
of the death and resurrection of Osiris
Greek FestivalsGreek Festivals Festivals honored Olympian gods Ritual Competitions Olympics: Apollo
Athletics Lyric Poetry
Drama: Dionysos Dithyrambic Choruses Tragedy Comedy
Greek TheatreGreek Theatre 6th - 4th century bce Originated in festivals honoring Dionysos
Thespis (6th c. bce) Tragedy:
Aeschylus (524-456 bce) Sophocles (496-406 bce) Euripides (480-406 bce)
Comedy: Aristophanes (c. 485- c.385 bce) Old Comedy: bawdy and satiric New Comedy: social situations
Roman TheatreRoman Theatre 2nd c. bce - 4th c. ce Origins in Greek drama and Roman
festivals Tragedy: Seneca
5 act structure Revenge motif -- sensationalistic Ghosts and supernatural
Comedy:Terence and Plautus Boy meets girl, complications, boy
gets girl: marriage Bawdy Stock characters
Roman SpectacleRoman Spectacle
Gladiatorial combats Naval battles in a flooded Coliseum “Real-life” theatricals Decadent, violent and immoral All theatrical events banned by Church
when Rome became Christianized
Medieval Drama: 13th-15th C.Medieval Drama: 13th-15th C.Arose from need to educate converted, illiterate
Christians about ChristianityHrotsvita (10th c.), German nun, wrote plays
about Christian matyrs using structure based on Terence’s Roman comedies
Liturgical dramaMystery plays: Biblical talesMiracle plays: Saints’ livesMorality plays: Allegories
Italian Commedia dell’ ArteItalian Commedia dell’ Arte La Commedia dell'Arte, "Artistic Comedy,”
began in the second half of the 16th century Based on set pieces, lazzi, that are
improvised with stock characters A distinct group of actors gave birth to the
first nucleus of companies, and started doing their acts on simple stages set outdoors
The mix of popular themes, complex stories, acrobatic jumps and mellow love scenes made it highly influential throughout Europe
Harlequino
Elizabethan Theatre: 16th-17th CElizabethan Theatre: 16th-17th C. Protestant Reformation closed down
religious drama Tudor love of spectacle and patronage of
drama Elizabethan poetry -- love of language
Influenced by Roman theatre, Renaissance ideas, medieval stagecraft and pagan
remnants Important theatrical period even if
Shakespeare had never lived
French Neoclassical Theatre, French Neoclassical Theatre, 17th-18th C.17th-18th C.
Modelled theatre on Greek and Roman examples Disdained English Elizabethan theatre’s
“messiness” and eclecticism Neoclassical Conventions
Decorum Verisimilitude Universal truths Poetic: Alexandrines 5 act structure 3 unities: time, place action
Tragedy and Comedy
Rulers/nobility Affairs of state Unhappy ending Lofty poetic style Revealed the horrible
results of mistakes and misdeeds committed from passion
Racine
Middle class/bourgeosie Domestic/private affairs Happy ending – often
deus ex machina Ordinary speech Ridicules behavior that
should be avoided Moliere
German German Romantic Romantic Theater: 18th-Theater: 18th-19th C.19th C.
“Stürm und Drang” Looked to Shakespeare for
models Sweeping historical and
tragic dramas Johann Goethe and
Friedrich Schiller Began to emphasize
historical accuracy in costumes and settings
Improved theatrical effects -- footlights, revolving stages, theatrical machinery
Melodrama: Melodrama: 19th Century19th Century
Theatre of sentimentality -- emotional appeal
Heroes and villains -- and lily-white heroines
Wide popular appeal Sensationalistic Most widely performed
play of the 19th C: Uncle Tom’s Cabin based on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel
Realism and NaturalismRealism and Naturalism19th-20th C.19th-20th C.
Intellectual reaction against popular theatre Theatre of social problems Influenced by emerging disciplines of
psychology and sociology Emerging importance of director Realistic stage conventions:
Proscenium stage Audience as “fourth wall” Change in acting conventions Continued developments in stagecraft
Realism and NaturalismRealism and Naturalism
• Middle class• Psychological • How can the individual
live within and influence society?
• “Well-made play”• Henrik Ibsen,
George Bernard Shaw
• Middle and Lower classes• Sociological• How does society/the
environment impact individuals?
• “Slice of life”• August Strindberg, Anton
Chekhov, John Synge, Sean O’Casey
20th Century Theatre:20th Century Theatre:a hundred years of ismsa hundred years of isms
Symbolism Expressionism Futurism Surrealism Social Realism Epic Theatre Existentialism Absurdism Magic Realism Hyper-Realism Not to mention musicals,
films, street theatre, etc., etc.
And so… into the 21st CenturyAnd so… into the 21st Century
Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz
Winner of 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama