THEATRE

 An institution as old as civilization itself. A global phenomenon, a cultural

expression, and a commentary on history, society, religion, politics, commerce,
love, and beyond.
 A place in which a play is performed. Its Greek origins literally mean “the
seeing place.”
 A deliberate performance created by live actors and intended for a live
audience, typically making use of scripted language.
 Requires at least one actor and one audience member.
 “Theater takes place all the time, whereover one is; an art simply facilitates
persuading one this is the case.” - John Cage
 Dionysus is the Greek god of theatre and wine.
o Worshippers lofted a giant phallus ang sang songs called Dithyrambs in
praise of him.
o Dithyrambs evolved into theater when Thespis stepped out of the chorus
and started acting out individual characters. He used masks to switch
between characters.

[ History ]
 Ancient Greece, between the years 384 to 322 BCE.
 Theatre
o Derived from the ancient Greek word Theatron which means “a place for
viewing.”
o A building, part of a building, or outdoor area for housing dramatic
presentations, stage entertainments, or motion-picture shows.
 The Greeks already had theatres for ritualistic performances. Participation in
Athen’s many festivals at the City Dionysia as an audience member was an
important part of citizenship.
 Peisistratus
o A tyrant that ruled pre-democracy Athens and institutionalized theatre.
o He came to power through violence, but wanted to unite the city one he
was in charge. He decided festivals, particularly those in praise of
Dionysus, was the solution. There were 14,000 attendees.
 o The theatre of Dionysus was an outdoor amphitheater built into the
Athenian hillside. Actors wore masks made of linen with hair attached.
o There was also a Dithyramb contest wherein three playwrights would
present a tetralogy – three linked tragedies and one satyr.

[ Parts of the theatre of Dionysus ]

 Theatron – the seated section
 Orchestra – a flat part where the chorus performed
 Thymele/Altar – located in the center of the Orchestra
 Skene – dressing hut so actors could change masks
 Paradoi – ways on and off the stage
 The God in the Machine/Deus Ex Machina – place on top of the Skene where
an actor playing God could appear and descend into a cart
 Cothurni – platform shoes worn by Tragic actors

 Thalia is the muse of comedy and Melpomene is the muse of tragedy.

 Drama
o To act / action / the art or activity of performing a role in a play.
o Three genres: Comedy, Tragedy, Satyr.
 Comedy
o Uses humor to show or point out social dilemmas.
 Tragedy
o Based on suffering and death.
o The main character becomes more popular after death.
o Derives from the Greek words for goat (tragos) and song (ode), which
may have had to do with the animal sacrifices made during the festivals.
o Hits its golden age in the 15th century Athens with works of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides.
o Aristotle wrote a theory called Catharsis which explains why Tragedy
became so important – “Tragedy, through pity and fear, affects the proper
purgation of these emotions.” Tragedy excites and incites pity and fear,
thus becoming an outlet for these emotions.
 Greek dramatist Thespis is credited with the concept of an actor (hypokrites)
that speak rather than sing and impersonates a character rather than speaking as
them.
 The Chorus and its leader (coryphaeus) are a traditional part of Greek drama.
 The Persian Empire’s literature, arts, and philosophy inspired ancient Greece’s
theatrical origin.

[ Types of Theatre Stages ]

 Proscenium
o A stage with a border like a picture frame.
 Thrust
o A stage surrounded by the audience on three sides.
 Arena
o A central stage surrounded by the audience on all sides.

[ Crash Course Origins ]

 The West didn’t have the theater as we know it today up until the sixth or
seventh century BCE, but they did have religious ritual.
o Rituals were often ways of mediating between the human and the
supernatural. They serve to re-enact significant events.
o “The time of the event that the ritual commemorates or reenacts is
made present.” - Mircea Eliade
o However, theater and ritual are not identical, Theatre is secular and
Ritual is sacred.
o Taking an anthropological approach, Theatre is seen as a direct
evolution of religious ritual. This theory stuck with James Frazer.
o “Art became a sort of civilized substitute for magical games and
rituals.” - Marshall McLuhan
o The idea is that worship becomes ritual, ritual becomes myth, and
myth becomes performance. This is known as Ritualism.
o Herodotus witnessed a ritual in Egypt.
 Aristotle says that human beings have a Mimetic Impulse – an in-built desire
to imitate, act, and pretend, and that’s how we learn.
SHAKESPEARE
[ The English Renaissance and NOT Shakespeare ]
 The Renaissance arrives late to England due to their hundred-year war with
France and a series of civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. Once the
Tudors took over the throne, things got more stable, and the Tudors liked
theatre.
 Elizabeth I passed a law that labeled actors as vagrants to stop the flames of
religious discord being ignited in plays.
 Seneca is a common inspiration for Tragedies.
 Early English Renaissance plays weren’t staged in theatres because
freestanding permanent theatres didn’t exist in England yet. Plays were
staged in gardens, banquets, halls, inn yards, and schools.
 The first theatre was Red Lion which was built in Whitechapel, just outside
the center of London in 1567. The owner was John Brayne.
 A longer-lasting theatre was called The Theatre. It was built in 1576 by
James Burbage.
o It was the first important Elizabethan playhouse.
o It had a three-level gallery structure on most sides, surrounding a
thrust stage.
o Seated about 2500 people.
o Associated with The Lord Admiral’s Men.
 Plays were held in the afternoon to take advantage of natural light.
 The first indoor private theatre appeared in 1576 known as the Blackfriars
Theatre.
o Located on the grounds of a former Dominican Monastery.
o Seated about 750 people.

 He produced 17 comedies and 12 tragedies.

 He pioneered the genre of Tragicomedy – a play containing elements of both
comedy and tragedy.
 The Globe Theatre
 o Was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company, the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men.
o It was destroyed by a fire on June 29, 1613, but a second Globe
Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614.

[ Shakespeare’s Early Days ]

 He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. At age six or seven, he begins
attending the Stratford Grammar School where much of the instruction was
in Latin. He married Anne Hathaway.
 When the theatres reopen after the plague, he joins the Lord Chamberlain’s
Men as an actor, playwright, and shareholder.
 He dies in 1616 at the age of 52.
 Many plays weren’t even published, and those that were appeared in cheap
Quartos – booklets made of pieces of paper printed on eight sides and folded
to become four double-sided pages.
 “Tragedy is concerned with the doings of men which in philosophy are
discussed with ethics; History with the doings of men discussed under
politics.” – Lily Campbell
 Richard III is Shakespeare’s most famous History play.

[ Shakespeare’s Tragedies ]
 Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare’s first Tragedy.
 When it comes to Shakespeare, a Tragedy is a play that ends unhappily and
is not about a recent king.

[ Shakespeare’s Comedies ]
 A play that is not based on a recent historical figure and ends happily. The
floor isn’t littered with dead bodies and ends with a marriage.
 Problem Play – a term invented in the late nineteenth century and inspired
by the works of Henrik Ibsen. They take on a social problem and are stuck
between comedy and tragedy. They have happy endings that often end with
a marriage, but the resolutions are unsatisfying and feel sour.
 In Tragedies, people act hastily, thoughtlessly, and selfishly. In Romances,
people exercise patience and forgiveness, which lead to happier endings.
[ Theatre After Shakespeare ]
 Revenge Tragedy is still considered a moral genre because of the gore. The
plays emphasize the destructiveness of revenge and warn about the
consequences when men take on the kind of retributive justice that should be
left to God.
 The Court Masques is a fancy kind of theater for nobles performed by
nobles, but professional actors take on the comic roles.