Theatre History

Festival of Dionysus

theatre and arts celebration in Athens

Greek orchestra

also known as a dancing space

Aeschylus

Greek playwright, added formality to costumes and masks, wrote The Persians and Seven Against Thebes

Euripides

Greek playwright, famous for his tragic plays, wrote Medea and The Trojan Women

Sophocles

Greek playwright, added a third actor and abolished the trilogy form, wrote King Oedipus and Antigone.

Purpose of Roman theatre

to worship the gods

Titus Maccius Plautus

Roman playwright, wrote based on New Greek Comedies

Publius Terenius Afer

Roman playwright, slave, combined Greek stories to make more complex work, wrote The Brothers and Mother-in-Law

Roman stages

similar to Greeks, semi-cirlce shape with an orchestra and stage, weren't carved into hillsides

Medieval plays

heavily influenced by the church

example of Medieval play

The Service for Representing Adam

three Medieval tropes

mystery, miracle, morality

Hrotsvit

Medieval playwright, Europe's first female playwright, wrote plays about trials and salvation, wrote The Conversion of General Gallicanus

mystery plays

focused on the religious mystery of God’s influence on the world

miracle plays

much like a mystery play but with a larger focus on the lives of the saints and martyrs

morality plays

a play where different virtues and vices were personified and shown in competition for the soul

What was different about the Italian Renaissance?

it challenged people's ideas about religion, science, and other topics

Italian Renaissance stages

introduced the proscenium arch stage, painted-flat wings, and shutters

Ben Jonson

Italian Renaissance playwright, 2nd most famous English dramatist, wrote Every Man in His Humors, Volpone, and Epicoene or The Silent Woman

William Shakspeare

Italian Renaissance and Elizabethan playwright, most famous playwright in history, wrote Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Hamlet, and other famous plays

stock character

a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition

lazzi

stock comedic routines that are associated with Commedia dell'arte

Where does the Elizabethan period get its name from?

Queen Elizabeth I

Chirstopher Marlowe

Elizabethan playwright, could have easily rivaled Shakespeare, died in a bar fight, wrote Tamburlaine the Great

theatre during the Elizabethan period

rise of individual theatre companies, all plays were approved by the crown

characteristics of the English Restoration

drama and comedy were the most popular genres, comedy of manners used to mock the upper class, women were allowed to perform and write

Aphra Behn

English Restoration playwright, first woman to earn her living entirely from writing, encouraged other women to pursue theatre, wrote The Forc'd Marriage and The Rover

William Wycherley

wrote the famous play The Country Wife

Kabuki theatre

a highly stylized form of theatre from Japan that centers around visual and vocal performance rather than story line

common themes of kabuki theatre

punishing the wicked, rewarding the good, commentates on society, entertainment

Chikamatsu Monzaemon

kabuki playwright, tragedy writer, known for perfecting and popularizing the concepts Kabuki is now known for

Tsuruya Nanboku IV

wrote Yotsuya Kaidan, arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time

kabuki costumes

used real silver and gold, extravagant, masks who's shape and color described the character

neoclassicism

the revival of a classical style or treatment in art, literature, architecture, or music

Moliere

17th century France playwright, cofounded the troupe known as the Ilustre Théâtre, wrote Tartuffe

Pierre Corneille

17th century France playwright, created the tragicomedy, wrote Médée and Le Cid

theatre rules of 17th century France

Stories had to be believable, morality, manners, and good taste, did not mix comedy and drama, comedies must end happily. Tragedies must end in death, comedic characters must be from the middle and lower classes. The hero in a tragedy must be of the noble class, plays had to provide good morale

realism

a movement that began in the late 19th century and sought to represent everyday life on stage as accurately as possible

Oscar Wilde

19th century playwright, challenged the hierarchy and lifestyle of the upper class, wrote A Flortine Tragedy

Victor Hugo

19th century playwright, one of the best French writers in history, wrote Les Misérables and Ruy Blas

box set

introduced in the 19th century, a set with a proscenium arch stage and three walls

fourth wall

introduced in the 19th century, a conceptual barrier between those presenting some kind of a communication and those receiving it

Theatre of the Absurd

used to communicate ideas about existential philosophy and the absurdist meaning of life

existential philosophy

a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on the subjective experience of thinking, feeling, and acting

Samuel Beckett

Absurdist playwright, father of the absurdist genre, wrote Waiting for Godot and Endgame

Arthur Adamov

Absurdist playwright, mostly followed surrealism, Wrote La Parodie, La Professeur Taranne, and Ping-Pong

Waiting for Godot

centers around a conversation between two characters as they wait for a mystery third character to arrive who never does, reduced theatre to nothing more than human interaction, still widely performed today

impacts of the Theatre of the Absurd

impacted the mood of the world around it at the time, contributed to the idea of metaphysical existence