theatre test 4

origin of theatre

no agreed upon origin, storytelling and imitation have been around forever; oral culture inspirations

Dionysus

Greek God of theatre, honored in festivals, Greek drama presented in honor of him

festivals related to Dionysus

late spring (invigoration); City Dionysia incorporated tragic drama in 534 and comedy about 487, festival ended with awards

why the chorus in Greek theatre is important and how it serves a play

functions as the ideal spectator, reacts to the action, the community of the play, dictated shape and size of early theatre

thespis

credited as the first actor in addition to the chorus, according to Aristotle he introduced the style of tragedy

Satyr

half goat half man

Aeschylus

wrote 80 plays, 7 survive; introduced the second actor

Sophocles

wrote more than 120 plays, 7 survived; wrote Oedipus, won 24 times; introduced the 3rd actor, painted scenery, and fixing chorus number at 15

Euripides

wrote 90 plays, 18 survived; wrote Medea, Hecuba, and the trojan women; not well respected in his lifetime because he wrote on “inappropriate topics”

Aristophanes

the comic; most famous for Lysistrata and The Birds; “there’s no are where there’s no fee”

periaktoi

three pinake joined into a triangle, can be rotated to show different scenes

Deus ex Machina

ropes and pulleys used to fly

greek theatre…

was done as a festival to the gods

roman theatre…

was for distractions

terence

roman theatre playwright; born in north africa, came to rome as a slave but was educated and freed; used comedy to make moral and philosophical points; more complex plots, wrote 6 plays that survived

characteristics of roman comedies

chorus was abandoned, songs, everyday domestic affairs, action placed in the street

form of roman theatre that pissed off the church

mime; violence and sex depicted literally, scoffed at christianity, used female actors

who wrote the ars poetica

Horace

overall trend between Church and Theatre

when church gets bigger, theatre gets smaller; when theatre gets bigger, the church gets smaller

council that stopped the mixing of church and theatre

trullan synod; lots of rules passed including no priest or monk can be in theatre, and performers are outlaws (aka Quinisext Council)

nun who wrote morality plays

Hrotswitha- first ever female western playwright

mystery plays

tales from the bible, concerned with Christ’s miracles

passion plays

suffering, trial, and death

miracle plays

lives of saints

morality plays

present moral lessons

cycle plays

plays done in order

forced perspective

flats change in color and value as they recede back

commedia dell arte

comedy of artists, actors centered and improvisational in nature, adaptable to any space, each company has stock characters, dialogue was made on the fly, usually thwarted love

cambridge produced

christopher marlowe, robert greene, and thomas nash

oxford produced

john lyly, thomas lodge, and george peele

share system

each member of the acting company got a percentage or share of the proceeds of a performance, producer got the biggest, then actor, and so on

cromwell/dead guy on trial

Charles II dug up Oliver Cromwell (puritan) and executed him

restoration theatre

trend of women on stage; comedy of low type flourishes, sex, style, etc; audiences loved seeing real women in seduction scenes

melodrama

has accompanying music, exaggerated situations, characters face dramatic conflicts, characters are stereotypical such as good vs evil

frontier theatre

early 1800s, scenery was made of canvas drops including a proscenium, Samuel Drake established a circuit tour from Albany, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Missouri

african grove theatre

produced first play written by African American Playwright; William Alexander Brown performed in his own garden area called “African Grove” in NYC

uncle tom’s cabin

most popular play of 1850s by Harriet Beecher Stowe, led to greater desire for abolition, 12 companies performed only this play, extremely problematic; early shows were performed in blackface

first modern director

George II Duke of Saxe Meiningen- new years eve rehearsal fiasco

free theatre movement

provided a new style of naturalism and avoided censorship by providing a membership; exposed audiences to serious dramas and became a face for social change

father of modern theatre

Henrik Ibsen; wrote A Dolls House

FDR program for actors to have jobs

federal theatre project

book musicals

earliest type, closely related to musical revenues but with more plot; most known for songs that came out of them

integrated musicals

showboat set the tone for these, romantic common man, first ones to use music to advance plot and define character

concept musical

hair, company, chorus line; musicals centered around theme or idea rather than linear plot; born from Avant-garde theatre

sung-through

little to no dialogue, big use of spectacle, dominated 70s and 80s

jukebox musicals

really popular today, takes a bunch of songs and strings them together to make a musical

disney

musicals are popular on broadway😛

skene

background of plays

pinake

wooden frame painted to look like a location of a play (today’s flats)

tableau

wagon or platform to wheel stuff out on stage

university wits

rich boys studying to be lawyers who trained in music and dancing, and put on plays