Transcript foundations of theatre - Suffolk Public Schools Blog

WHAT IS THEATRE?
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Theatre is a complex art at least 2500 years old.
Our experience of theatregoing varies depending
on the time
Greeks would have assembled at dawn in an outdoor
theatre seating some 17,000 people to watch a series of
plays that lasted all day
 Medieval English audiences would have gathered at
various places along a route to watch a series of short
biblical plays performed on wagons
 The theatrical experience ahs been as varied as the
cultures in which it has appeared.
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The diversity of experience invites questions about
what theatre’s varied manifestations have in
common and the significance of their difference
Diversity in
Theatre Creates
Questions
Questions about what
Theatre’s varied
manifestation have in
common and the
significance of their
differences.
It also invites questions
about the appeal of
theatre…
1.
2.
3.
Why do people create
theatre?
What attracts audiences to it
(theatre)?
What makes one production
seem better to us than
another?
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The nature and function of theatre
The relationship of theatre to other forms of art
Criteria for judging theatrical performances
How scripts, the usual starting point of theatre
productions, are structured
RITUAL
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Various kinds of rituals
were vital to the wellbeing of the earliest
humans.
Used elements of theatre
Were theatrical
Addressed supernatural
forces
Intended to reflect the
present , in order to affect
the future
PERFORMANCE
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Performance becomes
highly developed and
highly prized
Grecian culture
introduces it to the
masses
Intended to reflect the
past, in order to change
or affect the present
thinking
1.
What is performed
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2.
The performance
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3.
Script
Scenario
plan
All of the processes involved in the creation and
presentation of the production
The audience (the perceivers, or for whom
theatre is performed)
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Theatre can be extremely
varied
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From a comic routine by a
single entertainer to a
Shakespearean tragedy
Because of the great range,
theatre has not been easy to
define
With so much diversity, it is
easy to understand that most
people think of theatre
primarily as entertainment
Whereas others find the
essence of the theatre to be
its capacity to provoke
though or action about
significant issues
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If we are to understand
theatre, we must
acknowledge is great range
and recognize that its
potential, like that of most
human creation, can be
developed in many ways
Some of which we may like
and some of which we may
consider even dangerous
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Complex
Translates the potential of a script, scenario, or plan into actuality
What the audience sees when it goes to the theatre is the fleshing
out of a script or plan through the application theatrical processes
Can take place in varied spaces
Most performances require the creative efforts and cooperation of
many people
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Playwright
Director
Actors
Designers
Technicians
Musicals involve even more people
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Director
Composer
Instrumentalists
Singers
choreographer
dancers
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Until material is
performed and seen by a
public, we do not call it
theatre
The audience affects the
theatre in many ways,
most clearly by the
immediate feedback it
provides the performers
Continuous interaction
occurs not only between
stage and auditorium, but
also spectators involved in
a communal experience
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Audiences affect the
theatre through their
expectations and motives
for attending
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Some come to the theatre
only wanting to be
entertained
Others prefer productions
that challenge accepted
values, raise issues,
advocate action, or use
innovative theatrical
means
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Theatre should entertain,
that is not a question. But
not everyone finds the
same things entertaining
Pop culture v. Elitist
culture
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“Low brow” v. “High
brow”
Art and value = personal
opinion
All art is “made”
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Meaning artworks are not
produced by nature the
way human beings and
animals are
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Aesthetics:
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Area of philosophy that
defines what we value
What we fine “good” or
“of beauty”
Most usually classify
theatre as “fine art” or
“high brow”
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Therefore, those who
view the theatre as an art
form are often
contemptuous of those
who think of it as “show
business”
Lifelikeness
1.
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Resembles what is audience knows to be real
Ephemeral
2.
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Theatre lives in your memory; once it is over, it is in the past
Objective
3.
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Is the most objective of the arts; it presents the outer and inner
experience of humans through speech and action; however, it
demands a subjective response
Complex/Complexity of Means
4.
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Like a scene of life it is made up of intermingled sound,
movement, place, dress, lighting, etc.
Psychologically Immediate
5.
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You experience it immediately as it happens, as opposed to
recorded media or art
½ OBJECTIVE
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There are criteria that
states whether or not
something is good
Follow theatrical
specificities, i.e.
blocking, lighting, good
acting
½ SUBJECTIVE
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Person opinion
Does it suit your taste?
Although you may
recognize it as good art,
you just don’t like it.
WHEN WATCHING
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How to watch
Who is the audience
Understand Critical
Perspective
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
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Basic Critical Concerns:
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Understanding
Effectiveness
Ultimate Worth
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Plot
Character and Characterization
Thought
Diction
Music
Spectacle
2 FORMS OF DRAMA
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Comedy
Tragedy
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These are NOT genres
Style or Genre are distinct
expressions that come
from some philosophy or
school of though
IMPORTANT
DEFINITIONS
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Comedy
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Tragedy
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Beginning, middle, end
Simple plot
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Imitation of an action that is
serous, complete, and of
magnitude
Plot
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Imitation of character of lower
type
No recognition or reversal
Complex plot
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Recognition and reversal