Transcript History of Theatre

History of Theatre
The High Points
First Known Play
3100
BC
Memphis, Egypt
Presented in honor of dead
kings
Pyramid Plays
Dealt
with death,
dismemberment, and
reassembling by Osiris
Ancient Greeks
 6th
century BC: festivals honoring
Dionysus, god of fertility, started doing
plays
 Tragedies
Performed in large outdoor amphitheatre
Theatres
 Festival
of Athens turned into a drama
competition
 Outdoors
Compensated for Distance
with

1. Padded Clothing
 2. Big masks with built in megaphones
 3. Platform shoes
Thespis
 First
actor
 Invented dialogue
 Actors today are called “thespians”
Major Playwrights
 Aeschylus
(525-456 B.C.)
 Sophocles (496-c. 406 B.C.)
 Euripides (c. 485-406 B.C.)
 Aristophanes (c. 448-385 B.C.)
Aeschylus
 “Father
of Tragedy”
 Added 2nd actor
 Oresteia (trilogy)
Sophocles
 Greatest
Greek playwright
 Added 3rd actor
 Oedipus Rex
 Antigone
Euripides
 More
concerned with human interest
than religious views
 Medea
Aristophanes
 Started
Greek comedy
 Mocked leaders and gods
 Lysistrata
Roman Theatre
 Two
major influences on Roman
theatre:
1.Greek Drama
2.Etruscan influences – emphasized
circus-like elements
Characteristics of Roman
Theatre
 Short
improvised farces
 Stock characters
 Similar costumes and masks
 Based on domestic life or mythology
Roman Theatre
 May
have influenced commedia dell
‘Arte
Commedia dell’arte
 Gypsies
went around countryside on
wagons
 Would perform stereotyped characters
Medieval Theatre
500-1450
A.D.
Medieval Theatre
 After
the fall of Rome the 600’s A.D.,
came a period known to us as the "dark
ages."
 Much political turmoil – no reliable
political structure
Church Opposition
Association with pagan gods
2. Licentiousness (decadence)
3. Ridicule of church by mimes
(sacrament and baptism)
1.
The Church
 Only
stable "government"
 Exerted increasing influence.
 Ended theatre because it was so vulgar
 Persecuted performers (508 A.D.)
Church started theatre again
 925
and 975
 Drama re-introduced into the church
services
Church started theatre again
 Explained
Bible stories
 At first, the church had control of the
drama, but then it gradually became
more controlled by secular groups.
The Guilds
(tradesmen or Confraternities)
 took
over in some cities
 based in some way on the Bible or
religious teachings.
 Did plays on wagons (like floats) that
went through
Guilds
 the
Bakers’ Guild would control the
play about the Last Supper
 Shipwrights’ Guild would get plays
about Noah
Two Types of Plays Popular
 Mystery
or Miracle Plays (Bible
stories)
 Morality plays (secular, characters
represented human or moral
attributes) Everyman
Commedia del Arte
“Comedy of Artists” (professionals)
 Popular from 14th to 16th century
 Type of improvisational theatre
 Stock characters
 Pantomime

Elizabethan Theatre

Theatre had a bad
reputation
 City Leaders in London
(Puritans) didn’t allow
plays within the city limits
Elizabethan England
 Queen
Elizabeth liked plays
 Before 1576, no formal theatre buildings
Public Theatre Buildings

The Theatre (1576) built
by James Burbage (built
outside city)
 Other famous theatres:
The Rose, Swan, Hope
 Most Famous: Globe
Theatre (1599-1644)
Private Theatres
 Blackfriars
1576
 Indoor performances
 Lit by Candlelight
 Small
 Wealthier audience
Shakespeare’s Theatre
 Men
played women
 Worked in a troupe
 Shakespeare: actor, writer,
director, producer
Famous Elizabethan
Playwrights
 William
Shakespeare
 Ben Jonson
 Christopher Marlowe
Masques
 Extravagant
 James
I
productions for royalty
Masques
 Spectacular
productions, scenery, costume
 Purpose was to honor the nobles by
comparing them to mythical characters
Puritan England
 Banned
plays for 18 years (until 1660)
 Closed theatres because of religion (moral
reasons)
 Plague may have been a reason
Two types of theatres
 Public
theatre (like Elizabethan
England)
 New Proscenium stage (like in Italy for
operas): elaborate scenery
 Proscenium stage created a new job:
Stagehand
French Neoclassical Theatre
 17th
Century
 Built inside other existing buildings
 Audience usually sat in balconies
 Actresses wouldn’t play anyone ugly or
old
Comedie-Francaise
 French
Academy
 1673
 Neoclassic
plays (revival of the ancient
classics)
 French comedy at its best
 Italian opera very popular
English Restoration
 Didn’t
want to be outdone by the French
 Started theatre again: 1660
 Comedy of Manners (Set among wealthy and
sophisticated.)
English Restoration Theatre
 Plays
were more explicit
comedies
 Women started acting
Famous English Restoration
Performers
 Nell
Gwyn (first actress)
 Elizabeth Barry
 Thomas Betterton
3 types of Musical Theatre
 Opera
 Operetta
 Musicals
Musical Theatre
 Opera
(Classical, usually foreign language)
 Operetta: 1728 (Easier to understand,
more modern, popular music)
 (Musical theatre didn’t start until after
WWI in America)