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Chapter 1: The Nature of Theatre • Origins in ritual practices • Theatre as a form is at least 2500 years old • The role/function of Theatre in society has fluctuated over time Examples: • Theatre as religious activity • Theatre as traveling performance • Theatre as entertainment • The value and respectability of Theatre has been a matter of debate Examples: • Theatre forbidden/banned as a form of lying • Theatre as a truthful reflection of human behavior What do YOU think? 1. What is the role/function of Theatre in your society today? 2. How does live Theatre performance differ from mediated performance forms such as film and television? 3. Do you consider Theatre to be a form of lying or a reflection of truth? Why? 1 The Basic Elements of Theatre 3 Basic Elements of Theatre: (1) What is Performed (2) The Performance (3) The Audience The most basic definition of theatre is: someone performing something for someone else. A performs B for C (Eric Bentley) What is Performed • Many types of activities may be considered Theatre • What is the essence of theatrical performance? Possibilities: • The staged performance of a text • Storytelling • Entertainment such as juggling or improvisation • Since Theatre has a broad range of possibilities, the essence of What is Performed is difficult to define • Therefore Theatre, as a performing art, is difficult to define The Performance The Performance translates the potential of a script, scenario, or plan into actuality. Key Components of the Performance include: • Performance Space where the performance takes place and what the relationship is between the performers and the audience • Artistic Collaboration how the playwright, director, designers and others work together to create the Performance • Theatrical Elements Scenery, Costumes, Music, Lighting and other effects that contribute to the Performance 2 The Audience “The only thing that all forms of theatre have in common is the need for an audience.” Peter Brook The Audience: • Completes the cycle of Creation/Communication • Provides Immediate Feedback to the Performers 3-Way Interaction: Performers Audience Audience Performers Audience Audience Interaction Between the 3 Basic Elements of Theatre Script Audience Performance Theatre as a Form of Art What is Art? How is Art defined? Pre-18th century: Art = the systematic application of known principles to achieve some predetermined result 18th century: Distinction made between Useful and Fine Arts 3 Useful Arts = Arts that can be taught and mastered through specific techniques Fine Arts = Products of genius that cannot be reduced to rules or principles Examples: • Literature (including Drama) • Painting • Music • Dance Popular Culture vs. Elitist Culture Popular Culture Reflects tastes of the general public Theatre that appeals to Popular Culture = entertainment, storytelling, familiar character types and situations Elitist Culture Reflects tastes of a smaller group with particular standards Theatre that appeals to Elitist Culture = seeks new types of artistic expression, challenges views and assumptions, raises questions What do YOU think? The text compares Theatre with Games, stating that both rely upon conventions. 1. What is a convention? How do you define that term? 2. Name some conventions of a particular Game. 3. Name some conventions of Theatre. 4. How are these conventions similar or different? 4 Purposes of Art • Art as a means to understand one’s world • Like other disciplines, such as history, Art seeks to discover and record patterns in human experience. • While historians, scientists and other scholars appeal to the mind/intellect, Artists appeal to the senses. Elements of Theatre Spectatorship “Willing Suspension of Disbelief” • Term from Samuel Taylor Coleridge • We know that the events of the play are not real. • However, we agree, during the experience of the performance, not to disbelieve the events of the play. Example: • When a character kills another character onstage, we do not rush to the stage to help the victim, yet we may still weep or feel an emotional response to the action. Elements of Theatre Spectatorship “Willing Suspension of Disbelief” enables: Esthetic Distance Empathy We are detached enough from the performance to view it with some objectivity Feeling of involvement with the performance Esthetic Distance and Empathy seem to be contradictory concepts, but they balance each other in Performance through the Audience’s “Willing Suspension of Disbelief.” 5 Special Qualities of Theatre Lifelikeness Theatre recreates everyday experiences. Ephemerality Theatre is live performance, and becomes a part of the past immediately after it occurs. Objectivity Theatre “presents both outer and inner experience through speech and action.” Special Qualities of Theatre Complexity Theatre combines varied elements such as movement, lighting and sound while also drawing from all of the other Arts. Immediacy Theatre is psychologically immediate, because it transpires in the simultaneous presence of live actors and spectators in the same room. What do YOU think? How do these Special Qualities define the strengths and weaknesses of Theatre? • Lifelikeness • Ephemerality • Objectivity • Complexity • Immediacy 6 Art and Value Theatre as a Humanizing Force Understanding through role-playing and observation Theatre as Cultural Expression Understanding various cultures through their Theatre Multiple Types of Intelligence 1. Linguistic/Verbal 2. Logical/Mathematical 3. Musical 4. Spatial 5. Bodily/Kinesthetic 6. Interpersonal (understanding others and relationships) 7. Intrapersonal (using one’s emotions to understand self/others) 8. Naturalistic Something to Think About: How does Theatre incorporate Multiple Intelligences? Making Connections: Chapter 1 makes several references to famous plays by William Shakespeare, including Hamlet and As You Like It. Shakespeare is also discussed in a later Chapter. What do you already know about Shakespeare’s work? Activity: (1) Make a list of the titles for as many of Shakespeare’s plays as possible. (2) Compare your list to a master list of Shakespeare’s works. 7