Download History of Theatre:

History of Theatre:
Primitive and Greek
Starter:
 What do you think of when we say the word theatre?
 What is your definition of theatre?
 What is the difference between theatre and technical
theatre?
•You might
Think of
musicals, like
“Grease” or
“Phantom of the
Opera.”
•You might think
of plays by
Shakespeare, like
“Romeo and Juliet”
or “Hamlet.”
•Or, you might think of actors
in costumes from different
time periods- like these actors
from the production of “She
Stoops to Conquer.”
•Or you might think of
mimes, dressed in black
and white.
The REAL Story…
 Theatre BEGAN thousands of years ago, before we even
started recording history.
 So how do we know what happened?
 Primitive cultures used Rituals, Dances and Storytelling
as a way to communicate
 Primitive Culture: a Group of people living in the traditional
way and who have no written language.
Primitive Theatre:
 2 Functions:
 Storytelling- Oldest form of expression
 Oral Traditions of History
 Recounting an event, such as a hunt
 To make your audience understand you better, you act
Primitive Theatre:
 Rituals
 A ritual is an action performed REPEATEDLY because of its
symbolic significance and its ability to evoke the emotions of
those engaged in the performance.
 In doing so, they believed the following three things would
happen
 Achieve success in battle and hunting
 Ensure adequate sun and rain
 Express their duty to their community and Gods
Primitive Theatre:
 Shaman
 Central figure in most rituals
 Priestly figure who communicates directly with gods through
the rituals for the benefit of the tribe.
How did theatre come to be:
Myths,
Stories and
Rituals
Entertainment
Habit and
Tradition
THEATRE!
The First Drama:
 The Earliest form of ritual being turned into theatre was first
recorded by the Ancient Egypt Civilization in 2300 B.C.E.
 The Egyptians prayed to and believed in many gods. They
paid homage to their gods with religious ceremonies that we
call theatre today
 6 types of Egyptian Plays  all serious and took
place in a tomb or temple





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Pyramid Play
Coronation Festival Play
Coronation Jubilee
Medical Play
Ra Play
Passion Play
Pyramid Plays:
 Written on pyramid walls and included stage directions
and instructions
 These plays showed the ascent of the deceased kings soul and
the resurrection of his body.
Coronation Festival Plays:
 Performed at the coronation of each new Pharaoh
Coronation Jubilee Play:
 Also known as Heb Sed
 Celebration of a Pharaoh’s 30th year of reign
 Written specifically for each Pharaoh after they reached this
milestone it would reenact the events of his reign
Medical Play:
 Revolved around the idea of magical healing
 Plot: The Goddess Isis, whose child is bitten by a scorpion,
heals her son by using artificial respiration and a magic cure
Ra Play:
 Ra is the Egyptian sun god
 Play featured Ra’s fight with Apophis, the snake god of the
underworld. Ra always won
The Passion Play:
 Most famous passion play was the Osiris Passion Play
 Performed annually for 2000 years
 Each performance lasted several days and included
battle scenes with actual killings
Osiris Passion Play
 Set, the god of evil, becomes jealous of his brother, Osiris.
Tricking Osiris into a coffin, Set nails it shut. Isis, the wife of
Osiris, finds the coffin and buries her husband, but Set digs
him up and dismembers the body and scatters the parts all
over the earth. Isis and their son collect the body pieces and
rebury them. Osiris is resurrected and becomes King of the
Dead, ruling over those mortals who ascend to heaven.
Soooo….
 Up until this point the majority of “theatre” was ritual based
and had a specific purpose
 However, around the same time, the Greeks were beginning
to develop their own style of theatre
Types of Greek Theatre:
 Comedy:
 The first comedies were very farcical and over the top
 Mocked the men in power for their vanity and foolishness
 Tragedy:
 Dealt with themes of love, loss, pride, and the abuse of Power
 Most plays during this time fell into this category
 Satyr:
 Short plays performed between the acts of tragedies and made
fun of the characters of the play
 Very few of these plays survived
Who is Dionysus?
 Who is Dionysus
 Greek God of Wine and Fertility
 Held the Festival of Dionysus in his honor annually
 Believed that worshiping Dionysus would insure the return of spring
and continued fertility
Festival of Dionysus
 Held in Athens annually in the “Theatron”
 Watching space Theatre
 5-6 days
 First recognized in 534 B.C.E when the Athenian
Government began subsidizing the Festival
 Playwrights would enter plays into competition
 Winner won money and an ivy wreath as a symbol of victory
 All citizens were required to attend
 People from all around would make the journey
 Prisoners let out
 City would shut down for the festival
Schedule of Events:
 Day 1:
 People observed religious rites, drank wine and sang.
 1st performances by candlelight.
 Day 2 and 3:
 Dithyrambic contests
 A dithyramb is a hymn that was sung and danced in honor of Dionysus
 Performed by a group of 15-20 men called a Chorus
 Spoke as one and told the story of the play and helped explain the
exposition
 Day 4 and 5
 Each day 3 different playwrights featured four of their plays
 A Trilogy and a Satyr
 At the end of the day festival a winner was announced
Actors:
 All Men
 Played more than one role
 How did they tell characters apart?
 Thespis
 Credited as the First Actor
 Separated himself from the chorus and delivered lines independently of
them
 Created Dialogue
 International Thespian Society is named in his honor
Greek Theatres:
 Large Outdoor Theatres
 Constructed out of hill sides Used natural slope
 Semicircular shape
 Held around 20,000 people
Theater of Dionysus
Greek Theaters
The Stage:
 Three Main
Portions of Greek
Theatre:
 Skene
 Orchestra
 Theatron
The Greek Outdoor Amphitheatre
Two major performance areas-
The Orchestra or “Dancing Circle”
served as the primary acting area
The Skene (scene building)- consisted of a
building behind the orchestra probably used as a
dressing room.
Greek Scenic Devices
Periaktoia revolving triangular
devices with one scene
painted on each side.
Technical Devices
Deus ex Machina“God From the Machine”
The Machina- a crane that was
used to represent characters
who were flying or lifted off of
the earth.
Technical Devices
 Ekkyklema
 Low platform that could be
rolled on stage
 Showed offstage action
Costumes:
 Actors wore Mask
 Costumes were very
colorful and had
elaborate embroidery
Masks:
The masks were worn
for many reason
including:
1. Visibility
2. Acoustic Assistance
3. Few Actors, Many Roles
4. Characterization
Modern Day Replicas:
Hero-King
Comedy
Herald )
(Servant or
Tragedy
Chorus)
(Weeping