Download Yoruba Storytelling - Ben

Yoruba Storytelling - Ben
1. The basis for Yoruba drama is religion, their main God
is Obatala, and many of their dramatic works focus around
him.
2. The most popular contemporary yoruba theatre is the
yoruba opera.
3. This opera started with an opening glee, which is a
rousing musical number, followed by a satirical story
dialogue, songs, dances and another glee.
4. Opera companies tour, usually around Nigeria, the first
one was established by Hubert Ogunde in 1946.
5. Most yoruba plays are tightly constructed social
satires.
Vietnamese Water Puppetry - Lili
1 – 1000 yrs. Old. 4 professional troupes today
2 – Rice paddies flooded, stand chest high in water
w/puppets.
3 – Live orchestra with operatic singers
4 – Stories of daily life and folklore –
slapstick/melodramatic
5 – Fierce competitions between villages – secret methods!!
Beijing Opera/Peking Opera - AC
1 – form of traditional Chinese theatre
2 – combines music, vocal, mime, dance, acrobatics
3 – symbolic and suggestive vs. realistic
4 – before 1930 kids would be hand-picked and trained for 7
years.
5 – acting/combat training. 1 person mess up – all beaten.
6 – closed down (for reasons) but reopened with new ways
Karagoz (Turkish) Shadow Puppetry – Izzie
1 – Like commedia – Stock characters (8)
2 – All Turkish, could be one other (Jew, Arab, Black)
3 – named for one of the characters – illiterate public
4 – puppets made of camel skin – transparent, painted
5 – projected from behind on muslin screen (mirror in
Turkish)
6 – 1 person is Hayali plays all the characters at once
(guy, lots of singing)
7 – Opening, closing song “Please for a little
entertainment”. Slapsticky skit. “Karagoz you ruined
everything!” End.
French Grand Guignol – Forest
1 – Horror naturalist plays with LOTS of gory effects
2 – Hypnosis and insanity
3 – Bought cathedral – boxes are confessional booths – for
theatre
4 – Guignol was puppet – sit and provide political
commentary on plays
5 – 5-6 plays a night, alternate between comedy and horror
6 – WWI-WWII popular, closed in 60’s (Could not overcome
the horrors of the holocaust)
Indonesian Shadow Puppetry – Lauren
1 – wayang kulit – established 1000 yrs ago, east
2 – flat, round buffalo leather puppet
3 – behind white screen with backlight
3 – dalang – puppet master, sings and speaks all parts
(cool quote about versatility)
4 – public holidays/events
5 – Bali also for cremations
African Folk Theatre – Allison
(Don’t do it)
1 – Everyday routines, not formal
2 – point is to perpetuate virtue – get rid of evil
3 – ceremonies and rituals
4 – before play 7 virgins offer alcohol to visitors
5 – audience participation, song and dance
6 – audience in semi-circle on ground
Ngoma Dance Forms – Kara
(Don’t do it) (Still cool)
1 – means drum, song, and dance celebration and healing
process
2 – 100 different styles in Tanzania (?)
3 – own costume for different style
4 – Cool quote –soulful, healing dance – really cool
5 – reintegrates arts into ritual like performance
Burlesque – Kyra
1 – People pissed that it has become scandalous
2 – 1840’s, spoof, making fun of women in tights
3 – similar to vaudeville – acts, comedy (Who’s on First!)
4 – Act III would do a complete show
5 – Cowardly Lion was burlesque actor! Bert Lahr
6 – Lead comic was called the top banana because the lower
you were in the “bunch” the more likely you were to have to
resort to slapstick humor
7 – Closed in 1920’s due to scandal
8 – So let’s strip (actresses shoulder strap broke – big
hit!)
9 – Profitable throughout depression
Kabuki – Sara and Jesse
1.
2.
3.
4.
Form of traditional Japanese theatre (1603-1867)
Popular among townsfolk (not royalty)
About historical events, moral conflicts, love, etc
Old fashioned language (hard to understand), monotone,
traditional instrument
5. Rotating stage with trap doors and foot bridge
(through audience)
6. Male and female until big jerk forbid women and then
only 14+ men
7. Onnagata are men playing women
8. 3 characters that represent dance, music and
craft/skill
9. Banned except for pleasure districts (actors had to
wear umbrella hats outside of district)
10.Before big jerk actors trained from childhood
11.Performed in urban environments because merchants
liked them
12.Combo of Noh/Bunraku/Folk Theatre
Native American Storytelling – Francesca
(Hard to find)
1 – Traditional – honoring life
2 – Beings in a tribes homeland (animals etc)
3 – Ancestors and origin stories
4 – Recollections, lessons, advice, based on true stories
5 – Told through song and music
Spanish Golden Age – Hannah
1 – Theatres similar to Shakespearean theatre
2 – secular and religious plays
3 – audience mosquetrous (muskateers), ate and drank during
shows – no ettiquite
4 – Women separate “cazuela” – guarded from men
5 – Contemporary fashion for costumes
6 – Moors, evil characters, dressed differently
7 – 1587 Law passed that women can perform 1596 – banned
1597– j.k. if you are related to male company member you
can
8 – Lupe de Vega is the Shakespeare of SGA
Yiddish Theatre – Sam
1 – Broad, written and performed, mainly by Jews in Yiddish
2 – Lots of different styles
3 – musical comedy, operettas, naturalist dramas, etc.
4 – big core is fierce sense of identity
5 – roots – satiric plays during Purim
6 – blended with tradition of masked dancers at weddings
7 – professional started in 1876 but traditions began much
earlier (no specific date)
Theatre of the Absurd – Zach
1 – coined by theatre critic referring to a group who
emerged after WWII
2 – existential philosophies with rejection of continuity,
logic, language
3 – most absurdists resist traditional genres – mix farce
and tragedy – unpredictable world that mirrors our own
4 – no dramatic conflicts cause they don’t belong in a
world of meaningless
5 – goal is to have awareness of the human condition – lose
sense of wonder
Victorian Melodrama – Nyssa
1 – Limited to 1 hero, 1 heroine, 1 villian, aged parents,
comic man
2 – plot about love and murder
3 – good duped by villain
4 – villain has hots for heroine
5 – from populist drama from mystery plays and commedia
dell’arte
6 – 1st one – Tale of Mystery
7 – Sweeney Todd!
8 – Villain was central character and crime was favorite
theme
Carnivale – Emilie
(Don’t do it)
1 – on street
2 - no line between stage/audience
3 – actors from neighborhood mingling with audience
4 – masques were a big thing (button in mouth)
5 – gnaga – men dressed as women (drag)
Body Puppets of Mali – Elyana
1 – held up by rods inside
2 – dance in body puppets to show respect or admiration for
stuff
3 – “total theatre” – dancers, musicians, actors
4 – usually animals so puppeteers dance like animals
5 – each suit worn by 2-3 people
6 – inside body suit, can’t see – guide who plays bells and
gives verbal instructions
Commedia – Jessica
1 – origin of comedy
2 – 14th century began but hit it big in 16th century
3 – every play has humorous interruption – lazzi
4 – sadness and happiness – constant flow
5 – masks always used, each character has a story behind
it, 3 kind of masks
Comedy of Manners – Julia
1 – represented by stock characters satirizing social
classes
2 – make fun of people in audience but upper classes were
the audience (Recognized laughter)
3 – plots – love affairs, scandals, plot less important
than witty banter, bawdy dialogue
4 – “Much Ado About Nothing” 1st? flourished during
Restoration
5 – theatres were shut down for 20 yrs, Charles II wanted
to laugh – “restoring”, get it? Restoration