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‘It is in our nature to
dramatize.’
David Mamet
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DRAMA RELOADED
Drama in action
What is drama?
Learning the many definitions and forms of drama
What is theatre?
Learning about the definition of theatre, its beginnings, rituals,
traditions and theatre today
Drama In film and television
Learning about drama in the context of television and film
The changing face of theatre
Learning how theatre is changing through technology and new ideas
A collaborative art
Discussing the ‘players’ involved in drama
The Dramatic Life
Aphra Behn (1640–89)
Centre stage
Dramatic periods, styles and conventions
Curtain call
Research more about dramatic periods and styles
Skill building
An activity to create and refine your own ritual as a
theatrical performance
Read and view more
Books on drama and theatre
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
Drama is everywhere and we love it. We thrive on it.
We exaggerate and embellish stories, make things bigger,
create conflicts and play things up. It is in our nature. It is
part of who we are – an integral part of real life.
Drama Reloaded takes a fresh look at the dramatic arts. Perhaps you
will learn something new, or you may be inspired to find out more or
even make a visit to the theatre. We certainly hope so. Drama Reloaded
will challenge your ideas about what the theatre is, what it can be and
what it might become. From its humblest beginnings centuries ago as a
form or ritual, the theatre today is not really all that different. It just
has many more possibilities. At its core lies a search for truth about
the way we live, the need to create meaning and a desire to share that
vision with others.
In the pages ahead, we will look to the past to see how plays were
created and the ways in which they have influenced the theatre today.
We will also take a look at the contemporary theatre scene and, most
importantly, look to the future. We want to focus on the great works
being presented in our own country and the development of a theatre
that speaks to us in our own voice, telling our own stories.
What is drama?
Drama: a situation or sequence of events that is highly emotional, tragic
or turbulent. In the theatre drama is a setting for dramatic or important
events. It is a work to be performed by actors on stage, radio or television;
a play. In the theatre, writing that is suitable for dramatic presentation: a
good piece of theatre.
If you were to use the internet to research the definition of drama you would
find a plethora of information. In a general sense, drama is a presentation of
work by actors. Often, it is presented to an audience and can be fictional or
based on real-life events. Drama is often defined as a serious performance
on television, or in a movie or play. ‘Drama’ is also a term used when
describing real-life situations, such as the effects on people of a natural
disaster.
Many of you will have seen a play before. Maybe you have acted in one or
have been part of a production at school. Perhaps you have been to a very
grand old theatre and have seen a musical like Wicked or Cats, or a classic
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DRAMA RELOADED
play like Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It may have been presented in an old hall
with dusty velvet curtains, or it may have been performed in a park.
Some of you will not have seen a play before, but that doesn’t matter.
What is important is that at some point in your life you get to experience a
live performance on stage by actors who know how to speak and move and
create characters. These actors are trained and know how to perform in front
of an audience so that we believe they are the people they pretend to be
and we become involved in both their character and their story.
Watching a theatre performance will give you the opportunity to experience
people who have problems and who are also flawed, like we all are. They
love and want to be loved. They try and often do not succeed. They are kings
and queens, ghosts, teenagers and parents. They are playing out stories
that reflect and mirror our own problems and lives: stories about who we
are and who we want to become. They share our feelings of inadequacy
and loneliness, failure and loss. They have dreams, falter, live, grow, love,
flourish and die before our very eyes. They are, in so many ways, just like
us. And it is all happening live.
Above all, we want you to think about what purpose theatre serves in our
contemporary society and why it has survived as an art form for so long –
thousands of years, in fact. Be delighted and transformed by the magic that
happens in a theatre as the lights dim and the curtain rises. After all, you
are the audience of tomorrow!
Activity 1.1
We all have drama in our lives. Are you a drama queen?
1. In small groups, discuss the idea of ‘drama’ in your lives. Think about
the introduction. Do we all like to exaggerate the truth and make up
things? Do all humans behave this way?
2. There are lots of situations that are literally dripping with drama
– weddings, first dates, families, holidays, phone calls, the gym
change-rooms, Facebook, etc. Perhaps some juicy scandal or drama
involving a footballer, politician or celebrity is unfolding at this very
minute and is being splashed all over the news. Talk about why these
things happen and why we are fascinated with them.
3. Television soap opera thrives on implausible story-lines with lots of
drama. What elements contribute to make these shows so successful?
Imagine being a writer for one of them. Construct the most dramatic
story–line possible. It might be fun to act out some of them. Rehearse
and show them to the class.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
What is theatre?
The terms ‘drama’ and ‘theatre’ are often used interchangeably, and can
sometimes be used to mean the same thing. Many of you will have done
some drama at school. You may have studied plays, improvised or made up
scenes, enacted roles and characters, played some drama games or done
dance and movement.
‘Drama’ is a very broad term and means a lot of things to different people.
The word ‘drama’ is Greek for ‘action’, derived from the word meaning ‘to do’.
While drama often refers to the printed text of a play, for us drama is more
an individual pursuit that is undertaken in a social context, classroom or
space. Drama is really an extension of child’s play, and may not necessarily
require a formal audience. It is about you and developing your skills, as
both an actor and a person.
Theatre, by contrast, is a collective art form, in which actors, designers,
technicians and directors all work together for a common goal: the staging
of a play before an audience in the theatre space. It is very much about the
performance of a play.
In this book we will be talking a lot about both drama and theatre. You
will find drama related to the person, character or actor, as well as the
scenario and storytelling function. Theatre as a storytelling play can be
synonymous with the venue for performance.
Did you know?
The two famous masks of ‘Comedy’ and ‘Tragedy’ most commonly associated
with both drama and theatre are Greek in origin. Thalia is the mask or
‘muse’ of comedy and has a smile on her face, while Melpomene is the muse
of tragedy and has a mouth that curls downwards in sadness. We will be
taking a much closer look at both forms of drama in the next two chapters.
muse
often
described as
the artist’s
inspiration
or drive; the
inspiration to
action
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Activity 1.2
symbol
The masks of Thalia and Melpomene are a symbol of the theatre and have
been around for thousands of years. They are very well known, but perhaps
it is time they had a ‘make-over’.
1. In pairs, use a computer to create digital images, draw pictures or
use papier mâche to construct two new masks that represent Comedy
and Tragedy for audiences of the twenty-first century.
2. Give both masks a contemporary and new face that speaks of the two
aspects of drama in the technological age. Are two masks sufficient?
Perhaps we need more than two? Consider the idea of tragi-comedy.
tragicomedy
Theatre Beginnings
something
that represents or suggests something else;
symbols often
take the form
of words, visual images or
gestures that
are used to
convey ideas
a kind
of drama
representing
some acion in
which serious
and comic
scenes are
blended
The word ‘theatre’ comes from the ancient Greek word theatron, meaning
‘the seeing place’: literally a place where people can come to look at
others. Some people say the theatre is a place that holds a mirror to life;
it reflects our world and the people who inhabit it. Others suggest that it is
a microscope through which human behaviour can be examined in detail, or
even a telescope with which to observe it from a distance.
Whichever way you choose to look at it, the theatre is a very powerful
medium and has been with us for a long time. The theatre provides a
window through which the audience can gaze onto a series of other worlds.
You can see how people behave and how they react in the story they are
playing out. The theatre therefore is very much like a mirror. It allows us
to see ourselves, our own lives and stories reflected on a stage. It asks us
to pause and consider who we are and where are we going, what are our
responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and to ponder the times we
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
are living in, the governments we are electing and those with whom we are
sharing our lives.
Plays use real people, known as ‘actors’, to play roles on a stage that
combine to tell stories. These actors then use their skills of voice, gesture
and acting to bring those stories to life on a stage. And, if they do it well,
we become lost and involved in a most wonderful adventure.
Did you know?
The theatre has three patron saints, St Genesius of Rome and St Vitus, both
Catholic martyrs from the third century who are invoked to protect actors
from disaster, and Pelagia the Penitent. Before his conversion, St Genesius
was an actor in a series of plays that mocked Christianity. St Pelagia, an
Antiochene saint (from modern-day Turkey), started as a celebrated dancer
and courtesan, and later converted to Catholicism.
The theatre of the Western world that we know today has its origins in the
myths, legends and rituals of ancient cultures, such as the Egyptians and
our ancestors who lived in caves. Paintings, hieroglyphics, artefacts and
adornments from temples and relics that have been found by archaeologists
often display a series of gods and their stories, a life cycle, changes in
season and depictions of ordinary, everyday life and events: scenes of
hunting, food collection or domestic life. They draw attention to the
natural world and all its complexities and also to the ‘other’ world that
lies beyond death. They seek to explain the mystery of both life and death
and attempt to show and pass on an experience from one generation to
another: from older to younger, giving guidance and teaching on how one
should live one’s life.
A ritual is like a ceremony, or a series of actions and words that have a
special meaning and are often repeated over and over again. They usually
have symbolic value and meaning, and may be related to a particular religion
or culture. Rituals may be performed by an individual, a group or a whole
community. In many ancient civilisations, most rituals were overseen by a
priest, shaman or magic-man who possessed knowledge or insight, usually
unknown to others within the culture. Dressed in special clothes, he may
recite secret words or use specific actions, leading others as part of the
ritual. The ritual may be related to an act of purification or dedication, or
used as part of a ‘rite of passage’ ceremony.
Most rituals have one of three purposes. They are designed for pleasure,
power or duty. The most common form of ritual is one of power or influence
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DRAMA RELOADED
over a person or of nature. A ceremony or ritual might be held to signify the
transition of a child into adulthood, a youth into a warrior, to ensure that
crops grew, that there was a good harvest, or to welcome the flooding of the
river’s delta. Other ceremonies were designed to appease the gods, who were
perceived to be angry through their actions of a drought, earthquake or another
natural phenomenon that was inexplicable to the people of that culture.
Did you know?
The first-ever recorded example of theatre is the Mephite Drama from
ancient Egypt, which recounts the story of death and resurrection of the god
Osiris and the coronation of his son, Horus. This passion-play was performed
annually by priests at the most sacred site of Abydos, the burial place of
Osiris, from 2500 to 550 bc.
Look Closer
Rituals, dance, music, ceremonies and a passing on of traditions and secrets
from one generation to another are very much what corroboree is all about in
Australian Indigenous cultures. Corroborees have many functions. What are
some of their other purposes? How are they expressed? Aboriginal culture
also has many other rituals and ceremonies, such as coming of age and
initiations into adulthood.
• In small groups, research the nature and purpose of a corroboree.
Depending on where you live, you may be able to contact the Elders of
local Aboriginal tribes to find out about their rituals and ceremonies.
Activity 1.3
In small groups, discuss the role of ritual in our everyday lives.
1. Do you have a special ritual when you play sport on Saturdays, sit an
exam, go out with friends, etc? Think about some of the other rituals
that you have been a part of: as a guest at a wedding, a twenty-first
or eighteenth birthday celebration or a bar mitzvah, as a mourner at a
funeral, an observer at a graduation ceremony, and so on. Consider the
traditions associated with each ritual, how and why they have come
about and how they are enacted.
2. Consider how different cultures deal with rituals and celebrations;
for example, Christmas, Festival of Eid or Hannukah, Catholic Easter/
Greek Orthodox Easter, Chinese/Vietnamese Lunar New Year, the ‘Call
to Prayer’ of the Muslim faith, etc.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
3. Think about your everyday rituals. Consider your ‘morning ritual’ of
going to school or work. The alarm clock going off, your bathroom
routines, breakfast, the trip to school. In small groups of four or five,
act out one ritual as a small movement piece. Consider the transitions
between every action so that the piece flows from one to the other.
Slow down all the actions and exaggerate them so that they are clear
and understandable to an audience. Have group members become the
alarm clock, the toaster, an electric toothbrush, the breakfast radio/
morning television host/presenter and so on.
Different cultural rituals
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Ritual and the Theatre
In the theatre, both the idea and use of ritual are very strong and have been
used for thousands of years. From the ceremonies of the Egyptians to the
contemporary theatre of today, ritual plays a very important role, operating
not just at the physical level, but also at the symbolic level.
In many ways, going to the theatre is not unlike going to church or
attending a ceremony. People gather together for a reason. It is not a random
act. We want to share in something, to be transported to another place or
time. Each person enters into an unwritten contract with the theatre and,
whether onstage, backstage or in the audience, everyone must play a role.
For several hours, actors pretend to be someone other than who they
really are. They tell a story and act out each part of the play so that the
audience can find meaning and be challenged or moved by the events
onstage. We, members of the audience, also play a part in this ‘bargain’.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
For several hours we will believe that the actors onstage are really the
people they say they are. We see them (apparently) having breakfast in a
house, fighting on a bloody battlefield or shipwrecked on a strange shore.
We are prepared to accept the events taking place on the stage as real and
as happening in real time. We are prepared to enter into this world because
we want to. It provides an escape from our everyday lives and allows us a
chance to be challenged, entertained, moved and provoked.
This contract that we are all a part of is called the willing suspension
of disbelief. We have all agreed that for two or so hours we will put ‘real
life’ aside and become part of something else, something special, pretend
or make-believe: just as you probably did when you were a child, pretending
to be a doctor in a hospital, a princess riding a dragon or an astronaut on
the moon. You really believed you were who you said you were, and that
what was happening was real. It is through this special relationship that
the magic of the theatre actually occurs.
Activity 1.4
willing
suspension
of
disbelief
the temporary
acceptance
as believable
of events or
characters
that would
ordinarily be
considered
incredible
1. In pairs, consider contemporary life from birth to death. Draw a
timeline and mark the milestones in a person’s life. What rituals,
ceremonies or celebrations accompany each one? Have they changed
from your parents’ time? What about the lives of your grandparents
or people living 100 years ago? Are they the same for males and
females? Compare your timeline with another pair and present your
findings to the class.
2. In small groups, develop a moving set of tableaux, or living pictures,
that identify these milestones in one person’s life. Perform these for
the class.
Did you know?
In ancient Rome, ‘persona’ meant ‘mask’. A citizen could demonstrate his or
her lineage through imagines, or death masks of the ancestors. These were
wax casts kept in a lararium, or the family shrine. At funerals, professional
actors would wear these masks to perform deeds of the lives of the ancestors,
thus linking the role of mask as a ritual object and in theatre.
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DRAMA RELOADED
Western Theatre Traditions
The journey from those early rituals to today’s theater is a very long one and
covers many thousands of years. Changes in our understanding of the world
through science and discovery, population growth, urbanisation, the role of
church, government, royalty and state, literacy, fashion and trends, and the
need for entertainment as an escape have all played a part in its creation.
Above all, this reflects the need we all have to tell stories and find a place
to share them.
As Shakespeare suggested, ‘the play’s the thing’. Over the centuries, the
driving force behind the theatre came from playwrights who were writing
plays: they wanted an audience to see them performed and needed to create
spaces for them to be seen. The theatre, like all art forms, was subjected
to changes in politics, styles, tastes and purposes. It reflected the life and
society of the people who were living at that particular period in time.
Many of the plays that survive today provide a unique opportunity for
us to glimpse into those worlds of the past, to experience life from their
perspective and to learn that perhaps people and what concerns them have
not changed all that much over several thousand years.
Did you know?
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie is in the Guinness Book of Records for
being the longest-running play. It opened on 25 November 1952 in London’s
West End and is still running today, after more than 26000 performances.
Theatre Today
niche
audience
a play is
written and
performed
with a small
and quite
select
audience in
mind
Many of you will have been to the theatre to see a play. You may have been
excited at the prospect, or perhaps you were reluctantly dragged along by a
parent, teacher, relative or friend. All major capital cities and many of the
larger regional cities in Australia have an arts centre precinct, usually with
a range of theatres and performance spaces. Many companies, such as the
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane Theatre Companies, perform
at their arts centres and often tour other states or territories. The theatres
at most of these arts centres are highly contemporary in their design; they
are grand and ‘state of the art’. They are fitted with new technologies that
make them adaptable and capable of staging a variety of performances.
Other theatres exist in our cities, allowing for a variety of performances to
take place. Some of these theatres are commercial enterprises, while others
are what we would describe as ‘fringe’, or smaller, quite basic theatres where
experimental plays, new music, poetry and cabaret are performed to a small,
niche audience.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
For most of the public, however, a trip to the theatre remains a big
night out. Ticket prices, particularly those for big-budget musicals, can be
expensive. This is because they are expensive to stage and must appeal
to a mass audience in order to recoup the funds required to mount the
production. We expect to be able to dress up, socialise in the foyer and
sit on velvet seats in air-conditioned comfort, while clutching a glossy
program. We want to see an amazing array of special lighting and sound
effects, and a thoroughly professional and talented cast. We expect to be
entertained, and above all, we expect to be dazzled! For many of us, this is
what the theatre is all about.
You might be surprised to learn that not all theatre is performed in quite
this way. The theatre does not always need to be slick, sophisticated and
expensive. Away from the glamour, the lights and the advertising hype,
a vibrant theatre scene somehow manages to exist in Australia. ‘Indie’
(independent) theatre is alive and well in places like Belvoir Street (Sydney),
the Malthouse/Red Stitch (Melbourne), Griffin (Sydney), Border Project
(Adelaide) and the Regal (Perth).
An amazing range of plays are performed every year in your city or town,
and you may not be even aware they are being staged. They might occur in
a car park, basement, art gallery, shopping centre, school, park or garden,
historic site, factory, warehouse or the beach. Theatre can be performed
anywhere, anytime, any place. You really only need to know where to look
to find it! Ideas about what constitutes a performance or a ‘piece of theatre’
are very much open to interpretation and, most importantly, are changing
all the time.
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Activity 1.5
1. Using newspapers and the internet, see what plays are currently
being staged in your town, city or state. Choose a play and check out
the synopsis, playwright, cast details and any reviews you can find.
Download brochures, ticket prices and other information. Can you
find a play that is being staged that is not part of the ‘mainstream’?
Your research can go further, looking at whether productions are new
works or from the classic canon.
2. Keep a detailed log of the images used in the marketing. What are the
important points in ‘selling’ a production and finding an audience?
Did you know?
The Botany Bay Theatre was the first Australian commercial theatre enterprise
to open, in 1796, with convicts and former convicts performing in all major
roles. Admission prices of between one shilling for a gallery seat and five
shillings for a box were payable in meat, flour or rum if cash was a problem.
Although a success, the theatre closed after two years because many former
convicts went to the theatre, observed who was there, then went and robbed
their houses. Governor Phillip had the place razed. Another venture met the
same fate two years later.
Drama in film and television
Most people today usually see a lot more films than they do stage plays or
musicals. Many people also watch a lot of television. They use it to keep up
with the news and to be entertained or diverted from the humdrum of their
busy lives. It fills in many hours. Television has become an intrinsic part of
contemporary life.
Each of the following three media: film, television and theatre, have their
own unique style and way of communicating to an audience. Each is about
many different things and is motivated by many opposing forces. Each tries
to reach out to audiences with a series of messages and to embrace a broad
range of people. While it is hoped that people are entertained as well, the
chief motivating force for all three media is to obtain a good return on the
money invested. Often they succeed in getting people into cinemas, lounge
rooms and theatres, but sometimes they fail – and often quite dismally.
The ways in which we view and think about film and television have
changed dramatically over the past two decades. How do you engage
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
an audience that is
increasingly ‘media savvy’
and busy, overwhelmed
by
advertising
and
possibly cynical about
politics? What about the
competition
between
these media and the
new media for audience
attention? Each medium
has to re-invent itself
on a continuing basis,
to experiment with new
ideas and recycle old
ones when the temptation is to remain within safe and familiar territory.
Think about the many hundreds of films you probably have seen already in
your life, the thousands of hours you may have spent in front of a television
or computer screen, the number of lame commercials you have sat through
and the new ways in which you are actually engaging with your television
set. As a member of the audience, you are setting the agenda. You are
watching what you want to watch when you want to watch it. This is quite
a revolutionary concept in the media and entertainment industries, and has
television producers and advertisers confused and scrambling for new ways
to engage their audiences.
Now, consider the number of times you have engaged live with an actor
in a theatre or a musician at a concert. You probably can count these
experiences on one hand. And yet, the theatre offers audiences an experience
that is quite unique and different from both film and television. It is the
very fact that the actors are actually there, onstage in front of you, that is
so special. They are performing for you. It is a special relationship between
just you and the performer. It also is a moment and an experience that can
never be repeated.
Unlike film or television, if something goes wrong, like an actor forgets
the lines, stumbles into the scenery or there is a sudden power blackout,
the play cannot be stopped. When something goes wrong, there are no
‘re-takes’. The show must go on!
In the theatre, anything can happen – and sometimes does. There is
an element of risk or ‘danger’ involved for the actors, and backstage and
technical crews who have to prepare for or face the audience each night,
hopeful that everything will go as rehearsed but knowing that something
unexpected could happen.
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Did you know?
The most expensive stage show ever mounted was a three-and-a-half hour
musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, which opened in Toronto,
Canada in February 2006. With a cast of sixty-five, the show cost US$29.6
million before being transferred to London’s West End.
There are many other differences between the three media. The biggest
one is budget and scope. A recent blockbuster film produced in Hollywood,
Avatar, reportedly cost nearly US$300 million to make and was released
simultaneously around the world. It was also billed as a ‘3D experience’,
something new that producers are using to encourage a computer-literate
generation of movie-goers (who would rather download films) to return
to the multiplex cinemas. To date, Avatar is one of the biggest box-office
success stories in film history.
It is hard to imagine a play in the theatre ever approaching the kind of
film experience one gets from a blockbuster film. In the theatre, actors
are limited in where they can perform and the audience numbers that can
attend each performance. This is the nature of live performance. While big
theatre events are sometimes staged in stadiums and outside venues for
many thousands of people, the logistics of creating a piece of theatre on
this scale is very difficult and very expensive.
For contemporary audiences, who have seen so many movies and are used
to seeing blockbuster films with ‘surround sound’ or amazing special effects,
a trip to the theatre can be somewhat ‘underwhelming’ or a disappointing
experience. They are more familiar with film and television, and therefore
often expect a theatre performance to be like a film or a television program.
This is just not possible, simply because they are completely different forms
of art.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
People also have many distractions in their lives. MP3 players, smart
phones, online games, internet services and a host of other new and
emerging technologies demand our attention. We are no longer used to
sitting in silence in a space like a theatre, listening to words, dialogue and
poetry, watching people engage in human relationships. The theatre asks
that we engage with the actors and the actions they are performing. We are
required to think about what is going on before our eyes. We must consider
many things at once: plot and symbol, the truths characters reveal about
themselves and us, and what the play really is all about.
The changing face of theatre
Connected through the internet, a random group of 200 non-performers
arrive at the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne at midday on a mutually
agreed day. There was a post on Facebook, calling people to ‘flash’. Suddenly,
the group breaks into dance, performing a simple routine that is shared,
spontaneous and fun. To the audience of stunned onlookers it is surprising,
irreverent and entertaining.
At a recent international festival, a play was performed in a person’s
apartment with only six audience members, who prepared food, created
characters and devised the action as the evening unfolded! The play was
devised by the group as it went along according to the ideas, direction and
wishes of the audience. Is that really a play? Is it a piece of theatre? Let’s
explore these and other performance possibilities in the coming chapters,
keeping an open mind about what drama is and what a play can be.
Our ideas about exactly what constitutes a performance are in a state
of flux. We are being challenged daily through our increasingly globalised
world, connection on the internet, by contemporary artists who are
continually looking for new ways to express themselves and their ideas,
and new technological media that are as yet unexplored. In fact, the entire
nature of the theatre is adapting or evolving to meet the current political and
economic climate, forced, through crises in funding, perceived irrelevance
and shrinking audiences, to re-think and re-invent itself for the 21st
century. The theatre is now competing for our money and attention with
other leisure industries, including the film, wine, food and travel industries.
However, the theatre will prevail. It is too strong to fail or disappear.
The desire to see ourselves and our lives, to tell our own stories and have
them presented on stage is overwhelming, particularly as we seek to define
and redefine ourselves as Australians and exactly what that means at the
beginning of a new and challenging century.
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Of course, a play needs to be about something. Whether it has been
written by a famous playwright, is a re-working of a classic play, is based on
a poem, song, film, historical event or devised by a group, ideas need to be
communicated to those watching or participating in the event. A play, like
any piece of art, must have something to say and it needs to find a form or a
series of ways to make it accessible to the audience, so that those ‘ideas’ or
‘thoughts’ can be sent, processed and received. While there may be a myriad
of interpretations as to the meaning and thoughts behind a piece of theatre,
what is important is that the process should take place. In the end, all that
is required for a play or piece of theatre to occur is: an idea, intention or
thought, actor(s), a space and an audience.
Activity 1.6
A ‘flash’ or ‘event’ can be a fun thing to do and is really about challenging
the unsuspecting spectators’ perceptions of reality. However, it should be
random, well planned and rehearsed. Be sure not to break any school rules
or hurt anyone. Secrecy is also an important element between participants
to ensure maximum effect.
1. At recess or lunchtime, a group of about ten or fifteen people (or as
many as want to be involved) move to the canteen in slow motion
and order food, or play a game of volleyball, tennis or cricket without
a ball.
2. Consider the reaction of those around you. Allow it to develop. It
may take time but persevere. It will be worth it.
3. In a corridor during the rush to class, everyone stops, points and
looks in the same direction. Then everyone changes to the opposite
direction, points and pauses.
4. Create a tableau of something unexpected: a vase of flowers in
the corridor or being on the beach. Every participant should wear
something blue, or everyone holds up a sign that says ‘Why?’
5. Break into a dance, sing, chant, hum or just pretend you are a group
of aardvarks! Brainstorm with friends for ideas. Choose the location
carefully. No doubt you will have lots to choose from.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
A collaborative art
To develop all those thoughts, ideas and intentions into plays and
performances requires many people – actors, directors, writers, designers,
producers, choreographers, stage managers, technicians and a range of
committed individuals – to come together willingly to create and bring
something to life on the stage. Ideally, they are united in purpose, sharing
their skills and expertise, and working together to forge a shared vision.
Theatre is a collaborative art form, not unlike making a film or producing
a television program that requires the varied skills of many people for it to
come to fruition. Collaboration is one of the great joys of working in the
theatre, but it also presents a minefield of potential problems and disasters.
While the function is changing for a range of reasons, in the theatre, the
director of the play sets out his or her vision to all the other people who
will be working on the play. It is the director’s job to ‘sell’ this vision so
that others ‘come on board,’ become enthused, understand what it is the
director is trying to say to the audience and want to be a part of it. They
will want to contribute their own ideas and build on the director’s idea so
that it becomes a shared vision. This is what collaboration means: offering
one’s skills, being a part of something, a team – but still being able to be
heard, to participate and to share ideas and solve problems as they arise,
with the group and with others.
director
the person
responsible for
the interpretive
aspects of a
stage, film
or television
production who supervises the
integration of
elements, such
as acting,
staging and
lighting,
required to
realise the
writer’s
conception
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There are of course a number of other people who are vital in the staging
of any play. They include:
• Playwright – the person who writes the play that is to be performed.
Increasingly, this function is changing as theatre companies devise their
own works or create pieces based on past texts or in response to current
issues and events.
• Actors – the people who will be performing the words and actions written
or devised by the playwright, and which are then shaped and modified
by the director.
• Designers – costume designers create and often construct the costumes,
clothes worn by the actors onstage; set designers make the scenery, sets
or props that will be onstage; lighting designers enable the audience to
see the actors and create special effects; sound/music engineers enable
the audience to hear the action through use of microphones and sound
effects; publicity/poster designers ensure that the public knows the play
is on and all relevant details, often designing posters and flyers for
advertising.
• Stage manager – the person who controls and is responsible backstage
for the running of any performance.
• Musical director/choreographer – if the play is a musical it will
require someone to oversee the teaching of songs to be sung and the
organisation of musicians. Dance moves will also need to be devised,
taught and perfected by the performers.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
• Front of house – the person who coordinates the sale of tickets, the work
of the ushers and is responsible for the organisation and seating of the
audience. This role represents all that falls in the care of the theatre,
from the edge of the stage to the front of the theatre.
• The critic – media outlets such as newspapers, television and radio
broadcasters often have a person who goes along to see the play very
early on and reviews it for the public. Increasingly, this function is
being filled by bloggers online who post reviews on a daily basis. Word
of mouth is still the strongest form of advertising and often the harshest
critic. The power of the tweet (Twitter) and Facebook post has also
emerged as a significant influence on drama and theatre audiences.
With so many people involved, it is inevitable that the director’s initial vision
will tend to grow, to develop and change over time. Due to this collaboration,
the play will go in new directions, branch out, sometimes into territory not
previously considered. This is one of the great things about working in the
theatre, because during the process of working on the play the vision has
been explored, processed, adapted and finally re-interpreted by all involved.
What we began with initially has grown. It is an organic process.
It has now become our play, and this is why the theatre is one of the
greatest collaborative art forms today.
The Dramatic Life
The life and work of various dramatists are highlighted through­out this
book, so that you can learn more about individuals who have helped to
shape the world of ‘drama’ into what it is today.
When asked to name a famous playwright, many of us answer William
Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams or David Williamson. It is little surprise
that they are all men. In the past, men often owned the theatres, acted in
the plays, financed the productions and were acquainted with people who
could help them. They knew the ways of the world and were not constrained
by their gender. Men like these have been writing plays for centuries. Others
that come to mind: Oscar Wilde, Berthold Brecht and Arthur Miller.
By and large, women playwrights continue to be a relatively rare species,
but are growing in number as we seek to hear the female voice on many
issues and to experience the world from a woman’s perspective. We start off
by looking at one of the first female playwrights in Western theatre, Aphra
Behn. An Englishwoman, Behn was writing during the Restoration period
in England – about 1660 – but even today is still not widely known, read
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or performed. While many details about her life are relatively sketchy, many
of her plays are both humorous and satirical. Behn deserves her place in
theatre history. She was also a novelist, of which Oroonoko is best known,
and a poet and short-story writer.
Until the period of the Restoration
of the English monarchy, by Charles
II in 1660, women were not
allowed to perform on the stage.
All female roles were played by men
dressed as women. When females
finally took to the stage it created
a bit of a stir and many young men
went regularly to the theatre with
the express purpose of selecting a
mistress. Many female actors also
seized the opportunity to establish
a liaison with the gentlemen in the
audience, as much to advance their
status as to increase their incomes:
most notably this included Nell
Gwynn, who became the mistress of Aphra Behn (1640–89)
King Charles II, and Elizabeth Barry, who developed a reputation as a great
actor and also as the lover of the Earl of Rochester.
It is thought that Aphra Behn first began writing for the stage following
a stint in a debtor’s prison. As a Tory, strong supporter of the king and
member of the court she had been recruited to become a political spy
when she travelled to Antwerp in Belgium, operating under the code name
of Astrea, a name she also used to publish some of her writings. Behn’s
work there was not entirely successful, and the king never paid her for her
services. Forced to borrow money to live, she returned to London in 1667,
penniless.
Upon Behn’s release from prison, she began to cultivate the friendship
of other playwrights and was soon writing her own plays. Most of these
were comedies that dealt with the theme of forced marriage. Other themes
included mistaken identity and disguise. Behn’s work displayed a strong
understanding and sense of the theatre through her use of visual cues and
comedy, which were incorporated into her pieces. Her most famous plays are
The Rover and The Forced Marriage.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
Look Closer
Using the internet, investigate the relationship between Aphra Behn’s play
The Rover, and Thomaso by Thomas Killigrew, which tells the story of a
disreputable young man who is set against the wit and freedom of a young
woman named Hellena.
Activity 1.7
Research the development of women playwrights from Aphra Behn to those
writing for the theatre today, such as Caryl Churchill (England) and Joanna
Murray-Smith (Australia).
1. Have the writings and topics of women and men playwrights changed
over the years?
2. Why have so few women written for the theatre or for film?
3. What might we do to change this situation?
Considering the above points, write an essay of no more than 600 words.
Outline some ideas on whether what women write about is different from
the concerns of male playwrights and why this might be the case.
Did you know?
As women took to the stage in the Restoration (1660–1700) period, a new
kind of drama was created for them, known as ‘breeches’ roles. The plots
involved both cross-dressing and disguise. A woman would appear in men’s
clothes (breeches being tight-fitting, knee-length pants, the standard men’s
garment of the time) so that she could pretend to be a boy. This meant
she could hide or escape, and therefore engage in activities or adventures
normally not allowed to girls. They were very popular plays.
Centre stage
This feature allows us to take a closer look or place ‘centre stage’ a number
of dramatic elements such as the way a certain play was written and its
style, the theatre or performance space it was to be staged upon (which
often changed to reflect changing tastes), new forms of architecture and
advancements in technology.
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DRAMATIC Periods, styles and conventions
There are ten major periods throughout history that have had an impact on
the development of the theatre we have today. Many of these periods are
explored later in this book. Each is unique and has a style that makes it
different from other plays written at other times. Each of these styles has
special ways of being performed. These are known as conventions.
A new play often builds on what has come before. Many plays mix styles
and conventions, and this is particularly true of contemporary theatre.
The ten periods and styles are:
1. Greek and Roman theatre
2. Medieval mystery and morality plays
3. Commedia dell’Arte
4. Shakespearean and Elizabethan theatre
5. Jacobean drama
6. Restoration theatre
7. Comedy of manners
8. Victorian theatre
9. Theatre of Naturalism
10.Twentieth-century theatre.
While the focus of this book is predominantly on Western theatre traditions,
it is important to remember that in other countries various other forms of
theatre have been performed and have flourished simultaneously over the
centuries. Indeed, many contemporary theatre-makers are looking to places
like China, Africa, India and Iran for ancient theatre forms that can be
revived and re-interpreted for our contemporary society.
Englishman Peter Brook was one of the first great theatre-makers to look
to other countries in his search for truth and his desire to create a new form
of theatre. In the 1970s, Brook founded the International Centre for Theatre
Research, and together with a number of international actors, singers and
musicians set off to explore ancient theatre forms in a range of countries.
This centre is now based in the Bouffes du Nord Theatre, Paris, France, and
continues to produce and tour plays.
Look Closer
In small groups, research the International Centre for Theatre Research. Find
out about Peter Brook, an amazing man who has contributed significantly to
the theatre. Focus on his productions of the Indian epic, The Mahabarata,
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
and Conference of the Birds, and his landmark productions with Royal
Shakespeare Company. His book, The Empty Space, is still considered to be
a seminal piece of writing on the theatre.
Find out about some other theatre forms from around the world. Consider:
• Kabuki
• Noh
• Shadow puppetry
• Peking opera
• Bunraku.
These are just a few suggestions. It is likely that you or many other students
in your class have come to Australia from another country. Discuss the
theatre traditions of the countries people came from, what plays they may
have seen and how they were performed. If you have not seen one performed,
no doubt someone at home, an aunt or uncle, parent or grandparent will be
able to provide some information.
Kabuki is a Japanese theatre form
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Curtain call
‘Curtain call’ is a feature you will find near the end of each chapter in this
book. In this section you are encouraged to extend your knowledge or try
something dramatic.
Working in pairs and using books and the internet, research one of the
styles listed on page 26. Draw up a table like the one below and fill it in.
From your reading and research, find out about the convention associated
with the style and at least five other related facts.
Each pair presents its findings to the class, working in chronological
order, from the earliest to the latest styles.
If you are both feeling brave, it can be fun to present this information
using aspects of your allotted style or making use of the conventions to
illustrate them in a fun way that helps people to understand them. You may
decide to use masks, include music or prepare a short scene as well.
Rehearse, polish and refine your selected scene and present it to the class,
using simple costumes, masks or props as effectively as you can to really
capture the feel and mood of the piece.
Style
Commedia
dell’Arte
Time
Italy/
Europe
1550–
1760
Convention
Masks/
Acrobatics/
Fast-paced
dialogue
Features
Disguise/
mistaken
identity
Stage
Outdoors
Piazza/
marketplace
Facts
Stock characters
‘Lazzi’
Clowning/
physical comedy
Harlequin/
Columbine
Punch & Judy
Following your selected theatrical style, research the period and timeframe
in further detail. Explore the following questions:
• Who were the major playwrights and what are some of their plays?
• What themes and ideas were they exploring?
• What is the relationship between the style of the play and the
performance space?
• What effect might this have on performance?
• What limitations might it impose on the actors or the audience?
Download a picture, draw or construct a model of your chosen theatre.
Choose one play and design costumes, sets or masks, or make up designs for
the play. Remember to consider the relationship between text, themes and
performance space so that you may achieve an overall and cohesive vision
of your production.
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CHAPTER 1: Spotlight on Drama
Skill building
Each chapter in this book features an extension activity for those looking
for a challenge. For this activity you will need to create and refine your
own ritual as a theatrical performance. With due care and respect for the
countries whose rituals you have researched earlier in the chapter, use them
as inspiration to dramatise a new ritual as if from some ancient practice.
Keep it simple. Work in groups and develop steps and processes. Cover all
aspects of what might be included in a ritual that mimics the elements of
drama.
Think about how to use them in your piece: focus, space, tension,
atmosphere, mood, contrast, symbol, character or role.
Read and view more
Another feature you will notice in coming chapters is this section on further
reading and viewing, where you can find titles of plays and books related to
the subject of the chapter. Here are some introductory texts to get you started.
The Empty Space – Peter Brook
The Theatre Experience – Edwin Wilson
The Cambridge Guide to Theatre – Martin Banham
The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre – Colin Chambers
The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre – Peter Found
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