Download 6. architecture of ancient greek theatres

FOUNDATIONS OF THEATRE ASSIGNMENT:
QUESTION 1
1. AESCHYLUS:
Known as the "Father of Greek Tragedy," was born in 525 B.C. in the city of
Eleusis and died in 456 B.C.
When Aeschylus first began writing, the theatre had only just begun to evolve.
Plays were little more than animated oratorios or choral poetry supplemented with
expressive dance. A chorus danced and exchanged dialogue with a single actor who
portrayed one or more characters primarily by the use of masks. Most of the action
took place in the circular dancing area or "orchestra" which still remained from the old
days when drama had been nothing more than a circular dance around a sacred object.
It was a huge leap for drama when Aeschylus introduced the second actor. He
also attempted to involve the chorus directly in the action of the play. . Aeschylus
directed many of his own productions, and according to ancient critics, he is said to
have brought the “Furies” onstage in such a realistic manner that women miscarried
in the audience.
Although Aeschylus is said to have written over ninety plays, only seven have
survived. He was reportedly charged with "impiety" for revealing the Eleusinian
mysteries, the secret rites of the city of his birth to outsiders. It is likely, however, that
these charges were politically motivated, and he was not convicted.
Legend has it that Aeschylus met his death when an eagle mistook his bald
head for a rock and dropped a tortoise on it. Whatever the cause of his death, his life
laid the groundwork the dramatic arts would need to flourish, and by the time of his
death, there were two notable successors ready to take his place, Sophocles and
Euripides.
In addition, Aeschylus left behind two sons who would carry on his dramatic
legacy, and one of them, Euphorion, would even claim first prize at the City Dionysia,
defeating both Sophocles and Euripides in 431 BC.
2. SOPHOCLES:
Born in 495 B.C. about a mile northwest of Athens, Sophocles was to become
one of the great playwrights of the golden age. The son of a wealthy merchant, he
would enjoy all the comforts of a thriving Greek empire. He studied all of the arts. By
the age of sixteen, he was already known for his beauty and grace and was chosen to
lead a choir of boys at a celebration of the victory of Salamis. Twelve years later, his
studies complete, he was ready to compete in the City Dionysia, a festival held every
year at the Theatre of Dionysus in which new plays were presented.
In his first competition, Sophocles took first prize--defeating none other than
Aeschylus himself. More than 120 plays were to follow. He would go on to win
eighteen first prizes, and he would never fail to take at least second.
An accomplished actor, Sophocles performed in many of his own plays. In the
‘Nausicaa’ or ‘The Women Washing Clothes’, he performed a juggling act that so
fascinated his audience it was the talk of Athens for many years. However, the young
athenian's voice was comparatively weak, and eventually he would give up his acting
career to pursue other ventures.
In addition to his theatrical duties, Sophocles served for many years as an
ordained priest in the service of two local heroes, Alcon and Asclepius. He also served
on the Board of Generals, a committee that administered civil and military affairs in
Athens, and for a time he was director of the Treasury, controlling the funds of the
association of states known as the Delian Confederacy.
One of the great innovators of the theatre, he was the first to add a third actor.
He also abolished the trilogic form. Aeschylus, for example, had used three tragedies
to tell a single story. Sophocles chose to make each tragedy a complete entity in itself-as a result, he had to pack all of his action into the shorter form, and this clearly
offered greater dramatic possibilities. Many authorities also credit him with the
invention of scene-painting and periaktoi or painted prisms.
Of Sophocles' more than 120 plays, only seven have survived in their entirety.
Of these, Oedipus the King is generally considered his greatest work.
Shortly after the production of Oedipus at Colonus in 405, Sophocles passed
away. He joined Aeschylus who had long since gone to his grave and Euripides who
had passed on a few months earlier. It is believed at this point the first great age of
tragedy came to an end.
3. EURIPIDIES:
Born about 480 B.C., somewhere in the vicinity of Athens, Euripides, the son
of Mnesarchides, was destined from the beginning to be a misunderstood poet. He
presented his first set of tragedies at the Great Dionysia in 455 B.C., but did not win
his first victory until 441. In fact,he won only five awards--and the fifth of these was
not awarded until after his death. This lack of recognition might seem a bit odd when
one considers that Euripides wrote about 92 plays and was compared, even during his
lifetime, to the likes of Aeschylus and Sophocles. But Euripides was ignored by the
judges of the Greek festival because he did not cater to the fancies of the Athenian
crowd. He did not approve of their superstitions and refused to condone their moral
hypocrisy. He was a pacifist, a free thinker, and a humanitarian in an age when such
qualities were increasingly overshadowed by intolerance and violence. Perhaps that is
why he chose to live much of his life alone with his books in a cave on the island of
Salamis.
Euripides was exposed early to the religion he would so stubbornly question
as an adult. As a child, he served as cup-bearer to the guild of dancers who performed
at the altar of Apollo. The son of an influential family, he was also exposed to the
great thinkers of the day including Anaxagoras, the Ionian philosopher who
maintained that the sun was not a golden chariot steered across the sky by some
elusive god, but rather a fiery mass of earth or stone. The radical philosopher had a
profound effect on the young poet, and left with him a passionate love of truth and a
curious, questioning spirit.
Always a lover of truth, Euripides forced his characters to confront personal
issues, not just questions of State. In many ways, he is the forerunner of the modern
psychological dramatist. Although many of Euripides' plays dealt with personal issues,
he did not shy away from the social issues of the time.
However, while Euripides was busy exposing the evils of his society, others
were having a good laugh at his expense. The strange, secluded little man was an easy
target, and thus was the continual butt of the comic poets, especially Aristophanes.
Meanwhile, the playwright's life was beginning to fall apart around him. It was public
knowledge that his wife had cuckolded him. One by one, his closest friends were
banished or murdered by the State for their liberal views. The only thing that saved
Euripides from the same fate was the fact that it was his characters who spoke heresy,
not he. In the end, however, he was finally tried for impiety and left Athens in a cloud
of controversy. Although he found a temporary respite at the court of King Archelaus
in Macedonia, he could not escape his destiny. In less than eighteen months, the tragic
playwright was torn to pieces by the King's hounds in a tragic accident.
Euripides' outlook was not a cheerful one. He insisted on emphasizing the
uncertanties of life .In dissolving the rigid structure of tragedy, Euripides opened the
door for new forms of drama, as well as hybrids of existing forms.
4. ARISTOPHANES:
All the extant comedies of the fifth century B.C. belong to one man,
Aristophanes, and by most accounts Aristophanes was the greatest comic writer of his
day.
By the time Aristophanes began to write his comedies, democracy had already
begun to sour for the Athenians. The people were increasingly demoralized by the
ongoing conflicts of the Peloponnesian War. It is little wonder, therefore, that
Aristophanes laughter is tinged, even from the beginning, with tones of apprehension
and grief.
Aristophanes' first two comedies, The Banqueters and The Babylonians have
been lost. His first surviving play, The Acharnians, was written in the sixth year of the
War and, coincidentally, happens to be the world's first anti-war comedy.
Aristophanes favorite target, was another literary figure, the tragic poet Euripides.
Already satirized in The Acharnians, Euripides was later to become the subject of two
more plays: The smophoriazusae (Women at the Festival of Demeter) and The Frogs.
The comic poet passed away, leaving behind approximately forty plays--eleven
of which have survived to this day.
5. ARISTOTLE:
Aristotle was born in 384B.C. at Stagirus, a Greek colony and seaport on the
coast of Thrace. His father Nichomachus was court physician to King Amyntas of
Macedonia. His father died when he was17 and he joined "The Academy" and studied
under Plato for a period of 20 years.At the invitation of Phillip of Macedonia he
became the tutor of his 13 year old son Alexander.(later world conquerer) Upon the
death of Phillip he returned to Athens and set up his own school at Lyceum. For the
next thirteen years he devoted himself to his teaching and composing his
philosophical treatises. A charge of impiety was trumped up against him in 323B.C.
and he fled to Chalcis in Euboea In 322B.C. he complained of a stomach illness and
died suddenly.
Aristotle is remebered for his writings on logic, metaphysics,philosophy of
nature, the soul and psychology, ethics, politics, education, art and poetry and in
theatre his treatise on tragedy.
6. ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT GREEK THEATRES
Recurrent Architectural Features:
1. Usually built into a hill
2. Provide a breathtaking view to the audience
3. Offered a flat performance area:
The original orchestra floor was just smoothed dirt and was eventually
replaced with polished stone as the architecture of theatre evolved. In the center of the
orchestra there was an altar to the god Dionysus where a flute player was stationed.
Everyone in the Greek theatre was assured a clear view of the orchestra and
the stage (there were no support pillars that could block one's view) and since the
theatre was built into an already existing hill, the seats were naturally arranged on an
upward slope, assuring that each tier of seats is above the next. But even though the
designing focus was on a good viewing area, the Greek theatre boasts magical
acoustic properties as well. A single individual's voice , or even the sound of a match
being struck could rise clearly to the uppermost seats.
The circular pathway that surrounds the orchestra was called the parodos and
could be accessed from either side of the skene. The parodos was an important
element of the Greek theatre and served a double purpose: first, it provided the
audience with a way to access their seats. More importantly for the purpose of staging
the play, it provided access to the chorus and actors access to the orchestra.
QUESTION2
Essential elements of modern theatre acknowledged as having originated in the
Golden Age of Greek Theatre are:

The Comedy - of which the most celebrated were those of Aristophanes. In the
Comedies the high-and-mighty, whether God or mortal, will be lampooned. Comedy
(Côm-ôidia = Cômos-song) echoes the less formal Revels (Cômoi), both of which
celebrate the resurgence of Indestructible Life. The comic actors wear grotesque
masks and over-stuffed body-suits with padded buttocks and stomach and a large
leather phallus - even if the actor is playing a female character! This is because
Comedy harks back to our rural Phallic Processions to invoke the powers of Fertility
and to drive off pestilence. These processions include Contests (Agones) in which the
bystanders and members of the procession will hurl verbal abuse and invective at each
other . So also, Comedy incorporates such Contests, between the actors, between the
chorus and an actor, and between two hostile semichoruses.
The Tragedies – Some of the greek playwrights mentioned earlier such as
Aeshylus, Euripidesand and Aristotle were foremost proponents of this form. Aristotle
further broke down tragedy to define its elements as:- plot, characters, theme, diction,
music and spectacle.

After the trumpet blast, the chorus of 15 marches in from the
right-hand side in a rectangular formation (3X5 or 5X3); they are
preceded by the chorus leader and followed by the reed-flute player.
After reaching the dancing floor, they turn to face the audience and
begin their choral ode. The tragedy includes choral and solo song,
chant, recitative and speech. At the end of the tragedy, the chorus
will leave in the same rectangular formation.
Many of the dances in tragedy are serious and noble, involving elaborate,
conventional hand-gestures, which can tell an entire story, and yet are intelligible even
to barbarians. The chorus will often move in rectangular formation, marching and
counter-marching to the Strophes and Antistrophes of the ode, but sometimes they
dance in circular formation.
Although many of the dances are dignified, some are very lively. For example,
the "figures" include the "fire tongs" (leaping with rapid leg-crossing), the "sword
thrust," and the whirling "basket dance," which imitates the basket carrying in
religious processions or the basket-dances of Maenads and Satyrs in the worship of
Dionysos. There will also be tumbling, dances imitating searching and flying, Victory
Dances and fragments of religious processions.
The actors and chorus will also slap themselves to express grief, anger or joy.
Further, the chorus will often carry the tall staffs commonly born by Athenian citizens,
and may use them to threaten violence or pretend to beat the actors or each other.
Such ritual beating is a common way to drive away Evil and ensure Fertility, both
important in a Dionysian festival.
 The Satyr
Play –
In the Satyr Play (Saturikon) the chorus members (who belong to a Dionysian
Society) dress up as the God's companions to celebrate His Phallic Power. Its subject
is related to that of the Tragedies, but brings the Hero down a peg by its earthy humor.
Some Satyr Plays hint at initiation into a Dionysian Thiasos (Society) through riddles
or stories concerning release from the Underworld, or the capture and escape of the
Satyrs, or the care of Divine Children. In many ways the Satyr Play reveals deeper
mysteries than the Tragedies or Comedies; it is the most ancient Mystery Play
(predating the Tragedies and Comedies, which developed from it).

mask
The use of masks in ancient greek theater draw their origin from the ancient
dionysiac cult. Thespis was the first writer, who used a mask.
The members of the chorus wore masks, usually similar to each other but
completely different from the leading actors.
Because the number of actors varied from one to three, they had to put on
different masks, in order to play more roles. The actors were all men. The mask was
therefor necessary to let them play the female roles. The mask could give to the
character some sort of universality, so that the audiance would judge him on his
actions and not his appearance.
Usually the masks were made of linen, wood, or leather. A marble or stone
face was used as a mould for the mask. Human or animal hair was also used. The eyes
were fully drawn but in the place of the pupil of the eye was a small hole so that the
actor could see.

The use of Multiple Actors - as defined by Aeschylus in introducing the second
actor and the revolutionary actions of Sophocles in introducing the third.
The Tetralogy - these were three serious plays strung together to be followed
by a satyr play.
QUESTION 3
The basic difference between Greek and Roman theatre were that Roman
dramas were usually not original creations. Rather they were derivative adaptions of
earlier Greek models. Most Roman plays were about Greek characters wearing Greek
costumes, acting out Greek legends, were relatively free of cultural rituals, religious
odes or Dionysian revelry. Roman drama consisted mainly of comedy or fast paced,
joke filled, lusty stage romps full of songs, puns, topical sattire, trickery, scheming
and general debauchery.
QUESTION4
"Mystery Play," is a term describing plays that developed from liturgical drama
and treated biblical stories and themes.But were unlike liturgical dramas in that they
were staged outside of the church.
The term "Mystery Cycle"refers to a series of mystery plays that were
performed in a series relating the story of religion, from the creation of the universe,
Adam and Eve or Noahs Ark etc.
QUESTION 5
A typical commedia dell 'arte performance revolved around commonplace
predicaments, young love thwarted, marital infidelity, unrewarded social climbing and
the presumption of the rich being defeated by the righteous poor. Stock characters
play a central role in this style of theatre. Characters such such as :
* Pantalone - the too shrewd Venetian merchant
* Dottore - the absurdly pompass Bolognese academic
* Arlecchino (Harlequin)- The wily Bergamese servant.
* Brigella / Puck -.Street wise and poor
* Punchinella - Talks gibberish
* Capitano - The foolishly bragging soldier
* Tatalia -. Low ranking Captain or high ranking servant (with a stutter)
* Innamorato and Innamorata (male and female) the young lovers, unmasked.
* Columbina - one of the lovers and Pantalone's daughter
Elements found in contemporary theatre traditions include commedia dell'arte
work itself, masks in actor training in both scripted and improvisational exercises. Its
elements can be seen in any situation comedy screening nightly on television . It can
also be found where the audience in general long to see the struggler or battler subdue
the forces of economic and class oppresion.
QUESTION 6 – NAME FIVE SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDIES
1. ROMEO AND JULIET - Written in 1595
The nub of this tale, that two young lovers unnecessarily dying for love
through misunderstandings and family feudings. A true tragedy whose plot has been
told and re told in different guises since Shakespeares time and at least 2 thousand
years prior.
2. HAMLET - Written (1600- 1601)
Arguably Shakespeares best known and most popular plays. Its full title is '
The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The time of its setting is 1050A.D. ,
sixteen years prior to the battle of Hastings in which England fell to the Norman
conquerers.
First performed in 1603, Hamlet is probably the best known of William
Shakespeare's works, and may well be the most famous English-language play ever
written. Categorized as one of Shakespeare's "later tragedies," Hamlet and its
namesake hero display fully the mature Bard's extraordinary talents. But while Hamlet
has been the subject of admiring critical commentary since Elizabethan times, it has
also developed a reputation as a difficult work to analyze, one that features a very
complicated central character, addresses many complex themes, and presents the
reader with a multi-layered text which defies easy interpretation.
The character of Hamlet is one of the most compelling characters to ever rise
from the pages of English literature. He has been subjected to numerous
interpretations and studies over the centuries, his actions and thoughts analyzed and
analyzed again. And this, probably more than anything else, is the reason for Hamlet's
enduring appeal. The dilemma faced by Hamlet is in some ways the same dilemma
faced by civilized man at large. As a reader, you can come to any number of
reasonable conclusions about Hamlet, but coming to a firm conviction about this
complex character is a difficult task.
3.. JULIUS CAESAR - Written in 1599.
Rome controlled all territory east and west of the mediteranean, and Julius
Caesar had just returned from Spain in October 45 B.C. He was now undisputed
master of all the Roman realm. All threats to Roman stability now came not from
without but from within.
Caesar stood for thorough reform of the Roman political system which had
fallen into decay and corruption. In this, he was supported by the common people and
opposed chiefly by the senators and the aristocratic families. The rumblings of
discontent continue as the conspirators, (led by Marcus Brutus) must invent a reason
for having Caesar assassinated. The 'ides of March' quickly hasten and Caesar is
butchered on March 15, 44 B.C.
Brutus insists to the maddened crowd that Caesar had become too ambitious
for Romes safety and that he loved Caesar and killed him for the greater good of
Rome.
Mark Anthony soon after delivers one of Shakespeares most famous lines in '
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise
him.'
The spoils are shared between the conspirators but all are not happy, as in the
case of Cassius whose depression causes him to order his slave to kill him. And
finally Brutus befell the same fate.
4. ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA - Written in 1601.
Begins almost at the point where Julius Caesar had left off. Octavius Caesar was
Emperor and had awarded Mark Anthony overseer of the eastern realm. In 41 B.C. he
encountered Cleopatra the fascinating Queen of Egypt. He fell sufficiently in love
with her to forget his duties to Rome and of the price he would have pay to Octavius
for doing so. After much wrangling and warring a defeated Mark Anthony, (who had
spilt the blood of many thousands of people in his quest for love) fell on his sword.
Cleopatera was on suicide guard after one botched attempt, but finally got it right
the second time when a slave secreted an asp in a basket of figs. She thus joins her
beloved and denies Octavius his final victory.
5. MACBETH
Macbeth is an action-packed , psychological thriller that has not lost its
impact in four hundred years. The politically ambitious character of Macbeth is as
timely today as he was to Shakespeare's audience.
The plot of a blindly ambitious general with a strong-willed wife who must try
to cope with the guilt engendered by their murder of an innocent king in order to
further their power.The historical Macbeth reigned for 17 years and survived the
battles which returned Malcolm to the throne: whereas, Shakespeare presents
a series of events which speed to the conclusion of a Macbeth defeated and beheaded.
NAME FIVE SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDIES
1. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.-.(Written1596 or 1597)
Antonio is infatuated with his friend Bassanio, but Bassanio is after a rich
heiress and if he can marry her can pay off all his debts and finance a new venture.
Antonio promptly offers to finance the project but must approach the rich jewish
money lender Shylock for assistance. Shylock eventually agrees but stipifies that if
Antonio does not pay the loan on time apound of flesh shall be cut from his body.
News comes in that Antonio’s merchant ships are lost at sea, with no way of
servicing the debt he feels. Shylock has won his bet and that his end is nigh.
But with some twists of fate and more than a sprinkling of unadultarated
racism , Antonio walks free and both marry the girls of their dreams.
So these tragical beginnings of this rich merchant's story were all forgotten in
the unexpected good fortune which ensued; and there was leisure to laugh at the
comical adventure of the rings, and the husbands that did not know their own wives:
Gratiano merrily swearing, in a sort of rhyming speech, that ... while he lived, he'd
fear no other thing
2. A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM - (Written in 1595)
There was a law in the city of Athens which gave to its citizens the power of
compelling their daughters to marry whomsoever they pleased; for upon a daughter's
refusing to marry the man her father had chosen to be her husband, the father was
empowered by this law to cause her to be put to death. Hermia pleaded in excuse for
her disobedience, that Demetrius had formerly professed love for her dear friend
Helena, and that Helena loved Demetrius to distraction; but this honourable reason,
which Hermia gave for not obeying her father's command, moved not the stem Egeus.
They eloped , and stole away to woods in which Lysander and Hermia proposed to
meet. It was the favourite haunt of those little beings known by the name of Fairies.
Oberon the king, and Titania the queen of the fairies, with all their tiny train
of followers, in this wood held their midnight revels. Hermia's father, who came to the
wood in pursuit of his runaway daughter.
Hermia's father, who came to the wood in pursuit of his runaway daughter no
longer opposed her marriage with Lysander, but gave his consent that they should be
wedded on the fourth day from that time, being the same day on which Hermia had
been condemned to lose her life; and on that same day Helena joyfully agreed to marry
her beloved and now faithful Demetrius. The fairy king and queen, who were invisible
spectators of this reconciliation, and now saw the happy ending of the lovers' history,
brought about through the good offices of Oberon, received so much pleasure, that
these kind spirits resolved to celebrate the approaching nuptials with sports and revels
throughout their fairy kingdom.
3. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
The Taming of the Shrew is not one of the Shakespearean plays traditionally
taught in English courses, but the lively comic plot and appealing characters make it
an excellent introduction to the Bard. Because the play deals with relationships
between several different "courting" couples, it can capture the attention of
adolescents and spark lively debate on the age-old "battle of the sexes."
4. THE TEMPEST
The Tempest is generally regarded as Shakespeare's last play, first performed
in 1611 for King James I and again for the marriage festivities of Elizabeth, the King's
daughter, to Frederick, the Elector Palatine. The play can be read as Shakespeare's
commentary on European exploration of new lands. The theme of Utopianism islinked
to the explorations of new lands. Also, humour and pageantry in the play heightens its
appeal to a wider audience. ? The play emphasizes dramatic effects. Because it was
performed at court, there is a lot of stage business: music, dance, masque-like shows.
The role of the artist is explored through Prospero's use of his magic, and parallels can
be drawn to Shakespeare's own sense of his artistry.
5. TWELFTH NIGHT
When a ship carrying a brother-sister pair of twins sinks near the coast of Illyria,
the sister, Viola, is washed ashore, and, assuming her sibling, Sebastian, has perished,
she disguises herself as him and accepts a position as a page. However, she falls in
love with his/her master the duke, whose only charge for his page is to woo a local
noblewoman for him, but the Duke's target instead falls for the disguised Viola,
setting in motion a dizzying comedy of errors.
QUESTION 8
If I were to choose a Shakespearean play from those listed above making it
relevant to a modern Gold Coast audience then I would choose "The Merchant of
Venice." Set amongst the backdrop of Surfers Paradise and its surrounding canals.
Antonio, the merchant has a male friend (Bruce) to whom he is devoted with a
self sacrificial intensity that is almost unbelievable. He appears to represent
homosexual love which is mostly hinted at. The male friend is in debt up to his
testicles with his new web developement business and is about to woo a well to do
young lady with the hope of marriage and anullment of his financial distress. The
object of his affections is Jessica the daughter of the money lender (Shalakh). He dare
not ask his future father in law for help.
Antonio agrees to go guarantor for his friend. Bruce is reluctant but finally
agrees with Antonios assurances that his own businesses will be fine in surety. But all
goes wrong and Antonio is asked to give his "pound of flesh," over to Shalakh when
the debt cannot be serviced.(due to the latest dot.com crash)
Bruce asks Jessica for her hand in marriage to which she agrees and places a
ring on her finger. He pleads with Jessica to ask her father for leniency over the loan
but she refuses, they argue and she returns the ring.
Bruce realises at this point his dormant love for Antonio and offers his ring as
a sign of eternal love. Bruces internet business booms, he pays off Antonios debt and
all ends in a blaze of happiness.
QUESTION 9
RESTORATION COMEDY.
This form was classed "Old Comedy" but was renamed "Restoration Comedy"
because it coincided with Charles II's return to England. The main goal of these
comedies of manners in the period of Restoration is to mock society, or in other ways
lift up society for scrutiny, which could cause negative or positive results.
KABUKI
Kabuki is a traditional form of Japanese theater. It was founded early in the
17th century by Okuni, a shrine maiden who brought her unique and lively dance style
to the dry river beds of the ancient capital of Kyoto, and over the next 300 years
developed into a sophisticated, highly stylized form of theatre.
MOLIERE'.(1622-1673)
Born Jean Baptiste Poquelin de Moliere. Elements of style that Molière
introduced included slapstick, elaborate wigs , thick, pasty makeup, stock characters,
outrageous scenarios and heightened language.
ANTONIN ARTAUD.(1896-1948)
In 1932, envisions a form and method of theater that would, as a total art form,
exceed and eventually obliterate, the boundaries between the spectator and the
spectacle: the Theatre of Cruelty.was born.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564- 1593)
Born in the same year as Shakespeare and died at the age of twenty-nine. In
many ways Marlowe gave to the English popular theatre the foundation upon which
Shakespeare was to build. Also regarded as the master of the ‘blank verse.’
HENRIK JOHAN IBSEN (1828-1906)
Henrik Ibsen is acclaimed as being one of the world’s greatest playwrights,
and has often been called the father of modern drama. His hallmark dramatic
technique of retrospection revolutionised modern drama, which may be described as a
gradual unveiling of background information about the characters during the course of
a play.
ANTON CHEKOV (1894-1905)
Techniques often used in Chekhov's stories are his resolution by means of a
surprise ending. or the zero ending. Both of Chekhov's techniques, have in common
the tension between the expected and the actual resolution which creates the aesthetic
effect.
LOPE DE VEGA (1562- 1635)
The first Spanish dramatist to make a living as a playwright,and now
considered the greatest of all Spanish playwrights.Lope is said to have written over
2,200 plays, over 500 of which have survived!
EDWARD GORDON CRAIG.(1872-1966)
Over his long career Craig became known as an important innovator in theater
design, popularizing a modern, minimalist style.His writings, artwork and design had
an enormous impact on twentieth-century theatre.
MELODRAMA
Melodramas are plays that purport to be serious but are only trivial
entertainments,often embellished with spectacular stagings and highly suspenseful and
contrived plotting.
SAMUEL(BARCLAY) BECKETT.(1906-1989)
Irish novelist, playwright and one of the great names of Absurd Theatre.His
plays are concerned with human suffering and survival, his characters struggling with
meaninglessness and the world of the Nothing. In his writings for the theatre Beckett
showed influence of burlesque, vaudeville, the music hall, commedia dell'arte, and the
silent-film style of such figures as Keaton and Chaplin.
MYERHOLD
Vsevolod Meyerhold, revolutionary artist: in politics and theatre, who studied
under Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre. Developed the theory of
biomechanics, an important precursor of conceptual and physical modes of theatre.
QUESTION 10
.
One of the most spellbinding pieces of theatrical performances within the
theatre I have ever witnessed would have to be contained in Cirque du Soleil –
Quidam. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ . The stage, the lighting, the smoke, the
camera angles, the performances, a masterpiece in entertainment and stage machine
wizardry.
Never before have I witnessed a spectacle which encompasses for me the
entire gammit of theatrical performance by combining elements of dance, mime,
acrobatics, jugglery, multi cultural rhythms , sounds, customs and performance.
It reminded me of a giant animated Salvador Dali painting, creating an almost
dreamlike state that took one on a journey of wonder and amazement. Back here in
row D section 3 I was appreciating what it may have taken for the performers to
weave that magic. Many years of training in their individual disciplines to make all
that complication and synchronisation look so fluid.
I feel its main strengths are that it utilises and combines the skills and
disciplines of many forms of performance and crosses them with each other in new
and creative ways
The modern audience I feel has been spoilt by the vast array of quick fix
entertainment available in the form of television , video, special effects and computer
based animatronics. Cirque du Soleil – Quidam takes the wonder and amazement of
all the aformentioned mediums and puts them in your face, in real time.
The major influence that this production has had on the advancement of
theatre is far reaching and has great relevance as leading edge theatre entertainment. It
has up to four performance troupes doing shows all around the world simultaneously
at any one time, and has played to millions of people.
Although it is right over the top, and most theatrical companies would not
attempt anything like it . It is the style of theatre that would lure the most ardent couch
potato out of their hole for a look.
Dale G.Ryan
S1544862
REFERENCES
1.*Cohen, R 1994 - Theatre 3rd Edition
Mayfield
2.*Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy(1996) - Aristotle
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/a/aristotl.htm
3.*Asimov, Isaac 1970 - Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare Vol.1
Doubleday & Co.
4.*Cirque du Soleil 2000 - Christine Larose, Steve Proulx
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com