DRAMA AND THEATER Drama Prose or verse telling

DRAMA AND THEATER

Drama Prose or verse telling a story intended for representation by actors through dialogue or action.

Primitive Theatre What we do know is that all drama is simply an imitation of actions or ideas, so many theories suggest that the first dramatic stories were probably told by primitive tribes who would return from the hunt and reenact the events for the rest of the tribe. Over time, it may have become a ritual, and the performance might have taken place before the hunt. Like most rituals, the shaman, the religious leader of the tribe, would have eventually overseen it, and it would have become a sort of religious or spiritual celebration. This could have set the stage for theatre for the next several hundred years.

Primitive Theatre

Greek Theatre • These early plays were performed by a group of men and boys called a chorus. The chorus worked as a group to provide commentary on the action of the story. But even with the introduction of individual actors, the chorus still remained in the background, acting as narrators providing insight to the action on stage and the characters' thoughts.

550 -534 BC Theater of Dionysos Located at the bottom of the Acropolis in Athens. Skene Orchestra Chorus Proskenion

• The Middle Ages • Theatre continued to be popular through the fall of the Roman Empire. With the onset of the Middle Ages from 500 -1500 A. D. , however, the Church had different views of the mythological gods and saw theatre as evil. Most theatre was outlawed, and drama was only performed by traveling groups of actors. • Eventually, though, the Church saw the value of the ritualistic nature of drama, and began to reenact short Bible stories during mass. Mystery plays were stories from the Bible. Miracle plays focused on saints. Over time, these plays transformed into something known as morality plays. These plays promoted a godly life, but they did not teach the Bible stories exclusively. Instead, the morality plays worked as an allegory, which is a literary device where the characters or events represent or symbolize other ideas and concepts.

Mystery plays

Miracle plays

Miracle plays

• Morality plays, which featured a hero who must overcome evil, were allegorical in nature. In the case of the morality plays, the hero represented mankind. The other characters served as personifications of many things, including the Seven Deadly Sins, death, virtues and even angels and demons - anything that wanted to take over mankind's soul. In the end, the hero would choose the godly route. • An example of a 15 th century English morality play is Everyman. In the play, God sends Death to strike down the sinners who have forgotten him. Death finds the main character, Everyman, and tells him he is to begin his journey from life to death.

Frontispiece from edition of Everyman published by John Skot c. 1530.

The Renaissance • You might already know the word Renaissance means 'rebirth'. In the case of drama, the Renaissance, which lasted from approximately 1400 -1700, was the rebirth of interest in theatre across Europe. In fact, the Renaissance introduced many of the elements we still think of when we imagine a theatre: indoor theatres, an arched stage, a curtain dropped between scenes, more elaborate set design. All of these changes were implemented during the Renaissance.

• known by his stage name Molière • the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature The French imitated Italian theatre and boasted the talent of playwright Molière, whose plays poked fun at the people in important positions. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin

Romanticism And Realism • Theatre remained popular with a few minor changes after the Renaissance and during the Reformation, when women began acting on stage. By the 1800 s, however, Romanticism, which began in Germany, began to influence the content of scripts written for the stage. The typical romantic play focused on a hero who was fighting against an unjust society to maintain his rights as a human being. These plays embraced nature and the supernatural.

• most popular drama – melodrama a play where the hero always succeeds. There was usually a battle of good and evil, complete with special effects, like train crashes, horse races and earthquakes. It was during the Romantic period that German playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote Faust, and French playwright Alexandre Dumas, produced scripts for the novels The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

The Three Musketeers

A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friends, " escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge

His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Playwright : person who writes plays. Script : printed copy of a play. Acts : the major sections of a play. Scene : small section or portion of a play.

Setting And Staging • In addition to the dialogue, a script will also include stage directions. These notes, which are often in italics or parentheses, help the actors interpret the scene for the audience.

The People Actor: male performer Actress: female performer Cast: all performers selected to portray characters. Director: instructs actors on how to portray characters.

Elements of Drama Plot: the main storyline Theme: the basic idea of the play Character: person, animal or thing in the story

Language: formal setting or dialect Dialogue: conversation between two or more characters. Monologue: one person speaking Spectacle: visuals involved on stage

Costumes: clothing worn by an actor on stage to help represent characters. Props: items used on stage to help actors tell a story

Creative Dramatics Improvisation: to make up or perform without preparation. Pantomime: to communicate without speaking using only facial and body gestures.

Mimicry: to copy or imitate something very closely. Role Playing : to take on the characteristics of someone or something.

A HISTORY OF DRAMA Drama began in ancient Greece dating back to 543 B. C. It started as choral performances of dancing and singing honoring the Greek god, Dionysus, the god of wine.

The Greeks held their dramas in outdoor theaters called amphitheaters, the largest seating 14, 000 people. Theater at Delphi

In Greek drama, the actors all wore masks to help the audience recognize the character they were playing. The “Agamemnon” Mask

Types of Greek Drama Tragedy: character is confronted with a difficult moral choice and usually ends in his or her death. Comedy: a humorous entertaining performance with a happy ending

Farce A light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect. - Melodrama- a play in which the characters are types rather than individuals, the story and situations exaggerated to the point of improbability or sensationalism and the language and emotion overemphasized.

Tragic Comedy or Drama -a play with the sincerity and earnestness of tragedy but without its inevitability of impending disaster, and with the kindly and tolerant attitude of comedy but without its underlying spirit of humor; uses tense situations and moments of extreme conflict, but the tragedy is averted and transcended.

Theatre or theater • is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from(theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe").