Greek theatre

• flourished in ancient Greece

from 700 BC; became a
significant cultural, political,
and religious place, where
theatre was established as
part of a festival which
honored Dionysus
 Greek theatre
"To Greeks the spoken
word was a living thing
and infinitely
preferable to the dead
symbols of a written
language."
 Greek theatre
Drama
• comes from a Greek word
dráō, meaning "action",
"to do" or "to act"
• is the specific mode of
fiction represented in
performance
 Greek theatre
• theatre of ancient
Greece consisted of
three types of drama:
tragedy (late 500 BC),
comedy (490 BC), and
the satyr play
 Greek theatre
Athenian tragedy
• is the oldest surviving
form of tragedy
• tragoidia, is a compound
of two Greek words:
tragos or "goat" and ōd ḗ
meaning "song"
 Greek theatre
• is a type of dance-drama
• dealt with tragic events
and have an unhappy
ending, especially one
concerning the downfall
of the main character
 Greek theatre
• Thespis was the earliest
recorded actor
• Thespis is often called
the "Father of Tragedy“
• “thespian” became a
common term for
performer
 Greek theatre
• however, his importance
is disputed; the statesman
Solon, is credited with
creating poems in which
characters speak with
their own voice, and
spoken performances
 Greek theatre
• three well-known Greek
tragedists are Sophocles,
Euripides and Aeschylus.
• Phrynichus is thought to
be the first to use female
characters (though not
female performers)
 Greek theatre
Athenian comedy
• is a representation of
laughable people and
involves some kind of
blunder or ugliness
which does not cause
pain or disaster
 Greek theatre
• has pungent political
satire and abundance of
sexual and scatological
innuendo
 Greek theatre
Satyr play
• was a short, lighthearted
tailpiece performed after
each trilogy of the
tragedies
 Greek theatre
• featured choruses of
half-man / half-goat
characters known as
Satyrs, with pretended
drunkenness, and bold
sexuality, including
phallic props
 Greek theatre
Architecture
• most ancient Greek
cities lay on or near hills,
so seating was generally
built into the slope of a
hill, producing a natural
viewing area
 Greek theatre
• theatron (literally
"seeing place") was the
seating area
 Greek theatre
• At the foot of the hill
was a flattened,
generally circular
performance space,
known as the orchestra
(literally "dancing
place").
 Greek theatre
• skené (from which the
word scene derives),
means ‘tent’ or ‘hut’
• it is thought that the
original structure for
these purposes was just a
cloth hanging from a rope
 Greek theatre
• it hung or stood behind
the orchestra, as an area
where actors could
change their costumes,
and which also served as
backdrop or scenic wall
 Roman theatre
• linked back even
further to the 4th
century BC
• conveyed to an
audience purely as a
form of entertainment
 Roman theatre
• began including
theatrical games as
a supplement to the
ceremonies already
being performed, in
a stronger effort to
pacify the gods
 Roman theatre
• began including
professionally
performed drama in
the eclectic offerings
in honor of the
Roman god Jupiter
 Roman theatre
• Unlike Greek theatre, the
Roman theatre did allow
female performers who were
employed for dancing and
singing, a minority of
actresses are known to have
performed speaking roles.
 Roman theatre
• from the beginning of
the empire, interest in
full-length drama
declined, Romans
favored entertainment
and performance over
tragedy and drama
 Roman theatre
'Spectacle'
• ranges from festival
performances of street
theatre, nude dancing,
and acrobatics
• usual themes were
chariot races, gladiators,
and public executions
Medieval theatre
• During the Medieval
era, after the Romans
left Britain in the 5th
century, theatre all
but died out.
Medieval theatre
• Minstrels, though viewed as
dangerous and pagans by
the Church, travelled from
one town to another as
puppeteers, jugglers, story-
tellers, dancers, singers,
and other theatrical acts.
Medieval theatre
• Theatre was reintroduced
during the 10th century in
the form of religious
dramas, plays with morals
and ‘mystery’ plays
performed in churches, and
later outdoors.
Commedia dellárte
• an early form of
professional theatre,
originating from Italian
theatre, that was
popular throughout
Europe between the
16th and 18th centuries
Commedia dellárte
• Commedia was often
performed outside on
platforms or in popular
areas such as a piazza
(town square).
Commedia dellárte
• female roles were
played by women,
documented as early as
the 1560s; by the end of
the 16th century,
actresses were standard
on the Italian stage
Elizabethan theatre
• Elizabethan theatre,
refers to the theatre of
England between 1558
and 1603, the period
of Queen Elizabeth's
reign.
Elizabethan theatre
• In the Elizabethan era,
one distinctive feature
of the companies was
that they included only
males. Women were
not allowed to act on
stage.
Elizabethan theatre
• as far as social class
was concerned, drama
was a unified
expression: the Court
watched the same plays
the commoners saw in
the public playhouses
Elizabethan theatre
• With the development
of the private theatres,
drama became more
oriented towards the
tastes and values of an
upper-class audience.
Elizabethan theatre
• The playhouses were
generally built with
timber and plaster.
Theatres were three
stories high and built
around an open space
at the center.
Elizabethan theatre
• The upper level behind
the stage could be used
as a balcony from which
an actor could harangue
a crowd. The pit was
where the poorest
audience members
could view the show.
Elizabethan theatre
• The cost of admission
was based on what a
person could afford.
Upper class spectators
would pay for seats in
the galleries, using
cushions for comfort.
Elizabethan theatre
• Theatre during the reign
of Elizabeth I has largely
become linked with one
name – William
Shakespeare, arguably
the most influential and
famous dramatist of all
time.
Exercise
• Directions: Read the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet.
 THE PROLOGUE

⌜Enter⌝ Chorus.

Two households, both alike in dignity

(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes 5
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents’ rage, 10
Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which, if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

⌜Chorus exits.⌝
 Kabuki theatre
• Kabuki (歌舞伎) originated
in the early Edo period
(1603)
• is a classical form of
Japanese theatre, mixing
dramatic performance
with traditional dance
 Kabuki theatre
• The individual kanji that
make up the word kabuki
can be read as 'sing' (歌),
'dance' (舞), and 'skill' (伎).
• translated as 'the art of
singing and dancing'
 Kabuki theatre
• Izumo no Okuni, founded
and formed a female
dance troupe that
performed dances and
light sketches in Kyoto.
 Kabuki theatre
• Despite its popularity, the
ruling shogunate held
unfavorable views of
kabuki performances and
banned women's kabuki
in 1629 for being too
erotic.
 Kabuki theatre
• Kabuki switched to
adult male actors in
the mid-1600s and
continued to play
both female and male
characters.
Restoration theatre
• After public stage
performances were
banned for 18 years by the
Puritan regime, reopening
of the theatres in 1660
marked a renaissance of
English drama.
Restoration theatre
• Sexually explicit language
was encouraged by King
Charles II personally
Restoration theatre
• socially diverse audiences
were attracted to the
comedies by up-to-the-
minute topical writing,
crowded and bustling plots,
and introduction of the first
celebrity actresses
American Vaudeville
• Vaudeville is a
theatrical genre of
variety entertainment
and became popular in
the United States from
the early 1880s
American Vaudeville
• was originally a comedy
without psychological
or moral intentions
• was made up of a
series of separate,
unrelated acts
American Vaudeville
• acts have included
musicians, singers, dancers,
comedians, trained animals,
magicians, ventriloquists,
strongmen, impersonators,
acrobats, clowns, and
jugglers
Victorian theatre
• Theatre in the
Victorian era is
regarded as history of
theatre during the era
ruled by Queen
Victoria from 1837 to
1901.
Victorian theatre
• many new theaters and
theatre schools were built
• Theatre openly displayed and
played dramas relating to
social problems such as
education, religion, marriage,
and class privileges.
Victorian theatre
• improvement in the scenic
design
• The industrial revolution had
an impact on theatre in the
form of electric lighting and
the use of machinery to
create visual and audio
spectacles.
Victorian theatre
• It was also during this period
stage managers were
introduced.
• theatre was also understood
as “something destined to
yield a rich harvest in the
future”
Modern theatre
• The modern period and its
drama were shaped by
world-changing forces, such
as industrial-technological
revolution, democratic
revolutions, and an
intellectual revolution.
Modern theatre
• includes
performances of
plays and musical
theatre.
• also the art forms of
ballet and opera
 Modern theatre
• Broadway/West End theatre
• Off-Broadway/Off West End
• Off-Off-Broadway
• Regional theatre
• Community theatre
• Immersive/Interactive theatre
• Playback theatre
• Touring theatre
• Street theatre
Congratulations on completing this module! Before we proceed,
what are your thoughts about this lesson? Share your takeaways
by answering the exercises below.

Directions: Before today’s session ends, (1) enumerate all the

historical art periods, and (2) write a short essay summing up all
the basic knowledge you picked up about the history of theater
from every historical art periods.