THEATER

THEATER ARTS
• Theater is a form of art, uniquely employs a specific language that applies
to visual and auditory elements, media, techniques, and conventions.
• Its elements are varied and complex, and may include the physical
presence of the actors, the colors and shapes of the costumes and
scenery, sound, music, drama, and other ideas of emotions expressed.

• Performance is based on dramatic text stages usage techniques of theater

production and enacted and interpreted by artist, directors, designers and
other personnel before audience who are situated in the site of
performance.
ELEMENTS OF DRAMATIC
THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE

Language or diction – expression of meaning using words

Song or music – Speaking, dancing, and singing part in the performance

Spectacle – pertains to the visual elements of production that includes characters’

movement and spatial relations, lighting, setting, costumes and props.
ELEMENTS OF DRAMATIC
THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE

Director – variety of elements so that the audience can sit and view a coherent
theatrical performance.

Playwright – the story in a dramatic format.

Theater space – set on stage

 FOUR BASIC
THEATER STAGES

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 PROSCENIUM – Picture
frame stage

Action takes place behind

the proscenium opening
or frame. The seats in the
auditorium are face the
stage like in movie
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theater.
 Arena or circle stage

May either be raised a

few feet below the floor
with seats rising from the
floor level or it may be in
the floor with seats raised
in levels around it.
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 Thrust stage

Three quarter-seating
arranged in a semi circle
that encloses the stage

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 Created and found

Stage space can be any kind of structure that

maintains its original architectural elements that
intact such as lofts, warehouse, gyms, etc.

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PHILIPPINE POLITICAL THEATER:
1946-1985
• THE BOURGEOIS THEATER IN ENGLISH, 1946-1964
• THEATER OF SOCIAL CONCERN, 1965-1968
• REVOLUTIONARY THEATER, 1967-1972
• AN EMANCIPATED THEATER IN AN ERA OF
AUTHORITARIANISM, 1973-1985
The Bourgeois Theater in English,
1946-1964
• Through state power and consent, postwar Philippines (1946-64
• Anglo-American plays and a few original Filipino plays
in English.
• themes included love and family, and preoccupations and concerns of the emerging middle class.
• theatrical mode -psychological realism which probed the inner space of man to the exclusion of
social realism.
• The theater practitioners belonged to the academe and the business community,
• Wilfredo Nolledo's Turn Red the Sea (1963) focuses on the motives that drive a young man to
expose the immoralities of his father (Patajo-Legasto 1988, 118).
• Foreign masterpieces performed at this time include Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer
(1961). Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (1958); William Shakespeare's Hamlet
(1953) and Henrik Ibsen'
Theater of Social Concern, 1965-1968
• the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (KPK) recognized itself.
• Militant Organizations prolifted in 1964,
• the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) was launched, the Communist Party of the
Philippines was established in 1967, the Samahan ng mga Demokratikong
Kabataan (SDK) and
• the New People’s Army (NPA) in 1969. Formative alliances and worker
organizations
Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) spread like wildfire around this time.
• Plays featured the laborer and farmer, slum dweller and scavenger using social
realism.
• One of the foremost writers in English was Alberto Florentino who opened The
World is an Apple, Cadaver, Cavot with Angels, and Oil Impan
Theater of Social Concern, 1965-1968

• Educational Theater Associations (PETA)

• The multidimensional language of theater is used to
improvise oppressive situations they find themselves in and
search for alternatives. This way, they become aware of the
manifestations of an unjust social order and are able to
articulate a longing for justice and faith in change.
Revolutionary Theater, 1969 to 1972

• Social realism was supplemented by styles and techniques

such as the Peking opera, the theater of the absurd,
Brecht’s epic theater and expressionism, which popularized
the use of choruses and of minimal props and set.
• Jose Ma Sison articulated by the tasks of cadres in the
cultural field in his Struggle for a National Democracy.
• Theater became an instrument for liberation of the majority
of Filipinos.
An Emancipated Theater in an Era of
Authorianism, 1973 to 1985
• Art and media were muzzled but theater survived.
Blossomed even. Motivated by the fiery spirit of the
revolutionary theater, it resisted the so-called national
culture that the Marcoses were promoting vigorously.
• national culture housed so elegantly is the Cultural Center of
the Philippines.
• improved agit-propo plays now renamed dulansangan .
7 TYPES OF THEATER IN THE PHILIPPINES
EPIC POETRY
•  is considered the highest point of Filipino folk literature, and dates
back to the  pre-colonial period. These epics, usually of romance or
adventure, are commonly presented during festivals and gatherings
such as weddings, baptisms, and wakes

• Example: Biag ni Lam-ang

DUPLO
• is a poetic debate presented through song and dance, which
originated from indigenous courtship customs. Poets used proverbs
and riddles to present their suit to the woman of their choice. 

• Example: leron-leron sinta, pamulinawan

MORO-MORO
• it is a street drama that usually lasted for several days, and presented
both secular themes like love and vengeance, and the Spanish-
influenced religious theme of the conflict between Christians and
Moors. The moro-moro only survives in isolated towns today, and
though an integral part of Filipino art history, it may not bear too
much close scrutiny these days with its less than admirable depictions
of intolerance.
TRADITIONAL FOLK DANCE
• Some of the most popular folk dances are the Singkil, a folk dance
that originated from the Maranao people of Lake Lanao in Mindanao,
from the epic legend Darangen; 
• the Itik-Itik, which originated as an improvised dance in Surigao del
Sur and was discovered by National Artist for Dance Francisca Reyes-
Aquino;
• and the Tinikling, which is similar to Singkil with its use of bamboo
poles that dancers must weave through. It is supposed to mimic the
movement of the local tikling birds.
BALUT
• It sounds like “vaudeville”, and it is. This form of theater was an
American import in the pre-war era,
• Like its American counterpart, bodabil featured a variety of musical
numbers, comedic and dramatic skits, and song and dance numbers. 
SARSUWELA

•The sarsuwela is a type of melodrama,

usually in three acts, that uses
alternately spoken and sung words. It
was the Spanish influence that started
the sarsuwela.
REALISM
• PSYCHOLOGICAL - focuses on the problems of individual.
• SOCIAL- situated and roots individual problems with the larger
framework of a class society.
BRECHTIAN STYLE
• EPIC DRAMA
• Paul Dumol Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio -Touch of absurdism
• Al Santos Ang Sistema ni Propesor Tuko – pokes fun during the
authoritarian rile of a fascistic professor to comment on Philippine
society under the Marcos regime.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
• Epics and folktales
• Musical and instrumental materials for contemporary artistic
expression.
• Brechtian techniques have also been used for full-blown musicals,
which may be rock or pop musicals on contemporary themes.
DOCUMENTARY STYLE
• Employed in plays dealing with historical events and persons.
• It uses narrators and slides of newspaper clippings to trace the
periods of struggle against colonial rule
SHORT PLAYS
• DULA TULA
THEATER APPRECIATION
TYPOLOGY OF PERFORMING ARTS
•Based on Feldman’s (1981) typology of cinematic forms.
•Describing and analyzing a theater play experience before proceeding
to interpretation and judgement.
TYPOLOGY OF PERFORMING ARTS
•TITLE OF THEATER PLAY
•DIRECTOR
•COMPOSER/ARRANGER
•PLAYWRIGHT
•MAIN CHARACTER
•PERFORMING GROUP
•VENUE/YEAR
•PLOT
 THEATER PLAY (MEDIUM)
TITLE:
Visual components
1. What are the dominant theatrical elements?
2. How are these employed in the performance?
3. How do the dominant elements affect you?
4. What are the dominant techniques, principles or
conventions used in the play or performance.

Dramatic component
1. What is the significance of the central theme to you in
terms of personal. Historical, social, or political value?

Literary component
1. What is the theme of the theater play?
2. What are the other sub-themes that affect the central
theme?

Idea (meaning)
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