THEA241 Exam 1 Review
Early Greek Theatre
- Dionysus: God of fertility, wine, sexuality, and patron of theatre - choral odes: 50 performers (all MALE) - thrashing circle to religious ceremonies (think rites and rituals); became dancing circle - 534 BC: Athens has its first annual dramatic festival - 495-420 BC: Pericles Golden Age; at one point made theatre free to all
Timeline: Romans
- Founding of Rome: 753 BCE - 200 years: Kings - 500 years: Republic - 500 years: Emperor
Middle Age Writers: Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, late 10th century (970 CE)
- German nun - wrote comedic liturgical religious plays based on Terrence - plays were acted in churches, which had opposed theatre - but, the plays told stories of the Bible
Middle Age Writers: Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179 CE)
- German nun - wrote short musical plays for the convent honoring saints and Virgin Mary - the beginning of vernacular morality plays -- used religious characters and themes to teach a moral lesson
Timeline: Greeks
- Homer to Athenian democracy: 800-510 BCE (approx. 300 years) - Romans take over, 146 BCE at Battle of Corinth in ancient Greece (approx. 364 years) - Greek timeline: approx. 664 years
Oedipus by Sophocles: characters
- Oedipus - Creon - Tiresias - Jocasta - Messenger - Shepherd - Servant - Chorus
Oedipus by Sophocles: plot
- Oedipus solves the riddle from the Sphinx, and comes to rule over Thebes - King Laius: his father; Polybus, Merope: his adopted parents from Corinth - performance from class: Lee read Oedipus, and Lee and Professor Jackson read Oedipus and Tiresias (the blind seer)
Early Roman Theatre Writers: Livius Andronicus (260?-200 BCE)
- a captured Italian-Greek from Tarentium in Southern Italy, which was run by Sparta - a dramatist/epic poet brought to Rome to be a tutor; became a teacher of Greek and Latin - translated many Greek words (Odyssey) into Latin - the father of Roman drama; Cicero and Horace considered him the originator or Latin literature
Aspects of Early Greek Theatre
- amphitheater: the entire theatre structure - theatron: area of seating, "seeing place" - orchestra: "dancing circle" - thymele: altar - skene: stage house, and our word "scenery" - proskene: front stage, and our word "proscenium" - parados: chorus entrance, aisle ways where the chorus could get into the dancing circle - eccyclema: wheeled platform (wagon) - periaktos: tri-turned set piece; device used to change theatre scenes - mechana: crane, deus ex-GOD; used to lift an actor in the air - cothurnus: platform shoes - dianora: process of thought - choragus: producer - didaskolos: teacher or director - hypocrit: leading actor
Amphitheaters
- amphitheaters sat 15, 17, and 19 thousand people; the back row was 75 yards away - acting was declamatory and unrealistic; used large gestures and performed in broad daylight; masks (no makeup necessary) - limited scenery, 3 actors or less on the proskene; monologues used for clarity (to see who's talking); very little movement so as not to confuse the audience - chorus started out with 50 men singing and chanting (eventually down to 12-15); there were flutes, lute-like instruments and percussive sounds made by instruments or performers - all violence occurred off-stage
What did the Greeks give us?
- art, theatre (comedy and tragedy), philosophy, architecture, sculpture, Hippocratic Oath (medicine), Pythagoras (math), Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, democracy
Why did Rome fall apart?
- barbarians - Christianity - disintegration of the Roman administrative structure - theatre was reduced to a primitive state soon after the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD
Evolution of the Greek stage
- building: Gobekli Tepe, 9600 BC; people came to it to ritualize - early Greek farmers: plowing the farming circle - early Greek theatre started with poets writing for religious ceremonies; people were there and they built the place where the people were
What is theatre?
- communication - subjective - live - storytelling - conflict and resolution - education - transfer of information - entertainment - business - collaborative art form - interactive - building - holding mirror - scope - soapbox - human experience - opinion - place to see live performance - improvisation
Early Roman Theatre Writers: Horace (65-8 BCE)
- considered the Roman Aristotle; wrote the ART OF POETRY - believed you should never mix tragedy and comedy - tragedy should be about royalty, and comedy about the common people
Circus Maximus (entertainment and sensationalism)
- could fit over 250,000 people (1/4 of Rome's population at the time) - had chariot racing, equestrian events, acrobatics, wrestling, prizefighting, gladiator combats, gymnastics, juggling, short comedic skits, mime, and pantomime - these events were in arenas, or open-air structures for athletic contests and shows
Oedipus by Sophocles: themes
- dealing with anger - pride - hubris - fate vs. free will
Elements of Roman Theatre
- domestic situations: particularly romance with stock characters -- included braggarts, parasites, courtesans, lovers, overbearing parents, servants, and cases of mistaken identities (seen in COMEDIES) - the five act structure (seen in TRAGEDIES) - secondary characters/plot - the catalyzing figure of the ghost returning the provoke revenge - violent and sensational plots (violence was brought on-stage) - in Rome, the head of an acting troupe was called the DOMINUS; each troupe had up to 6 males; there were many troupes
Toward the end of the Middle Ages
- featured a gradual decline of religious theatre and a weakening of the Church - Protestant Reformation - secular qualities of drama finally overcame the religious material - also, the Church that opposed theatre actually helped give birth to theatre once again (note the German nuns who used theatre to spread the word of the Church)
Sophocles
- gave us the THIRD actor; that was it for the Greeks
Greek Theatre Tragedy (from the goat)
- gods - catharsis - flaw - universal truths
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
- greatest thinker of antiquity and the "master of those who know" according to Dante - philosopher; scientist; wrote POETICS: study of literary expression, essay analyzing theatre, purpose of theatre; also wrote about astronomy, physics, rhetoric, ethics, politics, biology, and botany - primary purpose of theatre is to provide pleasure, and the greatest pleasure is learning the truth - organizing traits of theatre: the Three Unities -- action, time, and place -- according to Aristotle, Oedipus by Sophocles was the best example of the Three Unities and the best example of theatre
Vernacular Drama and Morality Plays
- later vernacular drama: not in Latin, but everyday speech of the people; developed Biblical stories performed in the town squares - then came Morality Plays (Everyman, circa 1500 CE) which used religious characters and religious themes to teach a moral lesson; a later development from the liturgical plays
Middle Ages (approx. 500-1500 CE); also known as the Medieval Period in Europe
- nearly 1,000 years of no theatres built - Dark Ages basically from 500-1000 CE; a disappearance of urban life - Muslims scholars preserved manuscripts of Classical Greece and the Romans - saw a rise of Christianity -- the Christian church opposed the connection between theatre and pagan religions; believed that evil characters portrayed on stage taught immorality to audiences, and any sexual content was bad
Oedipus by Sophocles: differences between theatre then and now
- no women were acting in the theatre back then - back then, we would be outside - today, we do not seat 19,000 people
What was theatre influenced by?
- paintings on cave walls about 17,000 years ago (i.e. Lascaux Cave Drawings) - told stories of hunting animals and rituals
What did the Romans give us?
- practical achievements, law, engineering, architects (Roman arch), civil engineering (roads and aqueducts), military conquest - they liked Greek culture/laws on governing, marriage, and inheritance
Beginning foundations for Western Theatre
- started with the Greeks first and the Romans second - greatest influences have likely been the Greeks, Elizabethan Renaissance, and the 20th century
Thespis
- stood on a cart - first to use ONE actor - won the first contest in 534 BCE
Roman vs. Greek theatres
- there were many theatres built throughout the Roman Empire and Roman theatre became a model for theatres to come - Greek theatre was on a hill; Roman theatre was freestanding and usually built on level ground - scene building and auditorium (hearing place) were joined to form a single architectural unit; it was sturdier, stronger, and could be bigger (no parados - chorus entrance) - the Roman scene building (scaena = Roman, skene = Greek) was enlarged, lavishly decorated, and permanently painted - the auditorium was reduced to an exact semicircle, whereas the Greek amphitheater extended beyond the semicircle - the Roman orchestra was reduced in size and also reduced to a semicircle - seating capacity in Roman theatres was usually smaller than the Greeks, due to the lower social and artistic status in Rome, compared to its importance in Greece - (some) Roman theatres had a longer, narrower stage with a roof above it
What did Greeks use theatre for?
- to entertain, educate, communicate, and transfer knowledge - all to better themselves and their form of governance (democracy) - represented moderation, order, proportion, and restraint (walking the middle)
Oedipus by Sophocles: PRESENTATIONAL acting style
- today, we are more used to intimate settings; no natural element problems -- actors had to be loud and have their voice travel through the wind and rain -- needed a strong diaphragm and had small megaphones inside their masks - visual elements: masks -- today, you're seeing their faces; back then everything had to be bigger because they were farther away -- the audience had to see expressions from far away, so actors wore huge masks which denoted sex, status, and age -- there were BIG gestures with their body; faced out to the audience -- more declamatory style of talking - emphasis on the WORDS, story, and audience members - the old style of Greek theatre compares to organized religion church services and opera today
Beginning of the Middle Ages
- traveling jugglers, minstrels, and mimes - England had a pageant master, and performers used wagons as platform stages in town squares - traveling groups used pageant wagons (similar to parade floats, Rose Bowl floats, or mansions - French word for house); these were individual scenic units -- some had a tiring house on a wagon (similar to a skene) parked behind it for the actors to change and/or get out of the elements to retire to - simultaneous stage: a medieval practice that placed all scenes on stage before the performance began - Mystery or Circle Plays -- The York Crucifixion (from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays, circa 1370?) -- was done by the Pinners Craft Guild (makers of pegs for wood-joining) -- other craft guilds were made up of silver smiths, leather workers, carpenters, bakers, cobblers, or lay people who belonged to religious organizations -- the Guild's responsibility was to: finance the production, store the sets and props, maintain the wagons, and ensure quality of the performance
Euripides
- used a larger circle theatre
Aeschylus
- used a small circle theatre - gave us the SECOND actor
Early Roman Theatre Writers: Plautus (254-184 BCE) and Terrence (185?-159 BCE)
- wrote comedies from Greek New Comedy (domestic situations, stock characters, common people); not Old Comedy of Greeks (satires of important and famous people) - example: Plautus with Miles Glorious and Suckpot (performed by Lee and Elizabeth)
Early Roman Theatre Writers: Seneca (3 BCE-65 CE)
- wrote tragedies; gave theatre types of characters corresponding to real human experience; best known for the three plays: Phaedra, Oedipus, and Octavia - poor vs. rich; woman vs. man; ghosts, confidants, nurses to console or advise, and advisors - more like Euripides than Sophocles - meant to be read in small settings and gatherings
6 Elements of (early Greek) Theatre
1. plot (story) 2. characters (agents of action) 3. thought/message/theme (Dianoia) 4. diction (usage, vocabulary, assemblage of words, VERSE) 5. music* 6. spectacle* *least important
