Theater through the ages

1. Theater through the ages How we got to today

2. Beginning of Theatre • Myth and ritual • Need for food and explanations for the unexplained. • Belief in magical or supernatural • Connections between their actions and the results. • Shaman, sacred place, specific movements or actions.

3. Egyptian Theatre • Plays written called Pyramid Texts: 55 were found in pyramids and tombs. • Coronation Festival: celebrating a new Pharaoh. • Ritual Dramas • I-Kher-nefert: the first stage director and actors mentioned in recorded history.

4. The Greeks • Theater festival to honor the gods especially Dionysus. • Multiple day events. Evolved from chanting dancers to plays. • Plays were written as contests. At first all were tragedies based on legends or history. Later satyr plays (comedies) were added. All were written on a theme.

5. Theatre of Dionysus Orchestra or dancing place was the main acting area. Skene was where the actors changed costumes and eventually became a place to hang scenery from. Pro-skene was added in front as an additional acting area. Parodos – entrance and exit. The audience sat on stone seats on the hillsides. The Theatron.

7. Staging of Greek Drama Chorus was a strong part of the drama. They told the story. Thespis was the first actor to step out of the chorus. Later two and then three actors were added. • Since the theaters were large and the audience a long distance away the Greeks employed the following “conventions” to further the story: • Masks: depicting stock characters were worn by the lead actors. There were “megaphones” built in to the mouth area to help the sound carry. • Elevated shoes that had tall platforms on the soles to make the actor taller and more visible. • Tall headpieces helped define characters and make actors more visible. • Heavy costumes with many layers of cloth. • All of these things made it difficult for the actors to move. They had to walk and turn in geometric patterns.

8. Greeks did not use a great deal of scenery because… Plays relied on long speeches that said more to the audience than to other actors. Playwrights: Aeschylus wrote about gods. Sophocles wrote about heroes Euripedes wrote about men Menander wrote comedies about daily life. Scenery developed slowly. Skene could be used to represent several different locales by placing pained panels between or in from of the columns. Periaktoi or a three sided triangular piece that could be turned was developed and used to change the scene. Eccyclema or wheeled platform was used to haul in “bodies” since the Greeks dictated that all violence must take place off-stage. Deus ex machine (god from the machine) crane-like machine used to lower actors to the stage for “divine intervention”.

9. Medieval Theatre • Catholic Church became the center of all things. • Ironic because it had caused the end of theater in late Rome. • Began using elements of drama as additions to the celebration of the Mass. • Made the liturgy easier for people to understand.

10. Types • Tropes – first one may have been Quaem queritas that tells the story of the three Marys finding the tomb empty on Easter morning. • Parts were played by priests and deacons. • These worked so well that they set up more areas of the church for larger scenes. These areas were called mansions.

11. Tomb • Joseph • Caiaphas • Hell mouth • Center back – Gallilee • Gethsemane • Pilate • Herod • Heaven 1

12. Mystery plays – stories from the Bible • Miracle plays – stories of Saints • Morality plays – characters representing abstract values that taught right and wrong. • Passion play – depicts scenes from the life of Christ. • As these plays increased in popularity they moved out of churches into public squares. • Eventually moved to pageant wagons to travel through the countryside. • The church became disenchanted with the plays partly because of the humorous depictions of Herod, Satan and other biblical villains and disassociated itself from the productions. So once again it withdraws its support frpm theatre.

13. Renaissance Theater • In Italy theater developed along two lines: 1. Commedia dell ’arte – Theater for the masses performed by traveling troupes including the first female performers. Each troupe consisted of 7 men and 3 women. Each performer had his or her own character. These were called stock characters such as the clever servant, the foolish old man, the lovers, etc. The cast was given the scene and improvised the dialogue and movement. 2. Courtly drama – for the nobility and wealthy families. Done in ornate, private theaters. These became the first permanent indoor theatres. Theatro Farnese was the first of this kind. There are no surviving scripts form this time period. Mainly because of the development of opera.

14. Elizabethan Theater • Public theaters were developed from the courtyard theaters of Medieval times. • Theaters were for everyone. Acting companies and playwrights were in it for the money. • The plays changed with the interests of the audience.

15. The Building • The first theater was called The Theater. After it burned, The Globe and The Swan were built. • Theatres were made of wood and burned easily so it was believed that many had totally disappeared except for drawings made by visitors to London. • In the late part of the last century they found the foundations to two theatres including the Globe. • Globe was twenty-four sided. There were 3 galleries of seats surrounding the yard (later known as the pit). The open area was where those who could only afford a penny stood. They were called groundlings or penny stinkers.

16. The Globe continued • The stage was raised at least five feet about the ground improving visibility and allowing for a trap door in the floor for special effects such as the appearance of ghosts. • Stage had its own roof sometimes called the heavens. A trap door in the ceiling allowed actors to be lowered to the stage. • Inner stage had a closed off curtain for small scenes. A balcony area above this was used for scenes as well. • Above that was a small hut where the machinery for lowering actors was located and this is where sound effects were done. Musicians may have sat here. • Above the hut was the turret for flying the flag on performance days. (extra credit if you find out which colors were used for which types of plays) • Not much scenery was used to change of place was denoted by the actors dialogue. • Costuming was not important – each actor dressed as they saw fit based on their character. • No actresses in the Elizabethan theatre. Young men dressed up as women to play female roles.