The Origins of Drama

1. The highly abridged version!!!!! The Origins of Drama

2. Ancient Greek Drama • Drama festivals began in Athens Greece about 5th century B.C. • Athens • City-state • Democracy • Educated citizens • Slave labour = leisure society

3. Ancient Greek Drama • 4 festivals honouring Dionysus--god of wine and vines • 4th festival was a 6 day festival of drama: • 1st two days—choral dance • 3rd day—five comedies (satirical and obscene • 4th-6th days—three tragedies in competition. Each tragedy involved a trilogy and a satyr play. • 1st winner—Thespis 534 B.C.

4. Ancient Greek Drama • Each set of three tragedies was followed by the performance of a satyr play, a short spoof of a myth related to the theme of at least on of the tragedies. • The ordinary human characters in these plays wore tragic masks and costumes, but the chorus of half-human satyrs wore pug-nosed, pointy-eared, bearded masks, furry shorts, and normal sized erect phalluses (probably made of leather).

5. Ancient Greek Drama • Satyrs danced a special kind of dance called the sikinnis, in which they pranced like horses. • The illustration is take from the Pronomos Vase, which shows the entire cast of a satyr-play.

6. Ancient Greek Drama The Pronomos Vase

7. Ancient Greek Drama The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens

8. Ancient Greek—Pompeii Theatre

9. Ancient Greek Drama • Greek playwrights wrote, performed in, directed, and choreographed their plays • The Chorus developed the action • At first one actor performed all the roles and wore masks to indicate character changes • Chorus 12-15 young men about the neter military service • Dancing and singing part of Athenian education • Effort of acting in three tragedies and a satyr play = the competing in the Olympics

10. Aeschylus Three important playwrights • Aeschylus • Oresteia—the only surviving trilogy • It is the story of Agamemnon’s murder by his wife, Clytemnestra • Clytemnestra’s murder by her children, Orestes and Electra • Eumenides (Furies) decide on the fate of Orestes • All characters are idealized • The gods set things right. • Introduced a second actor—allowed 2 actor to talk to chorus or each other and allowed for more plot variation

11. Plot of Oresteia • During the ten-year absence of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra nursed her anger over the slaughter of her daughter. She took as a lover Aegisthus, son of Thyestes, and the two ruled the city and plotted vengeance on Agamemnon. When the king returned triumphant from Troy, bringing Cassandra with him as a concubine, Clytemnestra waited until he was unarmed in the bath, entangle him in a robe, and struck him down with an axe. After killing Cassandra as well, she gloated over the bodies, symbolically characterizing herself as the matriarchal earth goddess made fertile by the bloods of sacrifices.

12. Plot of Oresteia • Many years later, Orestes (who had been sent away by Clytemnestra to a foreign kingdom when he was a child), returned in disguise with his companion Pylades to find Electra continually mourning beside the tomb of her father. • After a poignant recognition scene, Orestes told her of the command to avenge the death of his father by the god Apollo. Together, they formed a plan to catch Clytemnestra and Aegisthus off guard and slay them. • With the help fo Electra, Orestes stabbed Aegisthus before the eyes of his mother and then caught and killed Clytemnestra. • However, as soon as he appeared with the two corpses to justify the killings, Orestes is driven off by the Furies—blood sucking underworld goddesses who hunt down and destroy those who shed kindred blood, especially matricides.

13. Orestes pursued by the Furies

14. Sophocles • Introduced a third actor • Closer to ordinary life • More of a psychological study • Oedipus Rex—Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother • Oedipus at Colonus—Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone, live in the country after Oedipus blinds himself • Antigone—Antigone struggles with uncle to have her brother’s body properly buried.

15. Oedipus Rex

16. Euripides • Where Aeschyulus and Sophocles emphasized the plot by adding an actor each, Euripides added intrigue—an element complicated by the omnipresent, know-it-all chorus. • He also created the love-drama. • New Comedy took over the more effective parts of Euripides’ technique. • During his lifetime, Euripides’ innovations met with hostility. To him, traditional legends portrayed the more standards of the gods unsuitably—as lower than those of virtuous men. • Although Euripides portrayed women sensitively, he had a reputation as a woman hater. • The comic poet Aristophanes criticized Euripides for the following: • Put beggars in rags on stage • Determined to make tragedy less lofty • Decadent, poetic innovator • Misogynist • Subverter of received morality • Unorthodox religious views.

17. Roman Drama • Roman plays • Spectacles of blood and gore • Imitation of Greeks • Seneca—major roman playwright of tragedies • Rewrote Oedipus Rex • 5-act tragedy • Violence • Revenge • Plautus and Terrence • Major Roman playwrights of comedies • Ancestor of sit-coms

18. Medieval Theatre • Medieval History • After the fall of Rome the 600’s A.D., came a period known to us as the “dark ages.” • Much political turmoil—no reliable political structure • The Church was the only stable “government” • The church exerted increasing influence. In the 4th Century, the Bishop of Rome, claiming to be the successor to St. Peter, established supremacy in church matters and in secular concerns.

19. Medieval Theater • Feudalism—the manor was the chief non-church political entity. • The manor (large estate), headed by a nobleman, had absolute authority over the sefs, (peasants) who worked the land. • Lords of manors were vassals, or subjects, of a king. The king’s knights protected the lords and their land. • Serfs (servants)owed allegiance to their lord. • There are many church edicts against mimi, histriones, ioculatores—terms for secular performers.

20. Medieval Theater • Little is know about the theatre between 600-1000 A.D. • There are refereneces to actors (histriones), juggles, rope dances in nomadic tribes, remnants of Roman mimes, popular pagan festivals and rites. • Teutonic minstrels or troubadours (scops [pronounced shope]) became the primary preserver of tribal histories, but the Teutonic tribes converted Christianity after the 7th or 8th century, and the scops were denounced, branded as bad as mimes. • There was little written drama; none that survives, and almost no other surviving references to it.

21. Medieval Theater • Hrosvitha of Gandersheim,, a nun, wrote religious plays based on Terence’s plays, but they were probably “closet dramas.” • Christian ceremonies are where the theatre seems to have been reborn. • Between 925 and 975, drama becomes re-introdued into the church services. Theatre was “reborn” within the very institution that helped to shut it down. • Perhaps the church had little choice—it couldn’t stop the pagan rites—too popular—so many aspects of pagan rites found their way into Christian ceremonies.

22. Medieval Theater • Earliest extant drama from the middle ages: • 925 A.D. “QuemQuaeritis” • A four-line dramatization of the resurrection, with direction for its performance. Comes from an Easter trope (interpolation into existing text, originally lengthened musical passages with words eventually added). • Sung by a choir at first. • “Whom seek ye in the tomb, O Christians? • Jesus of Nazereth, the crucified, O heavenly beings, • He is not here, he is risen as he foretold; • Go and announce that he is risen from the tomb.”

23. Medieval Theater • The Three Marys(Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany; and Mary Magdalene) come to the tomb of Jesus, and the angel asks them who they are looking for. • By 975, it had become a little drama within the service, probably played by altar boys.

24. Medieval Theater • The practiced blossomed—many playlets developed dealing with biblical themes—mostly Easter, Christmas, the 12th Night (Feast of the Epiphany). • Usually serious, but at the Feast of Fools and the Feast of the Boy Bishops, much dancing and foolishness and parodies of church practices. • At first, the church had control of the drama outside of the church, but then it gradually became more controlled by secular groups. • The Guilds (tradesmen or Confraternities) took over in some cities, and it was common for certain Guilds to retain control over certain plays/stories, all of which were based in some way on the Bible or religious teachings. • For instance, the Bakers’ Guild would control the play about the Last Supper, and the Shipwrights’ guild would get plays about Noah’s Ark, etc. • Municipalities took over in some cities, but the church still needed to approve the scripts, even when its role diminished.

25. Medieval Theater—Liturgical Drama • Before 1200, most were still being done inside the church as part of the liturgy. Most were probably still in Latin, the language of the Church.

26. Medieval Theater—Liturgical Drama • Staging: • Mansions—small scenic structures for indicating location (for instance, a throne might equal the palace of Pilate). • In more complex plays, there were many mansions. • Machinery was also used to fly Christ up to heaven, have angels come down, etc. • Costumes were probably ordinary church vestiments. • By 1200, soime of these plays were begin performed outdoors.

27. Medieval Theater—Liturgical Drama • By 1350, plays were in the vernacular, rather than Latin. • Laymen were the actors (male members of the community, unpaid—though there were some women on stage in France), no longer clerics and priests. • The stories began to range even further than when they were part of the liturgical services. • The church seemed to support these dramas.

28. Medieval Theater—Secular Drama • By 1350, plays were in the vernacular, rather than Latin. • Laymen were the actors (male members of the community, unpaid—though there were some women on stage in France), no longer clerics and priests. • Stories began to range even further than when they were part of the liturgical services. • The Church seemed to support these dramas.

29. Medieval Theater—Secular Drama • With diminishing church control, secularization lead to some changes. • Mastercopy of the script was call the Register • sometimes the producing company/guild could monopolize or censor it or band it • The Keeper of the Register was an important position and had much control. • The Master of Secrets was in charge of machines (secrets)—the special effects.

30. Medieval Theater—Secular Drama • The special effects were often very intricate • 17 people needed to operate the “Hell” machinery in Belgium in 1501. • Flying was a major technique and used commonly—angels, resurrection • Almost all scenes had Heaven on the right, Hell on the left, and Earth on the middle. • Platforms covered with cotton (the “glories”) held the angels. • Trap door—appearances and disappearances (Lot’s wife turning into salt, etc.) • Fire—the hellmouth—a fire breathing monster representing hell.

31. Medieval Theatre—Staging • Two major kinds of stages: Fixed and Moveable • Technical tricks would be more extensive on fixed stages. • Mansion and platea were borrowed from liturgical drama • Simultaneous staging was a distinctive characteristic of medieval theatre.

32. Medieval Theatre—Staging • Fixed Staging—onthe Continent (except Spain and parts of Italy) • Mansions set up in available spaces (courtyards, town squares, etc.) • Moveable Staging—pageant wagons—like parade floats—moved through the streets • The term “pageant” is used to refer to the stage, the play itself, and the spectacle.

33. Medieval Theatre—Staging

34. The Medieval Drama—the plays • The plays seem naïve if we don’t understand the period. • People had little sense of history—reflecting the limited knowledge • Anachronisms were very common • Comic elements appeared in plays that were otherwise very serious, and had, as their purpose, to teach Bible stories and principles to the people. • The medieval mind looked at the temporal world (Earth) as transitory: Heaven and Hell were the eternal realities.

35. The Medieval Drama—the Religious Plays • Performed in cycles • Three kinds: • Mystery Plays—about Christ or from the Old Testament—usually done in cycles. (Second Shepherds’). • Miracle Plays—lives of saints, historical and legendary figures • Morality Plays—didactic allegories, often of common man’s struggle for salvation (Everyman—only his good deeds accompany him in death.)

36. The Medieval Drama—the Religious Plays • Characteristics in common: • Aimed to teach or reinforce Church doctrine • Melodramatic: good rewarded, evil punished • God and his plan were the driving forces, not the characters. • To us, these play seem to be episodic, confusing sequences of time, and an odd mixture of comic and serious—unnerving.

37. The Medieval Drama—the Secular Plays • Latin comedies and tragedies were studied in schools and universities. • Farce—very popular, particularly in France where it is well-developed. Pierre Patelin—15thcenture—clever knaves outwitting each other. • Moralities—secularized allegories based on classical gods and heroes, often with some political content. • Mummings and Disguisings—given at wealthy homes on holidays.—pantomimes, danced and narrated stories. • Interludes and Masques—between courses at a banquet, masques were allegorical compliments to the guests—with intricate dances and spectacle. • Town Staged Pageants—the plays were often put on in celebrations in honour of dignitaries. • Performed by professional actors attached to noble houses.

38. The Decline of Medieval Theatre • Increased interest in classical learning—affected staging and playwriting. • Social structure was changing—destroyed feudalism and “corporate” nature of communities. • Dissention within the church led to prohibition of religious plays in Europe. • Queen Elizabeth, the Council of Trent, 1545-1563—religious plays outlawed. • By the late 16th century, drama of medieval period lost its force.

39. The Decline of Medieval Theatre • Results of the decline: • Professional actors still needed, but not amateurs. • Professional theatre rose, became commercial (no longer a community venture). • No longer religious plays—returned to the classics for new ideas for stories.

40. From Medieval to Elizabethan Periods (England) • The Renaissance/Neoclassical was less binding in England than the rest of Europe. • Classics gradually went to England, as is reflected in some of the early English Renaissance plays: • Ralph Roister Doister—Nicholas Udall, a headmaster at Eton Academy (1505-1556) • Plot—about a boastful coward—indebted to Plautus’sThe Braggart Warrior—foolishness of boastful coward and his courtship of a widow. This play advanced the dramatic construction.

41. From Medieval to Elizabethan Periods (England) • GammerGurtons’ Needle—written at Cambridge University by Mr. “S.” (some believe Thomas Sackville) between 1552 and 1563. • Plot—two households disagree/misunderstand about the loss of a needle. • Fuses subject matter and characters similar to medieval farce with the technique of Roman Comedy.

42. From Medieval to Elizabethan Periods (England) • Inns of Court—residences and training for lawyers produced plays for self and important guests, like schools. • Gorbuduc—Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton—1561—The “first English Tragedy”—with a “political” statement to make (about leaving the order of succession of the throne unknown—support for Elizabeth’s reign)—Queen Elizabeth attended.

43. Forces Shaping English Drama from Medievalism to Elizabethan • Religious and political controversies • Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, Puritans. • Queen Elizabeth granted NO religious dissention. • 1588 defeat of Spanish Armada—gradual supremacy of English as major world power.

44. Forces Shaping English Drama from Medievalism to Elizabethan • Medieval influences • Dramas and interludes • Before, during, and after Elizabethan theatre—a sometime bizarre mixture of classics and native drama (of “sophisticated” and “simple” theatre).

45. Forces Shaping English Drama from Medievalism to Elizabethan • Acting became a legal profession in 1570’s • English theatre was under control of the government. • Acting companies had to have a license, AND the patronage of a noble. • Provincial troupes were deprived of legal status, so theatre was concentrated around London. • Merchant class disliked the theatre (most were part of growing Puritan population), while the aristocracy liked it.

46. Forces Shaping English Drama from Medievalism to Elizabethan • Until 1608, theatre buildings were illegal in the city limits of London, so theatres were built outside of the city limits. • The first theatre—build by James Burbage, head of the first important troupe, the Earl of Leicester’s men, license in 1574—was called “The Theatre.” • By 1580, two or more companies were playing around London.

47. The Renaissance • The Renaissance had its beginnings in the 1200’s but really took hold around 1300 in Italy. • Renaissance = Rebirth • There were new ideas, based on classical teachings. • By the 16th century, the Renaissance had permeated most of European thought.

48. The Renaissance--Influences • Weakening of the Church influence • The Papacy was moved to Avignon, France, in 1305. In 1405, Constantinople (present-day Istabul, Turkey) fell to the Turks. Scholares fled West with valuable manuscripts, including some Greek Drama. • 1465—the Printing Press is invented. The Bible and some manuscripts were printed (classical plays, ancient architecture, Aristotle’s works, Horace, etc.) • 1467-1470, the printing press and printed manuscripts get to Italy, and classical plays become staged at Universities and Courst or Academies (club-like learning organizations). • In Italy, the nobility patronized the arts; playwrights were often under noble patronage

49. The Renaissance—Contributions to Theatre • Neoclassical ideal in playwriting and criticism • Italianate Staging and Architecture. • Commedia dell’Arte • Pantalone – the old man, a fool • Dottore – the doctor, a drunk or glutton • Capitano – braggart soldier • Inamorati– the young lovers – the only "normal" characters • "zanni" -- foolish servants; Harlequin (or Arlecchino) was the most popular

50. Neoclassicism: “New Classicism” • Interest in the ancient "rediscovered" classics – based more on Roman (where Italy now stood) than on Greek • Central concepts of neoclassicism: • Verisimilitude: "truth seeming" – what is truth? • In drama – could represent only what could be reasonably expected in real life • Decorum: characters were expected to display traits normally held by members of their class, or to suffer ridicule or punishment if not. • Good was to be rewarded, and evil punished – there was an eternal truth.