1. Theatre Performing Arts Week Two Ch1. The Nature of Theatre 1. The Basic Elements of Theatre 1. The Basic Elements of Theatre 2. Theatre as a Form of Art 2. Theatre as a Form of Art 3. Special Qualities of Theatre 3. Special Qualities of Theatre 4. Art and Value 4. Art and Value

2. Ch1. The Nature of Theatre Early rites was only incidentally theatrical Storytelling and mimicry By theatrical terminology (play, show, acting) that suggests that theatre is the product of grown-ups Considered theatre not only an acceptable form of entertainment but also a truthful reflection of human behavior

3. The Basic Elements of Theatre (1 /3 ) What is performed (script, scenario, or plan) Such events as street carnivals and parades types of theatre A performs B for C Theatre does not require a script, dialogue, or conflict Improvised scenes, pantomimes, vaudeville sketches, musical plays, and spoken drama are all theatrical entertainments. Furthermore, they may be brief or lengthy Whereas others find the essence of theatre to be its capacity to provoke thought or action about significant issues

4. The Basic Elements of Theatre (2 /3 ) Theatre’s second ingredient, the performance, is equally complex The performance takes place in space that can vary from a building intended specifically for theatrical performances to a street, park, or nightclub It may permit the audience to surround the performers A musical involves even more: composer, instrumentalists, singers, choreographer, and dancers Popular musicals as Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, or The Lion King Peter Brook in his book The Empty Space: “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage.”

5. The Basic Elements of Theatre (3 /3 ) The third ingredient of the theatre is the audience This live three-way interaction is a distinctive characteristic of theatre and a major cause of variations in performances from night to night Off-Broadway and regional theatres, with lower costs and ticket prices, can afford to take greater chances and may seek a more restricted audience than that wooed by Broadway These three elements – script, performance, and audience – although they may by treated separately in discussion, interact and modify each other in practice Responses to theatre are inescapably varied

6. Theatre as a Form of Art (1 /4 ) Theatre is a form of art, and art is not always comfortable or comforting. It often insists on its right to look at the world in unpopular ways and to challenge our ways of looking at ourselves and the standards of the culture that has shaped the way we view the world Art always meant the systematic application of known principles to achieve some predetermined result Divide the arts into two groups, “useful” and “fine”

7. Theatre as a Form of Art (2 /4 ) Unfortunately in modern times, the word art has come to be used as a value judgment Popular culture and elitist culture Popular culture today would probably encompass such forms of expression as rock music, television sitcoms, advertising art, and musical comedy; elitist forms would encompass those kinds of music usually heard in concert halls, the visual art shown in galleries and museums, and many of the theatrical productions seen in not-for-profit or regional theatres

8. Theatre as a Form of Art (3 /4 ) It employs easily recognizable character types, situations, and dramatic conventions, manipulating them with sufficient inventiveness to be entertaining but usually without raising disturbing questions that challenge the audience’s values and assumptions When Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot was first performed in the 1950s, many spectators were unable to relate to a play in which there was no discernible storyline beyond two tramps waiting for someone who never arrived. The response of many to this innovative play was summed up in one of the play’s speeches: “Nobody comes, nobody goes. It’s terrible.”

9. Theatre as a Form of Art (4 /4 ) Can imagined experience be a way of knowing and understanding? Shakespeare offers one answer in As You Like It (Act II, Scene 7): “All the world’s stage, / And all the men and women merely players.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge called a “willing suspension of disbelief” – although we know the events of a play are not real, we agree for the moment not to disbelieve them Esthetic distance This feeling of involvement is sometimes called empathy

10. Art and Value Art is valuable for its capacity to improve the quality of life – by bringing us pleasure, by sharpening our perceptions, by increasing our sensitivity to others and our surroundings, by suggesting that moral and societal concerns should take precedence over materialistic goals One purpose of this book is to affirm the value of theatre

11. Theater Films 1. Chekhov’s The Seagull 2. Phantom of the Opera 3. Greek Tragedy Oedipus the King 4. The Best of Riverdance, Feet of Flames

12. 專家演講 共邀請兩位演講者，來交大課堂演講 演講者︰當代傳奇劇場 吳興國藝術總監， 和石光生教授 ( 題目為：台灣皮影戲藝術的 演變 ) 藝術總監吳興國 10/18 台藝大戲劇系教授石光生 12/9

13. Watch one of the performances 校外教學： (1) 台北國家劇院 日本鈴木忠志跨文化劇場《大鼻子情聖》 (10/9-10/11) 或是 (2) 台北國家劇院 當代傳奇劇場 — 《梨園傳奇》 10/22- 10/25 或是 (3) 台北小巨蛋 麥可‧佛萊利 (Michael Flatley) 的《火焰之 舞》 (Feet of Flames) 12/19-12/20 星期六日 或是 (4) 學期中陸續知道的值得推薦的好表演 規劃：學生可自選老師所推薦的幾齣表演中，各自有興趣的 一齣表演，每位學生選各自有空的時間，自行買票。這門課 提供保險費與交通補助。 看完推薦的其中一齣表演後，學生繳交心得報告。 保險費 ($50) 交通費 ($250) ( 以車票票根實報實消 )

14. Assignments Make sure the weekly group presentations Preview if you can