3. Greek Theater  Dithyrambs  Thespis  Ritual festivals feature competition of plays  Tetralogy  Singing and dancing chorus  1 – 3 actors  Use of masks to portray a variety of characters  Aristotle’s Poetics

4. Dramatic Genres  Tragedy  From the Greek word “tragos,” meaning goat song.  Serious portrayal of human suffering, through protagonist’s hamartia and decline.  Concluded with catharsis  Satyr Play  Bawdy comedy that satirized accompanying trilogy.  One complete satyr play survived: The Cyclops, by Euripides  Comedy  Humorous handling of political issues, sexuality, and the gods.  Often included nudity, animalistic characters  Performed separately from tetralogy

5. Greek Playwrights  Aeschylus – Orestia, Prometheus Bound  Sophocles – Oedipus Tyrannos, Antigone  Euripides – The Trojan Women, The Cyclops, Medea  Aristophanes – Lysistrata, The Birds Greek Theatron  Orchestra  Thymele  Skene  Eisodoi (or parados)  Ekklyklema  Deus ex machina

6. Hellenistic Period  Period spans the rule of Alexander the Great to the rise of the Roman Empire.  Greek culture extended into Europe and Asia, due to military conquests.  Drama included Greek tragedies and new comedy  Chorus reduced in importance, and provided music and dance, light entertainment.  Playwright  Menander - Dyskolos (The Grouch), Epitrepontes (Men at Arbitration) Samia (Girl from Samos)

8. Roman Theater  Adapted from Greek drama  Mainly comedies, performed for ruling classes during festivals and holidays  Lacked religious and cultural meaning.  Performed alongside circuses and gladiatorial competitions.  Chorus was removed from performance.  Persona

9. Roman Playwrights  Plautus – The Menachmi Twins, Aulularia, Pseudolus  Terence – The Eunuch, Andrian, The Brothers  Seneca – Hercules, Octavia, Phaedra Roman Auditorium  Platae  Frons scaenae  Vomitorium  Orchestra Roman Theater, Orange, France

11. The Middle Ages  Christian doctrine dominated literature, culture  Rise of feudal system, nobles and peasants, and rural communities  Tropes – Quem Queritis  1210 AD, Pope removed drama from the Mass  Cycle Plays – The York Cycle  Morality plays – Everyman York Mystery Play, 2010

12. The Cycle Play  First dramas written in English  Playlets relating the stories of the Bible  Community guilds responsible for production of each playlet  Large scale productions lasted several days (40+) with large casts (300+)  No notable authors  Rolling procession  Performed at high religious events  Written in verse to elevate status of characters, subject matter Video Clip

14. The Renaissance  Creative movement that influenced all of Europe  Emphasis on discovery, individual potential, creativity, reasoning  Rediscovery of Greek and Roman ideas, including humanism: “man is the measure of all things”  Decline of feudal system, religious dogma

15. England – Shakespearean Era  1559 – Queen Elizabeth I bans religious cycle plays  Drama written in verse, prose, and doggerel  Included foreign locales, complex stories, historical reference  Travelling players  Named after sponsor: Lord Admiral’s Men, Lord Chamberlain’s Men  Skilled actors, musicians, acrobats writers  All male troupes; boy companies  Public Theater  Enclosed yard, with 3-story gallery for viewing  Raised stage, backed by tiring house  The Rose, The Globe

16. England – (con’t.)  Playwrights  William Shakespeare – Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest  Christopher Marlowe – Tamburlaine the Great, The Tragedy of Dr. Faustus  Ben Jonson – Volpone, The Alchemist  1642 – Puritans named actors and drama “sinful,” banning all theatrical performances. Ended with the return of Charles II to the throne in 1660. The Globe Theater, London, England

17. Italy  Renewed interest in Greek and Roman culture by elite society  Developments in architecture, painting, literature: Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonard da Vinci, Petrarch  Proscenium Arch  Travelling troupes were skilled actors, musicians, acrobats, female performers  Commedia dell’arte  Stock characters  Use of masks, costumes, portable stages, slapstick  Lazzi Video Clip

18. Spain – Spanish Golden Age  Spanish Inquisition (1480)  1400’s - Dramas were liturgical, religious in nature  1500’s – secular pasos performed by travelling companies  Women permitted to perform in productions  Dramas included themes of personal honor, chivalry, blended genres  Corrales de comedia  Playwrights  Lope de Vega – Fuenteovejuna  Pedro Calderon de la Barca – Life is a DreamLife is a Dream  Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote, stage adaptations

20.  Royalty became patrons of theater, commissioning plays and entertainment, establishing aesthetic standards  1600’s - Started in Spain, and progressed to France, then England.  Performances became social gatherings for elite society The Royal Theater

21. France  French Neoclassicism  Established strict format for playwriting, limiting creativity  Drama focused on social commentary, domestic issues; lacked plot and action  Tennis court performances  Public theater - Parterre, proscenium arch, loges  Playwrights  Pierre Corneille – Le Cid, Medee  Moliere, (aka Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) – Tartuffe, The Imaginary Invalid, The Bourgeois Gentleman  Jean Racine – Phaedra, Alexander the Great, Andromaque

22. England  English Restoration (1660)  Restoration Comedy – aka “Comedy of Manners”  English Royal Patent of 1662 – allowed female actresses at “legitimate” theaters  The Drury Lane  Covent Garden  Raked stage, proscenium arch, bench seating in pit  Playwrights  William Wycherly – The Country Wife  William Congreve – The Way of the World  Aphra Behn – The Rover  John Dryden – A World Well Lost Video Clip

24.  Developed in reaction to elitist styles of French Neoclassicism and Restoration Comedy  Began as sentimental comedy  Appealed to the masses  Focused on appeals to emotion rather than intellect  Reflected the virtues of private life  Featured action, exotic locales and exaggerated passion  Evident in Opera and early musicals Romanticism

25.  Playwrights  Richard Steele – Conscious Lovers  Joseph Addison – Cato  George Aiken – Uncle Tom's Cabin, based on novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe  Alexandre Dumas – Camille, The Three Musketeers  Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe – Faust  Edmond Rostand – Cyrano De Bergerac

26. Realism – likeness to life  Influenced all facets of theater: playwriting, direction, acting, and design  Examined social, psychological and political complexities of life  Complex characters and relationships  David Garrick – Actor-Producer of the Drury Lane Theatre  Fourth Wall  Playwrights  Henrik Ibsen – A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts  George Bernard Shaw – Major Barbara, St. Joan  Anton Chekhov – The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters Anton Chekhov

27. Naturalism – a slice of life  Extreme form of realism where natural and social environment override individual willpower  Character development versus plot development  Established in France by theorist, Emile Zola  Playwrights  August Strindberg – Miss Julie  Arthur Schnitzler – La Ronde

29. Antirealism –  Began in Paris, 1880, by artists who saw Realism as ordinary and mundane  Plays explore the human condition; characters are symbolic, facing universal conflicts, and withstanding adversity  No principles or formulas for aesthetics, but some with similar characteristics  Drama included verse, novelty, fantasy, superhuman abilities, extravagance

30. The Age of “Isms”  Symbolism  Explored inner human reality not directly or literally perceived  Symbolic characters represent philosophical ideals or warring internal forces  August Strindberg – A Dream Play ( 1902 )  French Avant Garde  Abandoned conventions of Realism to create new theatrical style  Alfred Jarry – Ubu Roi ( 1896 )  Expressionism  Attacked senses with bright lights and color, abrasive sound effects, and aggressive pace  Eugene O’Neill – The Hairy Ape (1921)

31. The Age of “Isms”  Theater of Cruelty  Explored the source of dreams, using cruelty, savagery, criminality  Employed language for its sounds rather than meaning  Theater of Alienation  Use of theater to influence public issues and motivate social action  Bertolt Brecht – The Good Person of Szechuan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle Bertolt Brecht  Theater of the Absurd  Themes based on the search for meaning or purpose in life  Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot, Endgame  Harold Pinter – The Birthday Party, The Homecoming

32. American Realism  First major theatrical form in United States  Confronted impact of social issues on normal people  Enhanced by realistic acting style developed by theater companies  Popularized by American film industry  Playwrights  Eugene O’Neill – Beyond the Horizon, Mourning Becomes Electra, Anna Christie  Clifford Odets – Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing!  Arthur Miller – Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons  Tennessee Williams – The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire  August Wilson – Fences, The Piano Lesson, Gem of the Ocean

33. Postmodernism  1970’s – sexuality, profanity, violence, used to shock audience  1980’s – focused on diversity to raise public consciousness, global awareness  21st Century – became a platform to debate issues of terroism, war, religious rights, and political control

34. Theatrical styles  Experimental theatre  Dadaism  Nonlinear theater  David Auburn, Proof  Harold Pinter, Betrayal  Open Theater  Joseph Chaikin, Open Theatre Company  Diversity  Feminist theatre ensembles  Negro Ensemble Company  Color blind, and cross gender casting  Fusion theatre  Macaroni theatre  Exploration of sexual preferences – Tony Kushner, Angels in America

35. Theatrical styles  Spectacular Theatre  Advances in lighting, sound and computer technology  Apparent in cinema, performance art, musicals, music concerts  Verbatim Theatre  Moises Kaufman – The Laramie Project (2002)  My Name is Rachel Corrie (2005)  Workers’ Theatre  El Teatro Campesino, California (1965)  Free Southern Theater, Mississippi (1963)  Cornerstone Theater, California (1986)  Movement art and dance theatre  Solo performance  William Luce – The Belle of Amherst (1976)  Jay Presson Allen – Tru (1989)

37. Asian Theater  Developed in isolation from Western culture  Emphasis on imagery and symbolism, rather than realism and literary merit  Drama includes dance, song, chant, mime, acrobatics, puppetry  Centered around folk history, cultural myths, ancient religion  Drama featured multiple authors, improvisation, and adaptations

38. India  Sanskrit Dance-Theater  Documented in treatise Natyasatra, detailing play structure, stage buildings, performance, etc.  Died out in 10 th century due to Mongol conquests and fragmented culture  Kathakali – “story play”  Developed in 17 th century  Based on stories from the Mahabharata

39. China  Shadow Plays  Xiqu – “tuneful theater”  Performers must be skilled in all: singing, speech, acting, movement, acrobatics, martial arts  Teahouse performances  Included both humorous and serious elements  Beijing Opera  100 Words Festival

40. Japan  No  Ceremonial drama, retelling myths and supernatural events  Characters include shite, waki, and chorus  Comic interlude called the kyogen  Bunraku  Developed in 6 th century, using life-like puppetry  All-male puppeteers, musicians, and chanters  Three puppeteers per character, cloaked in black  Kabuki  Originated in 17 th Century  Multi-act play, utilizing stylized costumes, face paint, scenery, movement

41. Notable Asian Playwrights  Rabindrinath Tagore (1861 – 1941) - India  Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for poetry  Challenged classical sanskrit, and wrote poetic, political, and personal works  Ts’ao Yu (1910-1996) - China  Influenced by Greek and Western drama, wrote “spoken theater”  Kuan Han Ch’ing (1241 – 1320) - China  wrote in zaju style, The Injustice of Dou E  Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653 – 1725) – Japan  Domestic dramas, usually ended with suicide of one or both lovers