1. Drama/Theatre Drama is both a literary art, like fiction and a performance art, like music and dance.

2. The Immediate Art n Peter Brook, a famous director writes: n “A man walks across the empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” n We’re there, in the moment, with the actors (real people) playing fictional characters.

3. The Doubleness of Theatre n Plays enacted create a special kind of mirror. n The actor is actor, another real person, and, fictional character. n The performing space is both stage and at the same time imaginary world created by playwright, designers, directors actors.

4. Shakespeare has Hamlet describe the purpose of acting or playing like this: n “... The purpose of playing was, and is, to hold... the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.” n Theatre is both stage and an illusion of the real world.

5. The Theatre as Space n Theatre comes from the Greek word “Theatron” meaning “seeing place.” n Drama comes from the Greek “Dran” meaning “to act.” n Theatres have been made of all kinds of spaces, churches, garages, lawns, streets, amphitheatres. What makes the space work is the interaction between audience and actor

6. Theatre’s Grand Illusion n Actors create the illusion that everyone (actors and audience) are sharing something for the first time. n We agree to the play’s “living reality.” n “Willing suspension of disbelief.” Coleridge’s way of describing what happens in theatre.

7. A Living Experience n How is theatre different from film? n In the physical presence of the actors and the stage. n Theatre is alive. n Theatrical experiences can’t be “saved” to watch again. It only lasts for as long as you’re there together with the actors.

8. Theatre as Entertainment n How is it different from a ball game? n Both in special places, both with live actors and audience, both featuring “star performers.” n But the performances in the ballgame are random, unpredictable. n Everybody knows what will happen in the play. It’s always the same every time you go see it.

9. Theatre -- a Collaborative Art n It’s not just a playwright turning out plays. It’s directors, designers, actors combining talents, ideas and imaginations to create the space and time of the play. n All of them are interpretive and creative artists making the play come alive.

10. Theatre as Discovery n The lights go down, the curtain - if there is one - goes up and you discover a hidden world. n Hamlet -- n Waiting for Godot --

11. It’s all about questions n One of the earliest pieces of theatre emerging from the Dark Ages was “Quem Quareritis” or “Whom seek ye?” n The first words of Hamlet are “Who’s there? n The last lines of Godot are “Well, shall we go?

12. And more questions? n Who are we? n Where have we been? n Where are we going in this life? n It asks questions about what it means to be human under certain conditions and in certain situations.

13. Audience Expectations n We expect plays to be related to life experiences. –To be authentic in feelings and experiences. –To confirm what we know about human behavior –We expect an authentic representation of some aspect of life we know or can imagine.

14. Escape/Catharsis n We go to escape our everyday lives -- to become enmeshed in the reality of someone else’s life. n We go to release emotions. To cry, to laugh, to be angry.

15. Expecting the Familiar Expecting the Familiar n Most of us go expecting the familiar. –We enjoy familiar plots, characters and situations. –We have already seen plays we like. We want to see similar plays when we attend. n We also appreciate the novel, the experimental. Sometimes this novelty leads us to examine our lives from a different point of view, it helps us to let go of the familiar.

16. The Collective Response n We attend theatre as a group -- a collective thinking and feeling presence. n Psychologists say that being in an audience satisfies a deeply felt human need. We need to laugh and cry together.

17. Alice Childress n Response Papers. n Other Questions? n Describe the scene. Can you visualize it? n Is is real, a mirror to nature? In what way so and in what way not? n What is it about? What’s it’s theme?