Theatre Traditions:East and WestChapter 7Cohen, THEATRE (Brief edition)
Theatre exists in the present, but is deeply rooted in its past
Many plays seen today are revivals…
Contemporary theatre artists are compared to their
predecessors
Some ancient plays adapt to modern times
Many of the world’s great plays are closely based upon
preceding ones
One theory suggests that the origins of theatre are in tribal groups, dating as far back as 6000 years…
Another theatre suggests that theatre evolved from rituals that can be seen as collective ceremonies…
STORYTELLING…
Storytelling requires an audience
Storytelling involves character impersonation
In Animism SHAMANS are guides to the spiritual world
Mediums are examples of spiritual guides like Shamans
The Sri Lankan sanniyakuma
A Bundu Devil Dancer
Traditional theatre and
drama seems to have its earliest expressions in Ancient Egypt
Abydos Passion Play is likely the first known drama in Egypt.
It was associated with the rites of burial.
Egyptian ceremonies and rites date as far back as 2500 BC
The Abydos procession to the Nile was not unlike a modern parade
Other rites appeared in Babylonia and other locations in the Middle East but did not flourish.
The next wave of development occurred in Attica (Greece).
5th Century Athens stands as one of the great ages of theatre
Attic rites developed both tragedy and comedy
Evidence exists in mosaics and vases from the period
A dithyrambic chorus
Attic rites honored the God of fertility, harvest and wine
Dionysus
City Dionysia held in Athens in theatre at base of Acropolis
Model of Theatre Dionysia
Artists reconstruction of Greek Theatre at its height
Components of Greek drama1. Performed for special occasion to celebrate the
seasons or some important civic event2. It was competitive. Prizes were awarded.3. They featured CHORAL singing and dancing…the
chorus was comprised of from 3 to 50 members.4. The plays were based upon familiar stories and
myths.
Types of Greek Drama
- TRAGEDY- COMEDY- SATYR PLAYS
Comedy and tragedy were the most popular types of plays in ancient Greece. Hence the modern popularity of the comedy and tragedy masks to symbolize theatre.
Aeschylus
The PersiansSeven Against ThebesThe SuppliantsThe Oresteia Agamemnon The Libation Bearers The EumenidesPrometheus Bound
524 – 456 BC
Sophocles (497-406 BC)
Oedipus Rex and Antigone
Euripides
AlcestisElectraThe BacchaeTrojan Women
480-406 BC
Greek masks and musicians
Greek masks and chorus
Greek Comedy
Aristophanes (447-388 BC)
The Birds (pictured), The Clouds, Lysistrata
The satyr play
Theatre at Epidaurus
Greek costumes
Himation, Chlamys
Onkos
kothurnoi
A Greek Chorus
Greek drama introduced...
• Tragedy and comedy• Conventions in costume• The third actor• Skene (elevated stage)• Choral singing• Stock characters• Trilogy• Satyr (parody)
Roman Drama
Terence Plautus
Roman Theatre
Roman theatre in Syria
Medieval Drama
After the fall of Rome, theatrical activity in the West was brought to an end.
It re-emerged in the 10th century with QUEM QUERITAS
By 1250, Bible-based dramas (Mystery Plays) were common in Europe
Mystery cycles were staged by guilds in European cities
Wakefield
York
Logo for York Mystery Play today
Pagaent wagons
Valenciennes Mansion Stage
Morality plays
Renaissance Drama
16th century Commedia dell’Arte troupe
Plautus and Seneca were first translated in the 1470s
Agamemnon HerculesMedeaPhaedraPhoenician Women
(4BC-65AD)
The Elizabethan Age (1558-1603)
Theatre’s golden ageChristopher Marlowe
Ben Jonson
John Webster
William Shakespeare(1564-1616)
Shakespeare’s first folio-1623
The Plays of William ShakespeareSir John Gilbert - 1849
The King’s Men
William Kemp
Richard Burbage
Elizabethan Playhouse
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Theatre
Globe Theatre
Globe Theatre (exterior)
Interior
Shakespeare Festival TheatreStratford-upon-Avon
The Royal Theatre
In Spain, there wasPedro Calderon at thecourt of Philip IV
Louis XIV in France
Moliere at court
Jean RacinePierre Corneille
In England, The Restoration
The Royal Theatres of Europe defined the Neoclassical age
Theories of drama were adapted from Aristotle
Development of neoclassical ideal of “reasonableness”
Onstage violence eliminated
Strict unity of style and genre
Theatres were moved indoors to encourage new stagecraft
The classical unities
TIMEPLACE
ACTION
Corneille’s LE CID
Moliere’s TARTUFFE
Congreve’s THE WAY OF THE WORLD
After Neoclassicism camethe Romantic Era
A rebellion against Neoclassicism and its rigidity and decorum
The dominant form of the 18th and 19th centuries
Celebrated the exotic and grotesque and emphasized the individual over society
Focused on compassion rather than style
Gave rise to the form of melodrama
Major authors of the romantic age In Germany
Johan Wolfgang von GoetheFriedrich von Schiller
In FranceVictor Hugo
Cyrano de Bergerac (1897)
Theatre in the East is rich and diverse
ASIAN Theatre is never just spoken, but danced, chanted, mimed and sung
Dramatic language is rhythmic and melodic and sound has multiple meanings
Eastern forms of theatre are more visual and sensual than literary or intellectual
There is a strong emphasis upon storytelling, but is not tightly plotted
It has a rich and long heritage, literally hundreds and thousands of years
Asian theatre forms are highly stylized
Actors train in traditional forms through an intense apprentice system
Asian theatre is deeply traditional with significant connections to folk history, ancient religions and cultural myths
Indian Sanskrit DramaDates from 200 BC. Performed indoors.
Natyasastra (treatise on theatre) dates from around 100 a.d.
Indian Kathakali (story play)
Chinese Xiqu (tuneful theatre)often referred to as Chinese Opera
The Monkey King
Scale and spectacle in Xiqu
Japanese Noh
Noh theatre groundplan
Noh masks
NOH masks change identity in light and shadow
Two major forms – history plays and domestic plays
Modern kabuki actors are descended from 11 families dating to the beginnings of the form.
Sakata Tojuro
Tojuro playing the courtesan Ohatsu opposite his son Nakamura Kanjaku as her lover Tokubei in "Sonezaki Shinju"
The Lion Dance
"Yoshitsune Senbonzakura (Yoshitsune and 1,000 Cherry Trees)"
1851
2008
Chikamatsu (1653-1725)was the greatest Japanese dramatist
Chikamatsu also wrote for Bunraku
Theatrical Tradition: East & WestCOHEN identifies twelve great theatre traditions
GreekRomanMedievalRenaissanceRoyal
(Neoclassical)RomanticSanskritKathakaliXiquNohKabuki Bunraku
All of these traditions influencedTHE MODERN THEATRE