Unit 2 Flashcards
(54 cards)
What are the 4 multiple realities (tenets) of theatre?
Real Life
Design team and director
“Theatre is life without the boring parts”
Plays need an audience to work
Presentational
non-realistic experience where the audience is reminded that they are in a play
Representational (Naturalism)
audiences are immersed in the world of the play and forget they are watching a play in a theatre
What concept was incorporated into early origins of western theatre?
Plays were connected to religious festivals
Where were plays performed in early origins of western theatre?
Performed in amphitheaters without scenery
What role did plays have in early origins of western theatre?
Used as a cathartic device (emotional release) for their society
What is catharsis?
Greek word for purification, cleansing, clarification and means to purge emotions
When were women permitted to perform in England?
Banned until 1642 (Restoration Era) when King Charles the II permitted it
Where was one of the first interactive performances with the audience?
Mid 1500s in London by travelling actors meeting in pubs and coffee houses.
What arch frames the stage?
Proscenium Arch (Burruss)
What are the 4 types of stages?
Thrust Stage
Theatre in Round
Black Box Theatres
Immersive Theatre
Thrust Stage
- stage extends into the audience
- Studio Theatre in Squires
Theatre in Round
intimate productions
Black box theatres
- room is black
- appearance of anyplace
-make audience feel that they are in the location of the performance
Immersive Theatre
-no stage
- completely breaks 4th wall
-staged in houses, apartments, or public spaces
-Sleep no more
William Shakespeare (1564)
- Plays set in history or far away countries to disguise his political commentary
- ex. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (from 1953)
Vaclav Havel (1936-2011)
-Became Czech president in 1989
-great example of using theatre and art as a political force
What is the Savoy in London, 1881 an example of?
Realism coincided with the use of electric lighting onstage
How were theaters lit before electric light?
Calcium oxide (quicklime)
Naturalism
Movement in European drama and theatre that developed in late 19th and 20th centuries
Henrik Ibsen(1828-1906)
- Norwegian playwright who wrote naturalistic plays about isolation in human relationships
- Freud learned Norwegian to read Ibsen in the original
Anton Chekov (1860-1904)
- Russian playwright who blended naturalism with symbolism
- His plot are not the focal point, but what is revealed about the characters through internal drama
Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938)
Developed The Method
- Actors that used the Method were called Method Actors
Who created the Group Theater in NYC in 1931?
- Lee Strasberg
- Harold Clurman
- Cheryl Crawford
After seeing the Moscow Art Theatre
