Notes for Theatre I

History of Theatre:

Drama Notes:

 

Theatre:  1)  A building, room, or outdoor structure for the presentation of plays, films, or other dramatic performances.
                2)  The art of writing and producing plays.

This word not only encompasses the building it takes place in, but also a huge range of activities making it difficult to define clearly.

There are two constants in the Theatre.  Performance and audience.  While there are many more key elements to this and it can exist with more than these two elements, if one is missing, it is not theatre. 

It ranges from religious ritual to poetic drama to ice dancing to sex shows to opera to ballet.

The core element is the interaction of the performers to the spectators. 

Theatre extends to not only art, but history, politics, psychology, sociology, and other fields.

Live performances have greater effect than books or television because of the interaction.

Recovering the past: 

Drama begins with a written script.  It is the basic framework for a play.

An Ancient Art:

Plays and theatre and drama are found in all cultures.  They touch inner feelings and have one magical concept, which is imagination.

Nothing is known for certain about the origin of theatre, but some things are known.  Rooted in the word “play” which are games children came up with for entertainment purposes for themselves, the word play is also another word for drama using the imagination similarly to how a child “played” out a game using his or her imagination.

Other origins are myths and religion.

Dance Drama: 

            Myth and Imagination:  More imagination was used in the past because there were less things to do and less of a controlling influence on our minds. 

            Ritual:  To reinforce social behavior to particular societies, some drama was used. 

                        By ritual, things could be explained, questions could be answered, and creation could be told.       

                        Narrative and conflict are the main ingredients of drama, and they were first expressed through ritual drama.

Western Drama: 

            Dramatic art, different from religious ritual, emerges when a society reaches the stage of development when food production ceases to be the dominant occupation, when trade and crafts develp when society becomes more sophisticated, urban.

            Language rather than dance becomes the medium which society can express itself.

In 5th century B.C., Greek Drama is born.  It was described as a miracle as was Elizabethan theatre later on.

Near East: 

            Religious dramas were being performed before Greek in Egypt and Mesopotamia.  It is unclear whether or not it was ritual or drama, but it existed.

Egypt: 

            Evidence becomes clear from Abydos’s tomb;  the drama of Osiris was depicted on tomb.  Osiris was a leading Egyptian deity who formed a trinity with Isis and Horus.  (The nature god and the god of death)  Drama was concerned with death and resurrection.  Greeks were acquainted with the Egyptian Myths. 

            Dionysis:  Feasts, celebrations, and festivals were related to the Nature god, Dionysis.  In those revels, we find western drama.

Classical theatre: 

            Thespis:  Athenian poet in the 6th century, the term thespian comes from this poet.  He is said to separate actor from chorus and create dramatic dialogue.

The Theatre of Dionysis:

            Dramatic Festival:  Five days of theatre below the acropolis.  There was a competition between chorus’s and the rest of the days were dedicated to drama.  There were five plays from five different playwrights, five comedies over five of the days, tragedies over three of the days and satyre as a light relief in between.

Stage and Audience: 

            For the Greek, theatres were built in the open on a hillside, exploiting the slope to provide a view.  The audience sat on wooden benches in a semi circle to get the whole view of the stage.  There was little scenery, and the royalty had the best seats in the house.

Actors:

            The costumes for the actors were ordinary clothes for a tragedy.  For a comedy they wore thickly padded clothes because lots of humor was found in beating each other up.  There were also exotic clothing.

Stories were drawn from mythology and they wore masks.  It was easier for men to play female roles and more roles at a time with the masks being used. 

Music:  Music plays an important role in drama whether it be singing by the chorus or music playing in the background of a dramatic scene. 

Greek Tragedy:  Evolution of three overlapping careers of tragedians:

            Aeschylus:  Narrative dramatic, considered the greatest before Shakespeare

                        Subject matter:  Rich heritage of Greek mythology enshrined in Homer, and human civilization.

He wrote trilogies that were self contained stories but formed a greater unity at the end.  He introduced a second actor into the mix, creating dialogue.  He also decreased the chorus from 50-12. 

Sophocles:  Contemporary Pericles.  Overlapped with Aeschylus and Euripides.  Lyricist.

                        Subject matter:  the unavailing struggle of the individual against fate, situating the hero in a critical situation.

Created sharper and more complicated plots the Aeschylus.  Aristotle regarded his as the best, finest form of drama.

Euripides:  Step nearer to our own time.  Reclusive and antisocial- individualist- realist- had little time for Gods or morality and religion.  He was more interested in emotins and psychology of the individual.  He adopted everyday language and incorporated popular music.  He was more popular with later generations.  He found the chorus a distraction.  He thought it to be out of place in a play about private feelings rather than public events.  He also introduced the prologue.  It was an introduction of sorts, often satirical, and taken up by the Elizabethans who mistakenly called the narrator or speaker a chorus.

Greek Comedy:  tragedy came before comedy, but tragedy developed from satire. 

Greek comedy doesn’t translate as well as tragedy because the language is more local than anything else.  It relates to the modern audience.  Tragedy has changed but comedy’s spirit remains the same. 

Aristophanes:  embraced the “lowest” forms of comedy.  Clowning and farce.  He attacked everyone including Gods.  He was a critic of institutions and individuals especially politicians and intellectuals.  He never really got into trouble except once. 

New Comedy:  Menander:  New comedy is attributed to Menander.  He has a comedy of manners.  Not engaged in tragic conflict with invincible fate, but his characters are victims of chance events.  There is no chorus and no correlation with religion.

            Subject Matter:  Life of ordinary people, love, uses stock characters, identifiable by their masks.  Sympathetic to his characters especially women, but hostile to the aggressive, the greedy the intolerant and hypocritical.

Rome:  Greece was captured by Rome, but Rome was captivated by Greece.  Rome appreciated the virtues of those they conquered.

Rustic Comedy:  phlyax, knock about farce, rough type of comedy.  The characters needed padded costumes for this type of drama.  Another based on grotesquely masked stock characters characterized by vulgar vices like drunkenness and obscenity.

Terence and Plautus:

Terence:  African born former slave who was a genuine artist whose plays were original and elegant and have universal application.  Set in no particular time or place, they contain less coarse clowning and more subtle characterization.

Plautus:  Introduced stronger characters but usually stock type and relied on traditional humor mixed with songs.  In Rome, political and personal satire was dangerous.  The playwright could be exiled or even killed.  There were no restrictions however on obscenity.

Tragedy:  The main function of theatre in Roman days were to prived entertainment to those who liked such things as chariot races and gladiatorial combat (human sacrifice).  They liked comedy better than tragedy, they liked action and melodrama (dramatic form that fdoes not observe laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization).  As drama declined, even more magnificent theatres were built. 

 
Chapter 1:  Improvisation

Improvisation is portrayal of a character or scene without rehearsal or preparation.
Imagination is key.
There must be a beginning, middle, and end to each improv.
There must be credibility and freshness. 
Improvisation is one of the foundations of interpretation.
In acting, the actor must pretend to be instead of be.  In Improv, the actor is relying on those natural reactiosn that make a scene funny, serious, dramatic, or suspenseful.
There is a difficulty in "doing nothing" onstage.  The actor must be able to be present without drawing attention to him or herself. 
There are two types of approaches to telling a story and acting.  There is the character centered approach, which, focuses on a character or group of characters who experience different situation one right after the other.  This approach concentrates on the character's response.
The next type of approach is the situation centered approach.  This takes a single situation and places a number of characters in the situation to demonstrate how different personalities will respond to the same event.  One has more characters, one has more situations.  Both are focused on the reaction.

Use props. 
Visualize your character in detail.
Stand still without fidgeting.
Make definite gestures.
Speak Loudly enough to be heard throughout the theater or auditorium.
Do not hide behind pieces of furniture or other people.
Move about freely.  Try not to stand beside other characters all the time.
Take plenty of time to speak and to move so that you can create a defnite impression.
Stay in character all the time.  Always exhibit actions and reactions that are appropriate for your character.

The Motivated Sequence:
1.  You experience the stimulus
2.  You respond instinctively to the stimulus.  (Primary Response)
3.  The idea "connects."  Your brain registers the stimulus--this usually takes only a fraction of a second. (Idea Connection)
4.  If the stimulus is the kind that causes a reflex action, you might jerk back your head, or you might make a sound.  Your eyes look in that direction, then your body reactis; your chest moves in the direction of the stimulus.  (Secondary Response)
5.  You react vocally and/or physically with your main response.

That process can be completed within a second, but all of the steps must be present if the reaction is to be believable.
Dont play the character down. 
Ask yourself these questions when getting a new character.  Who am I?  What kind of person am I?  How am I different from the other characters?  What are the fewest things I can do to convey the most information about my character?  What does my character want?
When doing improv, remember these do's and dont's...:

1.  Do quickly establish your character in your mind.
2.  Don't deny anything your scene partners say about you or the situation.  If your partners say you have lovely yellow eyes, accept the statement as true, and use your imagination as you respond.
3.  Do identify the problem and your goal by asking what your character wants or needs.
4.  Dont ask questiosn.  Questiosn turn an improv into a question and answer routine.  especially avoide terminal questiosn, which are those that can be answered with a yes or a no or with a response that suts odwn the flow of the dialogue. 
5.  Do keep focuses on meeting your need or goal.
6.  Don't use simple statements of information.  Use descriptive language to make active statemetns about your feelings, observations, needs and goals.
7.  Do let the situation provide the basis for how your character attempts to reach a goal.
8.  Dont explain situations and feelings.  If you are unhappy, show it. If you are afraid of the dark, show it.  Telling is storytelling.  Acting is doing.
9.  Do react spontaneously to what is said or done.
10.  Do see things through the eyes of your character.
11.  Do listen to and observe what others are saying and doing.
12.  Do take cues from your scene partner or partners.
13.  Do play your scene from moment to moment.
14.  Do say or do things that demand a definite response.

 

Chapter 2:  Pantomime and Mime

Pantomime is the art of acting without words.
It was the first form of acting.
Know who Charlie Chaplin is, as well as Marcel Marceau.
Most of our communication every day is nonverbal.  This means we use our facial expressions, gestures and body language. 
Pantomime encourages meaningful movements, significant gestures, and animated facial expressions.
Physical actions  in mime and pantomime mean more than words in a regular play or movie. 
remember to understand your character and use your body as a tool to encompass your character. 
Posture is something important.  The proper way to stand on stage is to hold your body erect with chest high, chin up, back flat, arms slightly bent, and legs straight.  Keep one foot slightly in front of the other with your weight on the balls of your feet.
Give thought to things you do all the time:  walking, sitting, crossing, turning and falling.
WHen you are crossing on stage, lead with the foot farthest from the audience.  All turns are made to the front, on the balls of your feet. 
When you fall on stage, make sure you are close to the stage before falling, cushioning your fall with the softest parts of your body.
Gestures:
There are two types of gestures, facial expressions, and hand and arm movements. 
Facial expressions begin quickly, but they follow a pattern.  Refer to page 35 for the sequence for facial expressions.
With expressions given with arms and hands, you need to control your movements so that it seems natural, instead of sloppy.
Every gesture must have a definite purpose. 
When on stage, you must move your elbows a bit away from your body, so that the audience can clearly see your movement. 
Basic Principles of Pantomime:
1.  Your chest is the key to all bodily action.
2.  Your wrists lead most hand gestures.
3.  Move your elbows away from your body when making arm or hand gestures.
4.  Except on specific occasions when it is necessary for communication purposes, do not gesture above your head or below your waist.
5.  Opposite action emphasizes physical movement.  Pulling your arm back before delivering a blow makes the punch more emphatic.
6.  Arms and hands should move in curves, not in straight lines, unless you are deliberately trying to give the impression of awkwardness, uneasiness, force or strength.
7.  Positive emotions, such as love, honor, courage, and sympathy, are evidenced by a high chest and head, free movements, broad gestures, and animated facial expressions.
8.  Negative emotions, such as hate, greed, fear, and suffereing, contract and twist the body and are evidenced by a sunken chest, tense movement, restricted gestures, and drawn features.
9.  Facial expressions--the use of the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth--usually precede other physical actions.
10.  Whenever possible, make all gestures with your upstage arm, the one awa from the audience and avoide covering your face.
11.  Some exaggeration of movement is often essential.
12.  Always keep the audience in mind, and direct your actions towards them.
13.  All actions must be definite in concept and execution, and all movements must be clearly motivated.
Standard Pantomime Expressions:
Body as a whole
Feet and Legs
Head and Face
Fingers and Hands
Pantomime requires careful planning and rehearsing
miming small objects can be drawn with the hands.  larger objects use the whole body. 

Mime:  mime is a special art form, an offspring of pantomime.  Both the performer and the performance are called mime.  It is abstract, and stylized. 
Gives illusion of the action rather than the physical action itself.
Uses exaggeration.
Greater meaning is conveyed. 
Mimes give the illusion of walking.
There are only five mime faces:  happy, sad, angry, surprised, and afraid.
There are several distinctions between mime and pantomime:

Pantomime:
The action conveys only action; for example flying a kite.
Mime:
The action conveys the theme; snagging the kite on a tree after struggling to get it soaring in the sky.
Pantomime: 
The artist works with imaginary objects.
Mime: 
The artist works with imaginary objects but may also use part of all of the body to become an object or express an idea.
Pantomime:
No sounds are used.
Mime:  Nonverbal sounds, such as escaping air, a telephone busy signal or the screech of tires may be used.
Pantomime:
All pantomimes are based on reality.
Mime:
Mimes go beyond reality; they are not limited to the real world.
Pantomime:
The main goal is to the exact pantomime of a specific action.
Mime:
The main goal is the expression of the idea; themese can often be expressed in simple terms.

Conventional mime makeup and costume:
They paint their faces white to neutralize the color, the shape, the jawline, the hairline, and in front of their ears.  Makeup is individualized by each mime, but most mimems make up their eyes and mouths. 
mimes need flexible shoes, like ballet shoes or a sneaker.  Some perform in a leotard and tights, or dance pants.  Some wear jumpsuits.  Most mimes use specially made costumes that consist of tight stretch pants, , short waisted jacket worn over a knit shirt. 
Know inclinations, rotations, and isolations.

 

Chapter 3:  Voice and Diction: