Roman Theater
When and How: In the 2nd century. The Romans invaded the Greeks and adopted the forms of their plays. The Romans were influenced by the Greek theater though earlier when Greek slaves acted some things out.
Tragedies in Rome: Since they were all based on Greek gods and Greek heroes, the Romans didn’t like Tragedies.
Seneca:
He’s
this Roman Tragedy writer. His plays were never performed though., because of
their dislike to tragedies and also because they had no theaters.
Comedies: Unlike tragedies, the Romans loved comedies.
Plautus: This famous Roman Comic play writer. He used to borrow his plots and characters from Menander of Greece. His work is kind of vulgar and slangy.
Terance: Another Roman comic play writer. His plays were more refined and subtle than Plautus.
Roman Theater: they stole the Amphitheater, but they didn’t get a theater until really late.
Plays: In carnivals, the plays were performed between jugglers, and people blowing fires from their mouth, etc. They never succeeded because they competed with so many things. They even competed with what goes on in the coliseums. Like chariot racing and gladiators fighting and so on.
Romans and Pantomimes: They liked both mimes and pantomimes. Mimes are where the woman did immoral things and it was indecent. The Pantomimes is where they did funny acts and there was music and all.
Christian Repression: The Christians took over the theater and banned everything. [The Dark ages, 5th to the 6th century. The war of the crusades between Muslims and Christians] Banned drama claiming it immoral
Didactic Plays: the priests [clergymen] then decided that they could use drama to inform people about religion. [10th century] Didactic is not entertaining, however has an educative purpose. They used stories from the bible and apocrypha [a rumor or a lie]
Movable Types: like blocks with the letters on them written on by ink. They arrange them and the paper is placed on top to absorb the letters.
Vernacular: the language of the people/mass. Because only clergymen knew how to talk and read Latin the people didn’t really understand the plays. But the clergymen decided that it was better to act the plays using vernacular: the local peoples’ language.
Cycles: They were stories that told the beginning of something until the end; like a life cycle of someone for example.
Guilds: groups that compete in the festivals with one profession. Eg, boat builders would make a play about Noah’s Arch.
Mansion: the place where the actors act on, it’s like a small stage. It has backdrops like a skene. They had wheels where it will move and show different scenes.
Mysteries: Mysteries of the church.
Miracles: Miracles of the Virgin Mary and the Saints
Mortalities: Allegories [stories with 2 meanings]
Mummers: Christmas plays of death and resurrection [coming back to life]
Renaissance: they did not encourage the study of classical, because of Pagan Gods. [The Greeks and Romans where in the Classical age] It happened in Italy, in the 14th Century. There was a big change; big merchant families started getting interested in art and individual.
Chapter
21
2nd
century:
The Romans invaded the Greeks and adopted the forms of the Greek plays [Even
before the conquest thought the Romans were influenced by the Greeks, because
they bought slaves that performed some of the plays]
1-Tragedies:
they weren’t successful in Rome because they had religious aspects that they
didn’t relate too.
Seneca:
Famous tragedy writer, though his plays weren’t performed at these times they
were performed in the Renaissance.
2-
Comedy:
were VERY successful.
Plautus:
his
plays were modeled off Menander, borrowing plots and characters. It had songs
and stock characters. His language was slangy sometimes vulgar.
Stock
Character:
fixed type of characters.
1-
Young lovers
2-
Hen pecked fathers
3-
Greedy old misers
4-
Cowardly soldiers
5-
Tricky servants
Terence:
He wrote comedies as well but his were well refined and widely admired.
1-
Performers competed with other kinds of performances like jugglers and
acrobats and so on
2-
Men still played women roles because women were still not allowed too
3-
Mimes and Pantomimes took over being very popular
Mime:
were short comic plays including song, dance, improvision and mimicking. Often
crude and vulgar
Pantomime:
popular diversions, enjoyed by sophisticated people. Had one actor while the
chorus sand out the words, that told the story.
1-
Roman authorities thought the plays were immoral
2-
They had to compete with so many other performances, even what happened
in the coliseum
3-
The rise of Christianity made church leaders ban the theater
Chapter
23 – The European Rediscovery of the Theater
Medieval Plays
In
the 10 century, some clergy (priests) decided that it was a good idea to have
people act out didactic plays. They performed plays from the Bible and
Apocrypha. They used vernacular in the plays to educate the mass about relegion.
Didactic:
Something with an educative value rather than an entertaining one.
Apocrypha:
writing of the Old and New Testaments not appearing in the Jewish or the
Protestant Bibles.
Bible:
from the Bible the Guilds performed “Cycles.” These sometimes lasted for
days.
Vernacular:
the language of the people/mass. Because only clergymen knew how to talk and
read Latin the people didn’t really understand the plays. But the clergymen
decided that it was better to act the plays using vernacular: the local
peoples’ language.
Cycle:
Something that starts from the beginning and keeps moving until it reaches the
end. And example is the life story of someone.
Guilds:
a group of people in the same trait or craft. Example, boat builders would play
Noah’s story
Mansions:
the stage in whish the guilds performed the plays. It had wheels where it could
be turned around to reveal another location/setting
Pageant
Wagon: The
Guilds put their mansions on a wagon then the wagons of the whole cycles were
pulled through town like a modern parade.
[They
had 4 main common plays that stared with an M and Farce]
1-
Mysteries: is
about the mysteries of the church however there were a lot of controversies.
2-
Miracles: the
Miracles of the Virgin Mary and the Saints
3-
Morality:
allegorical stories [stories with hidden meanings or ones with 2 different
meanings] in which the characters were symbolic.
4-
Mummers:
Christmas plays of resurrection or death.
Farce:
An exaggerated form of comedy that mocked human folly and vice.
Renaissance Rediscoveries
During
the 14th century, increased Italian trade and wealth brought a new
look about life “They started caring about the individual rather than the
general,” they did not encourage the study of classical, because of Pagan
Gods. [The Greeks and Romans where in the Classical age]
Movable
Types:
These were blocks with letters written on them with ink so when the papers are
placed over them they would soak up and so more people got to read things.
Rebirth
of Drama:
Scholars started writing new plays based on Terence and Plautus. They decided to
follow the writing rules set by Aristotle.
1-
Action: Must have only 1 plot
2-
Place: Must occur in 1 place
3-
Time: Happens in less than 1 day
1-Tragedy:
it had to be based on noble characters
2-Comedy:
it was based on middle and lower classes
Professional
Theater in Europe:
Actors were educated people; so writing was a talent to them not a source of
one’s live hood. But because of the playwright the new Professional Theater in
Europe was made.
Opera:
Started out as a mistake. Since the Italians tried to imitate the tragedies they
didn’t know that only a few parts of the play were sung. So they made opera,
which is all sung.
Perspective
Paintings:
paintings with depth and they were used to be as a background/setting for the
opera.
Proscenium:
a frame that was built around the stage and seating that enabled all of the
audience to look through that frame. It aided the illusion created by the
perspective painting.
The Commedia dell’ Arte: Means
a ‘comedy of professionals.’ They were professional now instead of Amateurs
acting.
Commedia:
it revived the stock characters but it gave them modern names and dressed them
in modern clothes.
1-Harlequino:
foolish servant wore check board costumes and was an acrobat comic whose
silliness got him trapped in outrageous situations
2-
Pantalone:
foolish, pompous, arrogant miserable old businessman that was named for his
pants
3-Brighella:
A crafty servant who loved to trick his masters.
4-
Capitano:
coward soldier
5-
Columbine:
comic female servant that was often pursued by Harlequino the male clever
servant.
Boy
meets girl plot:
a young man that falls in love with a young woman and needs the help of the
servants to hook them together. The servants encounter a lot of comic
situations. the characters had basic Lazzies.
Lazzie:
Basic gags/pranks/jokes/funny acts. The performer would play the same character
for years developing different lazzies for it. He would stick to the ones that
worked well most.
Performing: they had to travel because no town was loud enough. They played outdoors; they had no sceneries and wore masks. [Everyone but the young lovers because it exaggerated their nose and mouths.
Commedia eventually died out but not before introducing it all over Europe.
Chapter
24- The Rennaisance in England and Spain
The English Golden Age:
performers touring around England performed in courtyards in Inns for guests and
drunks. Performed in daytime on platforms and no scenery.
Elizabethan Theater:
Permanent Theater building in England and it was made in the reign of queen
Elizabeth [1533-1603 70 years]
Theaters:
because of the antagonism of the Puritan authorities they were built outside of
the city limit. [Public Theaters] they had a square, round or octagonal shape.
The Globe: it was one of the most famous theaters in this time cause shakspeare acted plays in it, he was also a partial owner.
Blackfriars:
Private Theater, smaller than the Globe, but it was built with the same
structure and it is more expensive. The performances were inside and acted with
candlelight.
Performances:
no scenery and actors exited through the side doors on stage. They sold
refreshments while the actors performed and they started from 2 pm till about 6
Plays:
they were new styles not based on the old. They had plots and sub plots and
ranged over a wide range of time.
1-
Revenge Tragedies
2-
Tragic Comedies
3-
Histories: English History Most
4-
Romances: Impossible places and people.
William
Shakespear:
Was an actor then became play writer and became partial owner of the Globe.
1-
Tragedies- Hamlet
2-
Comedies- Comedy of Error
3-
Histories- Henry the 8th
4-
Romance- Mid Summer Night’s Dream
5-Tragic
Comedies- Romeo and Juliet
Christopher
Marlowe:
Famous writer in the Golden English Age. He invented Iambic Pentameter or the
blank verse.
Iambic
Pentameter:
“Short long, short long” They style of the rhythm.
Blank
Verse:
A poetic verse with no rhyme.
That is all we took o.O
…