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Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
Kathakali
Indian Dance Drama; performed by all male companies. Intense physical and facial training to move from one expression to the next. Cinta Bhava: state of reflecting thorough an interior psycho-physiological process that infuses facial expression with contemplation and hope. Characterized by performers understanding of body and breath, would have confused Diderot. The Progeny of Krishna drama of a couple’s love and loss of their children. -
Period: to
Kabuki
Japanese commoners theatre; founded by Okuni, first performed by female prostitutes and typically dealt with ways in which prostitutes approached their clientele. 1652 Kabuki exclusively male. Moved from burlesque to cultured.
Bare platforms; outdoors; bare thrust stage surrounded by audience on three sides, including box seats along the side walls. A temporary roof covered the stage, audience area uncovered. 1700 moved indoors. -
Period: to
Bunraku
Japanese puppetry. Puppets are 1/3 life size and require three operators. Puppet masters have wide vocal range and extensive training. Central action is conflict between duty and affection. Topics include domesticity and history and based on situations that arouse extreme emotion. -
Period: to
Racine
Phaedra; french neoclassical drama -
Period: to
Moliere
support of Louis XIV. French comic playwright; Tartuffe, meaning imposter (stock character, familiar plots and improvisations commedia dell’arte elements, rhyming couplets, tension between academy work and his badier frace traditions popular with audiences; When the religious hypocrite Tartuffe ingratiates himself with Orgon and his mother Mme. Pernelle, he is taken into their home and promised Orgon's daughter's hand in marriage (even as he secretly attempts to seduce Orgon's wife, Elmire). Eve -
No Theatre
Restoration comedies and tragedies (1642 when Charles II assumed the English throne and restored theatre after Puritan phase of no theatre): The Country Wife by William Wycherly. Introduction of women on stage. -
Period: to
John Gay
Beggars Opera -
Sentimental Drama
18th century sentimental drama: the virtues of private life are exhibited, rather than the vices. The plays were nominally comic, the characters tended to be dull, the plots were designed to arouse sympathy and pity and the language was stiff. Despite this, it was popular with the rising middle-class audience, especially in Germany, France and Britain, because it tended to treat them seriously in ways which neither comedy nor tragedy did. -
Period: to
Neoclassical comedies/tragedies
Looking back to Greek classics. Noble characters only. Taught a moral lesson. Difference characterized by language, plot, style of play. Comedies makes fun at society’s flaws, while tragedy depicts suffering character. Language is either dense or light. -
Period: to
Technological developments
1700 Italian scenic practices had been adopted through most of Western Europe
Proscenium arches, perspective setttings (composed of flat wings, shutters, and borders), rapid shifts of scenery, and special effects and angle perspective (more than one vanishing point) Bibienas scenic designs exploited the restlessness, monumentality, grandeur, richness of 18th century architecture. -
Period: to
The Unities
the unities (18h century; France): Unity of place (1 locale) time (1 main action; no subplots) and action (24 hour time period) -
Period: to
Decorum
decorum (18th century; France) : Characters had to act in a way that was appropriate based on their social status, wealth, race, etc. and in a way morally acceptable. No mix genre: comedy or tragedy. -
Period: to
Versimilitude
verisimilitude (18th century; France): Action had to be representative of everyday life (no supernatural elements) -
Period: to
Biggest innovation: Mood
designers began to emphasize the atmospheric values of light and shadow. Piranesi (1720-1778) depict picturesque places as seen by moonlight. Color minor role; settings in sepia or pastels green, yellow or lavender. Mood=juxtaposition of painted masses of light and shadow. Attempting to achieve realism. -
Period: to
Lessing
First dramaturg-watned to improve the taste of the audience thus raising level of performance -
Licensing Act
andmark act of censorship of the British stage and one of the determining factors in the development of Augustan drama. The terms of the Act were that from that point forward, the Lord Chamberlain had the power to approve any play before it was stage -
Period: to
Carlo Goldoni
1740 makes a success of plays in commedia del arte tradition -
Period: to
Goethe
held political positions in court of Weimar. Sturm and Drang (storm and stress-emphasiezed feeling over literary form, subjective impressions, extreme emotions) Rules for actors training for actors. Faust: the director approaches the theatre from a financial perspective, and is looking to make an income by pleasing the crowd; the actor seeks his own glory through fame as an actor; and the poet aspires to create a work of art with meaningful content. -
Period: to
Industrial Revolution
England changed society and economics -
Technological developments
As new interests emerged, scenic changes happened 1750. Rise of comic opera=domestic and rustic settings became common. Landriani reviving the use of box sets in Italy. Increased interest in history affected scenic design during the late 18th century. Rebellion against baroque art (extravagant, asymetrical, rectangular and curvilinear). -
Period: to
Peak of Sentimental Comedy
laughing and crying comedies: Comedy according to Aristotle is a picture of the railities of the lower part of mankind, opposed to tragedy, which is an exhibition of misfortunes of the upper class. Laughing/Sentimental Comedy appealing to benevolent or refined emotions, based on the idea that man naturally responds to the idea of the good. Sentimental comedy reached its peak in the 1760's and 1770's. Crying comedies ??? -
Period: to
Hamburt Dramaturgy
set standards the discussion of aesthetic and literary theoretical principles. attacked the French theories of tragedy. Instead of merely denying their validity, he analyzed and explained genuine Greek classicism, and pointed out the differences between it and French classicism. Aristotle said tragedy excites pity and fear. Lessing advocated that dramaturgs should carry their work out working directly with theatre companies rather than in isolation; failed because of bickering among actors, inte -
Period: to
Panorama
a continuous narrative scene or landscape painted to conform to a flat or curved background, which surrounds or is unrolled before the viewer. Popular in the late 18th and the 19th centuries. The viewer, who stands on a platform in the cylinder centre, turns around and successively sees all points of the horizon. The effect of being surrounded by a landscape or event may be heightened by the use of indirect lighting to give the illusion that light is emanating from the painting itself. -
The School for Scandal
Sheridan: The School for Scandal performed 1777 England. Satirical, SNL like, speaking names. Sir Peter Teazle rich, middle age man marries young girl center of gossip. Lady Sneerwell lying with Joseph Surface, to break up Charles Surface and Maris to get Charles. Identity revealed. Lady Teazle linked in affair with Joseph, Peter hiding in closet having an affair is in fashion, loves Peter all the time -
Period: to
Romanticism
Germany “Sturm and Drang/Storm and Stress.” Goethe (Gurr-tuh) plays characterized by sprawling action and as a closet drama (literary work not presentable on stage) Nationalism, Individualism, Victor Hugo France. Not neoclassical.
Melodrama: primary form of theatre during the 19th century, despite other influences, becoming the most popular by 1840. Comes from "music drama" – music was used to increase emotions or to signify characters (signature music). A simplified moral universe; good and evi -
Period: to
Planche
was a British dramatist, antiquary and officer of arms. Wide range of genres including farce, comedy, burlesque, melodrama and opera. Responsible for introducing historically accurate costume into nineteenth century British theatre, and subsequently became an acknowledged expert on historical costume, publishing a number of works on the topic. -
Period: to
Beijing Opera
dominant theatrical form in China. All end happily; social and domestic themes or military adventure themes derived from history, legend, myth.Text is rarely followed, acts as outline for performers. Stage is an open platform, square, covered by a roof supported by lacquered columns, raised a few feet above the ground and surrounded by a wooden railing about 2 feet high, stage equipped only with a carpet , 2 doors in the rear wall. Stage right for all entrances and stage left for all exits. -
Period: to
Melodramas
French melodrama was nurtured in an era of violence, Revolution, Reign of Terror, Napoleon. Melodrama presents idealized human beings in conflict with a hostile environment. In their determination to be good even at the cost of their lives, an atmosphere of inevitability is created. World of destiny in which it appears preordained that goodness will win after great struggle. Theatrical art form, not a dramatic one. Action. -
Period: to
Aldridge
American actor, African descent, famous in Europe -
Period: to
Wagner
German composer, director, known for his music operas -
Gas lighting at Drury Lane
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Period: to
Boucicault
Irish famous for his melodramas -
Period: to
Diorama
Jacques Louis Mande Daguerre was a professional scene painter. Between 1822 and 1839 he was co-proprietor of the Diorama in Paris of famous places and historical events; able to present vividly realistic tableaux. The views provided grand entertainment in the illusionistic style, and the amazing trompe l'oeil effect was purposely heightened by the accompaniment of appropriate music and the positioning of real objects, animals, or people in front of the painted scenery. -
Period: to
Box set outside of Italy
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Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre construction of the apron of the stage vanished behind the proscenium wall, eliminating the proscenium doors and creating the style of the proscenium theatre that became the standard in the 20th cenutry-Parallels growing trend toward realistic staging. -
Theatrical Regulation Act of 1843
Lord Chamberlain was granted the ability to vet the performance of any new plays: he could prevent any new play, or any modification to an existing play, from being performed for any reason, and was not required to justify his decision. New plays were required to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for a licence before they could be performed, and theatre owners could be prosecuted for staging a play (or part of a play) that had not received prior approval -
Period: to
Pictoral Realism
Pictorial realism: enhanced by Squire Bancroft (1865-1871) realistic stage settings.
the attempt to suggest "real life" on the stage through painterly devices. -
US Booth's theatre
In U.S Booth’s Theatre opened 1868 seating on one floors with only a few boxes next to proscenium wall. The proscenium doors were eliminated and all acting took place within the stage frame. Flats could be placed in any position on stage, increasing the 3D designs/stage pieces. Elaborate trap system/sightlines/fourth wall. -
Electric Lighting