Theatre (British English), or Theater (mostly American English) as we know it began in ancient Greece with a religious ceremony called 'dithyramb' in which a chorus of men dressed in goat skins sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10,000–20,000 people.
The picture below shows an Attic relief (4th century BC) depicting an aulos player and his family standing before Dionysos and a female consort, with theatrical masks displayed above.
The word 'tragedy' comes from a Greek expression meaning 'goat song'.
The word 'theatre' comes from the Greek 'theatron' meaning 'a viewing place'.
The Greeks used mechanical devices like trap doors and the machina: a crane for winching gods on and off the stage .
The Greeks also introduced a chorus that offered information to help the audience follow the performance. The chorus commented on themes, and showed how an audience might react to the drama.
The Greek players wore masks. Illustrations on vases show helmet-like masks, covering the entire face and head, with holes for the eyes and a small aperture for the mouth, plus a wig.
The Greek theatre was fond of colored wigs. Their shade indicated the character represented. A black wig was the sign of a tyrant. Heroes wore blond curls. Red was the color of the comic servant.
Ancient Greek audiences stamped their feet rather than clapping their hands to applaud.
The performance of mime as a dramatic art form originated in Ancient Greece; the name was taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although performances were not necessarily silent.
Women began to appear on stage in the Roman theatre of the 3rd century BC onwards.
With the rise of Christianity in Europe acting was forbidden, and had virtually ended by the 6th century.
After many hundreds of years where the church had banned all dramas the priests begin to use small playlets to teach the uneducated people Bible stories.
Mystery plays, popular dramatic representation of scenes from the Old and New Testaments were performed in many towns across Europe from the 13th to the 16th centuries. They developed gradually from aspects of the Easter Mass in Latin into civic occasions in the local languages, usually enacted on Corpus Christi, a holy feast day.
The Church also wrote miracle plays which were about the lives of the saints and morality plays which taught the audiences how to live a good Christian life.
The classical Japanese theatre as it is known today dates from the late 14th century. It consists of three elements--No, Kabuki, and the puppet theatre, joruri.
The picture below shows an Attic relief (4th century BC) depicting an aulos player and his family standing before Dionysos and a female consort, with theatrical masks displayed above.
The word 'tragedy' comes from a Greek expression meaning 'goat song'.
The word 'theatre' comes from the Greek 'theatron' meaning 'a viewing place'.
The Greeks used mechanical devices like trap doors and the machina: a crane for winching gods on and off the stage .
The Greeks also introduced a chorus that offered information to help the audience follow the performance. The chorus commented on themes, and showed how an audience might react to the drama.
The Greek players wore masks. Illustrations on vases show helmet-like masks, covering the entire face and head, with holes for the eyes and a small aperture for the mouth, plus a wig.
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| Ancient Greek theatrical mask of Zeus, replica |
The Greek theatre was fond of colored wigs. Their shade indicated the character represented. A black wig was the sign of a tyrant. Heroes wore blond curls. Red was the color of the comic servant.
Ancient Greek audiences stamped their feet rather than clapping their hands to applaud.
The performance of mime as a dramatic art form originated in Ancient Greece; the name was taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although performances were not necessarily silent.
Women began to appear on stage in the Roman theatre of the 3rd century BC onwards.
With the rise of Christianity in Europe acting was forbidden, and had virtually ended by the 6th century.
After many hundreds of years where the church had banned all dramas the priests begin to use small playlets to teach the uneducated people Bible stories.
Mystery plays, popular dramatic representation of scenes from the Old and New Testaments were performed in many towns across Europe from the 13th to the 16th centuries. They developed gradually from aspects of the Easter Mass in Latin into civic occasions in the local languages, usually enacted on Corpus Christi, a holy feast day.
The Church also wrote miracle plays which were about the lives of the saints and morality plays which taught the audiences how to live a good Christian life.
 |
| Depiction of a performance of the Mystery Play of Saint Clement in Metz during the Middle Ages. |
The classical Japanese theatre as it is known today dates from the late 14th century. It consists of three elements--No, Kabuki, and the puppet theatre, joruri.
The Puritans, a Protestant Christian movement that emphasized strict moral discipline, viewed the theater as a sinful and immoral activity. They believed that plays were a waste of time and money, and that they promoted lascivious behavior and disrespect for authority. On September 6, 1642, during the English Civil War, the Puritan-dominated Parliament ordered the closure of all theaters in London. This ban remained in effect for 18 years, until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
Opera, on the other hand, was seen by the Puritans as a more virtuous form of entertainment. Operas were typically based on religious themes, and they were often seen as a way to promote moral values. Additionally, operas were more expensive than plays, and the Puritans believed that only the wealthy should be able to afford such frivolous activities.
The term 'winging it' was originally a theatrical slang term for actors who didn't know their lines, and reviewed scripts in between scenes or received prompts from off stage in the 'wings'.
The word 'theatrophobia' (fear of theatres) was first seen in 1839.
The longest continuous dramatic performance was 23 hr 33 min 54 sec achieved by the 27 O'Clock Players in New Jersey, USA, on July 27, 2010. They performed The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, a play written in a continuous loop and said to be totally pointless and plotless. The approximately one-hour script was repeated 25 times during the attempt.
The world's largest theatrical wardrobe department is at Walt Disney World, Florida, which houses 1.2 million costumes.
World Theatre Day is celebrated annually on March 27 by International Theatre Institute (ITI) Centres and the international theatre community. It was initiated in 1961 by the ITI.
Source Compton's Encyclopedia
The term 'winging it' was originally a theatrical slang term for actors who didn't know their lines, and reviewed scripts in between scenes or received prompts from off stage in the 'wings'.
The word 'theatrophobia' (fear of theatres) was first seen in 1839.
The longest continuous dramatic performance was 23 hr 33 min 54 sec achieved by the 27 O'Clock Players in New Jersey, USA, on July 27, 2010. They performed The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, a play written in a continuous loop and said to be totally pointless and plotless. The approximately one-hour script was repeated 25 times during the attempt.
The world's largest theatrical wardrobe department is at Walt Disney World, Florida, which houses 1.2 million costumes.
World Theatre Day is celebrated annually on March 27 by International Theatre Institute (ITI) Centres and the international theatre community. It was initiated in 1961 by the ITI.
Source Compton's Encyclopedia
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