Term
| Total Theatre - Integration of elements in a more complete way(5). |
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Definition
-Acting
-Dancing
-Text
-Mime
-Music |
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Term
| Major differences of Asian theatre from Western theatre |
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Definition
-rely more on dance
-emphasize symbolism
-traditional acting methods and production styles still used today |
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Term
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Definition
-primary for court and elite
-male actors only, became adapt at singing, acting, dancing, and mime
-Acting passed down from teacher to disciple
-play reveals some working out of passions felt by character(s)
-plays come from literary or historical sources
-simple stage
-elaborate costumes and masks
-In 2nd half, main character describes profound experience in life |
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Term
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Definition
-puppet theatre
-started as illustration for chanted story
-chanter does all voices and narration
-chanters regarded as opera singers here
-3 people handle each puppet (dressed in black they are 'invisible'
-1/2 of Kabuki's repertoire comes from Bunraku |
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Term
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Definition
-combined elements of No, Bunraku, and Folk theatre
-started by a woman
-All roles played by men, often padded down from father to son
-Costumes and makeup can be elegent, gorgeous, gritty, realistic
-Elaborate and beautiful scenic effects
-More physical
-plays more erotic, melodramatic, and romantic (star-crossed lovers) |
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Term
| Why is it called the “Restoration”? |
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Definition
-The commonwealth of the Puritans (1624-1660) Cromwell removed Charles I from the throne and his head
-Charles II returns to the throne of England from France
• Dates of the Restoration: 1660-1700 |
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Term
| Theatre during the Commonwealth |
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Definition
-Puritans not overly fond of the theatre – keeps people out of church and gives them ideas
-William Davenant
--Kept his theatre going by turning a room in his house into a theatre
--Got around ordinances by describing his presentations as “musical entertainments” even though often politically subversive
-Drolls |
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Term
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Definition
| Short versions of full-length plays or collections of comic, witty scenes |
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Term
| What gives the Restoration its unique flavor? |
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Definition
-Fusion of Elizabethan stage conventions with those of Italian Renaissance and French neoclassicists in drama, theatre architecture, and set design “Comedy of Intrigue”
-Daring exploits of romance and adventure with complicated plots |
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Term
| Aphra Behn – Why is she important? |
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Definition
-1st English female playwright
-1st to have earned a living by -Most successful writer of comedies of intrigue |
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Term
| Restoration Comedy – What type is the most famous of the Restoration? |
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Definition
-Comedy of manners
Who was its major influence?
-Moliere
2 Important points about its characters
-Stock types
-Names suggestive of personality traits |
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Term
| Main features of Restoration Comedy |
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Definition
-Focuses on fashions and foibles of upper classes
-Pokes fun at social conventions and norms of the time
-Many characters have no strong moral code and don’t ever feel bad about their behavior
-Satirizes preoccupation of upper classes with reputations – false though they may be
-Language – witty exchanges, repartee, sexually suggestive references were hallmarks |
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Term
| 2 most important playwrights |
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Definition
-William Wycherly – Country Wife
-William Congreve – The Way of the World |
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Term
| Susanna Centilivre important because: |
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Definition
- Most commercially successful of female Restoration playwrights
- Works performed as standards in 18th and 19th century repertoires |
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Term
| When have women been allowed on stage? |
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Definition
-Commedia in Italian Renaissance
-French Neoclassic
-Spanish Golden Age
-Restoration |
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Term
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Definition
-Actresses wore men’s clothing in men’s roles
-Audience got to see a woman’s figure from below the waist in form-fitting breeches without petticoats and skirts |
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Term
| Most famous/notorious Restoration actress |
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Definition
-Nell Gwynn
-Comic performance
-Dancing
-Affair with Charles II |
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Term
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Definition
-Actors hired for specific role for specific time for a set role – salary no longer dependant on the profits/losses of the company
-Replaced sharing system
What is this similar to from previous times?
-Elizabethan – hirelings
-French Neoclassic - pensionnaires |
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Term
| Unique aspects of restoration stage and their antecedents |
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Definition
Stage divided into 2 parts:
-Forestage for acting
-Rearstage for machinery
-Proscenium arch separated
--Elizabethan platform stage
-Doors with balconies leading unto forestage
-Doors, reveals, and upper playing spaces of Elizabethan Stage |
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Term
| Scenery and Scene Shifting |
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Definition
-Painted perspective with shutters, wings, borders went well with their preference for the proscenium stage over the older thrust
-Groove system |
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Term
| Middle-class/bourgeois/domestic tragedy |
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Definition
-Focused on domestic problems of middle class characters
-Dramatized middle-class morality
-Evil punished, good rewarded – different from Restoration comedies
-Tended to be sentimental, melodramatic
-Last minute conversions of evil-doers
-Develops due to the rise of the middle class and their increased theatre-going |
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Term
| Drame (bourgeois) and who wrote about it |
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Definition
-Denis Diderot
-Any serious play that does not fit neoclassic definition of tragedy
-Dealt with problems of ordinary middle-class people seriously
-Offered moral and philosophical conclusions
-Allowed for mixing of serious and comic elements |
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Term
| Major Influence of drame bourgeois |
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Definition
| Modern realistic tragedy with its focus on family problems and concerns |
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Term
| Diderot’s concepts for actors |
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Definition
-Should invoke strong emotions in audience by using calculation and craft
-Should not invoke these emotions by experiencing the emotion themselves
-Wrote about his ideas in The Paradox of Acting |
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Term
| Diderot’s concept of the “fourth wall” |
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Definition
-Like a glass wall between audience and actor
-Allows for no interaction between the two
-Actor and audience do not acknowledge each other
-Encouraged the growth of realism – made it like watching life through a frame |
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Term
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Definition
-Originated in England
-Parodied Italian opera
-No recitative or sung dialogue
-Spoken dialogue alternated with songs set to popular contemporary melodies
-Characters drawn from lower classes
-Often were social and political satires |
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Term
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Definition
Name the 1st ballad opera - The Beggar’s Opera
Who wrote The Beggar’s Opera - John Gray
The modern play based on it The Threepenny Opera is by Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weil |
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Term
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Definition
-Satirizes social conventions and norms
-Stock character types with descriptive names
-Wicked punished, virtuous rewarded
-Richard Brinsley Sheridan wrote:
The Rivals and School for Scandal
-Sentimental Comedy is considered a link between Restoration comedy and the comedies of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw |
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Term
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Definition
-Should make audiences laugh at own eccentricities and absurdities
-Modifications of sentimental comedy
-Oliver Goldsmith wrote She Stoops to Conquer |
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Term
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Definition
-Rebelled against neoclassic rules, sentimental comedy, and bourgeois tragedy
-They liked Shakespeare’s use of violence on-stage
-Wrote however they liked, paid no heed to unities, etc.
-Germany
-Forerunner of 19th century romanticism |
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Term
| Carlo Goldini and Commedia del’arte |
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Definition
-Wanted more realism in commedia del’arte: scripts, no masks, less vulgarity, softened stock traits
-One of 1st realistic playwrights |
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Term
| Carlo Gozzi and Commedia del’arte |
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Definition
-Wanted all aspects of commedia del’arte to be fantastic and theatrical
-Proposed a combination of scripts and improvisation
-Inspired early 19th century romantics and 20th century non-realistic theatre |
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Term
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Definition
-A play of no more than 3 acts with at least 5 songs per act
-Clever managers turned even Shakespeare into burlettas
-To get around the licensing act |
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Term
| Diderot, the “Fourth Wall”, and Theatre Design in France |
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Definition
-Apron shrank
-Actors acted completely behind the proscenium
-No seats onstage
-Backless benches put in the pit so audience members there are forced to sit and pay attention instead of mingling with each other |
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Term
| Diderot, the “Fourth Wall”, and Theatre Design in England |
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Definition
-Apron shrank but still used
-No seats onstage
-# of proscenium doors down to 1 per side instead of 2 |
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Term
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Definition
-Court theatre at royal summer palace in Sweden
-Perfect example of Italian theatre architecture and set design
-Original shutters and wings intact
-Original pole and chariot system intact
-Period works still performed today using original sets |
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Term
| Changes in Scenic Design in the 18th Century |
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Definition
-Create a mood with chiaroscuro – emphasizing differences between light and shadow
-Use of local color – local sites – in sets
-Attempts – failed ones – at historical accuracy
-Started to add 3D elements – a screen, etc |
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Term
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Definition
-Interior setting using flats to form the back and side walls and often ceiling of a room – flats angled, not parallel to audience
-Scene design in the 19th century was revolutionized by the box set
-Became an integral part of realistic staging |
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Term
| Elements of Costuming in the 18th Century |
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Definition
-Actors wanted to wear what looked good on them
-Short runs made it too expensive for new costumes and sets for each show
-Performers provided own wardrobe
-No attempt to unify a production
-Stock costumes for certain characters and eras
-Attempts at historically accurate costumes laughed at by audience
-Some tried to have costume display character traits – age, nationality, etc |
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Term
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Definition
-1st to bring a more natural style of acting to English stage
-Focused on observation of daily life as a means of establishing character and costume – influence of Diderot
-Changed forever the portrayal of Shylock from comic to tragic |
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Term
| Bombastic or Declamatory Acting |
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Definition
-Lines delivered in an oratorical manner
-Sing-song delivery of verse lines
-Standardized patterns of stage movement
-Lines addressed directly to audience
-Charles Macklin and David Garrick rebelled against this style of acting |
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Term
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Definition
| Once actor played a role he owned it and played it until death or retirement |
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Term
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Definition
David Garrick Finest English actor of the 18th c. England
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Playwright, critic Germany |
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Term
| What did Garrick and Goethe try to accomplish? |
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Definition
-Create a more unified stage picture
-Insisted actors learn their lines and act in rehearsal
-Tried for historical accuracy in costumes and sets
-Worked on individual characterizations based on meticulous preparation and research
-Garrick also banished spectators from the stage |
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