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| The rich upper class who ruled the country through the Senate |
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| Ordinary citizens who gradually gained an equal voice in government through a people's assembly. |
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| The man who made himself dictator in the first century B.C.E. Subsequently assassinated. |
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| Considered the year Rome became an empire instead of a republic. |
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| The first emperor of the Roman empire. |
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| A civilization northwest of rome that flourished from about 650 to 450 B.C.E. Placed great emphasis on religious festivals. Their culture influenced Roman theatre. |
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| Coarse, ribald, often improvised entertainments provided by a small group of masked performers. |
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| Improvised and dealt with exaggerated family problems. Also made fun of historical or mythological figures. Eventually began to be written down. |
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| The characters that recurred in the Atellan farces. They wore masts and stock costumes. |
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| The first major Roman festival to incorporate theatre. Dedicated to Jupiter. Did not include drama until 240BCE. |
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| The first known dramatist to write in Latin. Created both tragedies and comedies. |
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| The comedies that survive. Are all based on Greek models. |
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254-184B.C.E. Most popular of all Roman comic writers. His plays were written to entertain. Adopted/adapted greek comedies. Wrote attractive dialogue, funny jokes, lovely poetry. Best known for his farces.
Wrote The Menæchmi |
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185-159B.C.E African slave, fired, became great success.
Created complex plots by combining more than one Greek Play into a single play.
characters were sympathetic.
Used common language, not poetry. |
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| Placing two characters in similar romantic situations and examining their differing reactions. |
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| Seneca and his contributions |
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He was a writer who became the tutor of Nero. He rose to a senator and threatened to become Emperor so he was made to commit suicide. His 9 tragedies are the only surviving examples of Roman tragedy.
His tragedies were in 5 episodes divided by choral odes. There were elaborate speeches with both soliloquies and asides became the basis for 5-act tragedies during the Renaissance. They also took his use of the supernatural, the use of violence onstage and, of course, the soliloquies and asides. |
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| The attitude towards violence onstage by the Greeks v. the Romans |
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| The Romans were just fine with showing violence on stage. Greeks, not so much. |
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| Horace and his analysis of drama |
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65-8B.C.E.
Leading poet during Agustus' reign. Stressed rules about good drama. 1. Characters should be consistent. 2 Use familiar stories and characters. 3. Decorum. 4. Better to see something than hear about it. 5. Keep vulgar actions offstage. 6. 5 acts. |
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| Language and actions of characters must fit traditional ideas of suitable behavior for their age, gender, social status and emotional state. |
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| The head of a troupe. Usually the leading actor. Made financial arrangements, bought dramas from playwrights, hired musicians and obtained costumes. |
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| Characteristics of Roman acting technique |
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| Used masks. Emphasized detailed pantomime and broad gestures. Stressed beautiful vocal delivery. Actors probably specialized in one type of drama, but did others. Much music and dancing. |
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| Died in 54B.C.E. and left an estate estimated to have been worth about $1 million today. |
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| Another famous actor. Connected so well socially that his friends included statesman and orator Cicero. Died in 62BCE and his estate was worth more than the equivalent of $1 million. |
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| The social status of actors in Rome |
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| The majority were probably slaves or unesteemed members of Roman society, barely able to survive financially. |
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| The audience seating area. |
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| It became a half circle. It was rarely used for staging, but instead for seating government officials and for the flooding required for sea battles. |
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| A large raised stage in front of the scaena. About 5 feet high. |
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| The facade of the scaena. Elaborate and ornate with statuary, columns, recesses and three to five entrances. |
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| A front curtain which was raised and lowered on expandable poles from a trench in front of the stage. |
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| A painted backdrop placed against the scaena frons. Slightly altered the appearance of the facade. |
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| Vitruvius and De Architectura |
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| Lived in the first century B.C.E. and wrote about theatre buildings. He indicated in his work that much of roman architecture was based on Hellenistic models. |
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| Varieties of popular entertainments in Rome |
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| Many correspond to the modern circus. There was Chariot racing. Equestiran performances, gymnastics and various forms of hand-to-hand combat. |
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| Sea battles staged on lakes, on artificial bodies of water or in flooded arenas. |
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| A huge race track built for chariot races. Was able to seat over 60,000 people. |
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| The most renowned Roman amphitheater. Built in 80 C.E. Gladiator combats, among other things, took place here. |
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| Characteristics of Roman mime |
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| Included gymnastics, juggling, songs and dances. Short, risqué comedic skits were frequently part of these performances. |
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| Roman fertility festival. |
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| Characteristics of Roman pantomime |
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| Required a single dancer, a chorus and musical accompanists. Might be compared to ballet. Danced a mythological, historical or occasionally comical story. |
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| A system under which people are classified by heredity. A person must remain in the caste to which he or she is born and people are forbidden to change occupation. |
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| Suffering is inherent in life, but human beings can be liberated from suffering by mental and moral self-purification. |
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| Stresses the belief that soul or spirit is the essence of life. The goal of all people is to achieve oneness with the supreme world-soul - Brahman. Things of this life do not exist in the same way as Brahman, which is eternal, infinite and indescribable. |
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Attributed to Bharata Muni. Written sometime between 200B.C.E and 100C.E. It describes the mythological origin of theatre in India and also presents important material about the the nature of Indian drama.
Also serves as a kind of encyclopedia of theatrical practice. |
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| "Flavor" Permits spectators to surrender themselves to a dramatic situation corresponding to some powerful feeling that they themselves possess. |
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| The leader of Sanskrit drama troupe. Chief actor and also managed all others involved in production. |
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| Characteristics of Sanskrit drama |
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| Men and women both acted. Combined voice, body, emotions, costume and makeup. Scenery not used, but there were elsaborate costumes. Used fixed characters. |
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| Wrote the earliest plays that survive, from the first and second centuries C.E. |
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| The most productive playwright of classical India. Lived around 400C.E. Wrote The Little Clay Cart. |
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| The most famous Sanskrit play. Usually considered th finest classical Indian drama. |
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| Wrote Shakuntala. Lived from maybe 373-415C.E. Little is known about him. |
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| Characteristics of Indian folk dramas |
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| Used the same traditional epic materials as Sanskrit dramas. Extremely eclectic and emphasized spectacle rather that metaphysical profundity. |
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| Emphasized the responsibility of one individual or group to others. |
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| Stresses simplicity, patience and natures harmony. Following the path or the cosmos leads to self-realization. |
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| Rituals combined costume, song dance and gesture. Shamans were spiritual leaders who were thought to have magical powers to communicate with the dead and ward off evil spirits. |
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| An actors' training institute in the capital. Founded in 714. Firmly established a tradition of training theatrical performers. |
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| Took place in the Song dynasty. They were various court entertainments. |
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| A form that emerged in the province of Zhejiang in the early 12th century. Means "southern drama." Combined mime, song and local folk tales |
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| Characteristics of Zaju drama |
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| Took place during the Yuan dynasty. Had four acts/song sequences. Playwrights composed their texts to suit the rhythms and meters of popular music already known to the audience. The protagonist usually sang all the music in any act. |
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| The Romance of the Western Chamber |
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| The most famous play surviving from the Yuan period. A cycle of plays by Wang Shifu. Chronicle the trials of two lovers. |
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| Came about during the Ming Dynasty. Emphasized poetry and was averse to sustained or powerful dramatic action. |
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| One of the earliest and best plays written as a literary drama. Dealt with questions of family loyalty. Written by Gao Ming |
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| A scholar who failed his examinations and instead became a playwright, critic and impresario. Believed that a playwright should write clearly with a mass audience in mind; Should be well versed in practical stage knowledge. |
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| The Way of the Gods. Closely allied to nature and spirit worship. Ancestors are very revered. Says that all humanity is Kami's child and it is very focused on doing things that benefit the group rather than the individual. |
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| A popular playright of nõ drama. Also a troupe leader and actor of one of the more artistic troupes. Wrote Sotoba Komachi. |
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| The most well-known play by Kan'ami. Based on a familiar legend of the time. A woman tells a man that he must call on her for 100 nights in a row and he does for 99 and on the 100th night he dies. |
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Considered the most important figure in the history of Nõ theatre. Kan'ami's son. He took over the troupe.
He is most influential as a theorist. In his writings, he established the aesthetic and philosophical basis of nõ.
Developed the concept of yugen, the mysterious inner heart or spirit behind outward form. Yugen is the aim of nõ performances. |
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| Characteristics of Nõ theatre |
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| A studied withdrawal from the activity of daily life to a tranquil, dignified contemplation. All characters wore masts for all roles. There were five character types. Gods, warriors, beautiful women, misc. and supernatural beings. Actors never rehearse together. Everyone practices separately and then come together on show night. |
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| The first actor in nõ plays. |
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| The secondary actor in nõ theatre. |
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| A comic character in nõ theatre. Eventually became a separate form of theatre. |
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| A type of nõ play. Divided into two parts. Usually about a journey where someone on a pilgrimage will find a local person who will say something about the legend of the chief character. In the second part, the local person will reveal themselves to be the chief character. Usually ends in dance. |
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| "Present existance" Plays |
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| A second type of nõ play. More realistic. Features action that occurs to living characters in present, stage time. |
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| The bridge that leads from the actors' room offstage to the stage. |
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| General layout of a Nõ theatre |
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| A ramp leads from the dressing room to the wooden platform stage. Spectators sit on two sides of the stage. At the back of the playing space is a narrow section for four musicians. There are four pillars which hold up the roof. |
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| Characteristics of bunraku theatre |
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| Uses sophisticated puppets that are half life sized and fully articulated. There are three puppeteers to each major character and they are visible throughout the performance. The chanter chants the story while the puppets act it out. |
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| The chanted texts of a bunraku play |
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| Perform all the voices of a Bunraku play as well as the narration. They set the general mood. They are regarded with the kind of awe reserved for opera singers in the west. |
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| How bunraku puppets are manipulated |
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| Three people operate them. One for the legs, one for the left arm and the chief handler for the head and right arm. |
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| The first important Japanese dramatist since the period of nõ drama. Used his knowledge of Japanese life to create vivid, detailed and accurate pictures of his society. Known for his beauty of his poetry, which elevates the incidents and the characters. |
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| Characteristics of kabuki |
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| Based in dance. Developed around stories that were romantic and often erotic. Very appealing to townspeople. |
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| The founder of Kabuki, according to legend. A priestess who began kabuki by dancing on a temporary stage set up in the dry bed of the Kamo River in Kyoto. |
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| Founder of Kabuki dynasty of 12 generations of performers. Developed the aragato style which is brad, heroic and full of bravura. His most famous play in the Forty-Seven Ronin |
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| The male actors who play women's parts. Particularly skillful in imitation the essence of a feminine personality. |
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| General layout of a kabuki theatre |
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| The stage is wide and has a relatively low proscenium. Has elaborate and beautiful scenic effects, including a revolving stage and trap doors. There is also the hanamichi which is a raised narrow platform connecting the rear of the auditorium with the stage. |
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| "flower way" A raised narrow platform that connects the rear of the auditorium with the stage. |
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| Characteristics of a shadow play |
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| Uses puppets made of leather. They are intricately carved to create patterns of light and shadow when their image is projected on a screen. |
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| The first playwright who was born a Roman citizen. Especially noted for his comedies, which dramatized Roman subject matter. |
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