Chapter 1: The Nature of Theatre

Origins in ritual practices

Theatre as a form is at least 2500 years old

It has been as varied as the cultures in which it has appeared

The role/function of theatre in society has fluctuated over time

Examples: Theatre as religious activity Theatre as traveling performance Theatre as entertainment

The Nature of Theatre

The value and respectability of theatre has

been a matter of debate

Examples:

Theatre forbidden/banned because considered a

form of lying

Theatre as a truthful reflection of human behavior

The Nature of Theatre

1. What is the role/function of theatre in your society today?

2. How does live theatre performance differ from mediated performance forms such as film and television?

3. Do you consider theatre to be a form of lying or a reflection of truth? Why?

What do YOU think?

The Basic Elements of Theatre

3 Basic Elements of theatre:

(1) What is performed

(2) The Performance

(3) The AudienceThe most basic definition of theatre is:

someone performing something for someone else.

A performs B for C (Eric Bentley)

What is Performed

• Many types of activities may be considered theatre

• What is the essence of theatrical performance?Possibilities:

• The staged performance of a text

• Storytelling

• Since theatre has a broad range of possibilities, the essence of What is Performed is difficult to define

• Therefore theatre, as a performing art, is difficult to define

The Performance

Key Components of the Performance include:

• Performance Space:

Where the performance takes place and what the relationship is between the performers and the audience

• Artistic Collaboration:

How the playwright, director, designers, and others work together to create the performance

• Theatrical Elements:

Scenery, Costumes, Music, Lighting, and other effects that contribute to the performance

The Performance translates the potential of a script, scenario, or plan into actuality.

The Audience“The only thing that all forms of theatre have in

common is the need for an audience.” Peter Brook

The Audience:

• Completes the cycle of Creation/Communication

• Provides Immediate Feedback to the Performers

3-Way Interaction:

Performers Audience

Audience Performers

Audience Audience

Theatre as a Form of Art

What is art? How is art defined?

Pre-18th century:

Art = the systematic application of known principles to achieve some predetermined result

18th century:

Distinction made between Useful and Fine Arts

Useful Arts =

Arts that can be taught and mastered through specific techniques

Fine Arts =

Products of genius that cannot be reduced to rules or principles

• Literature (including Drama)• Painting• Music• Dance

Useful vs. Fine Arts

Popular Culture

Reflects tastes of the general public

Theatre that appeals to popular culture = entertainment, storytelling, and familiar character types and situations

Elitist Culture

Reflects tastes of a smaller group with particular standards

Theatre that appeals to elitist culture = seeks new types of artistic expression, challenges views and assumptions, and raises questions

Popular Culture vs. Elitist Culture

The text compares theatre with games, stating that both rely upon conventions.

1. What is a convention? How do you define that term?

2. Name some conventions of a particular game.

3. Name some conventions of theatre.

4. How are these conventions similar or different?

What do YOU think?

• Art as a means to understand one’s world

• Like other disciplines, such as history, art seeks to discover and record patterns in human experience.

• While historians, scientists, and other scholars appeal to the mind/intellect, artists appeal to the senses.

Purposes of Art

Elements of Theatre Spectatorship

“Willing Suspension of Disbelief”

• Term was coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

• Refers to the fact that we know that the events of the play are not real; however, we agree, during the experience of the performance, not to disbelieve the events of the play.

• Example:

• When a character kills another character onstage, we do not rush to the stage to help the victim, yet we may still weep or feel an emotional response to the action.

Esthetic Distance

We are detached enough from the

performance to view it with some objectivity

Empathy

Feeling of involvement

with the performance

Esthetic distance and empathy seem to be contradictory concepts, but they balance each other in performance through the audience’s “willing suspension of disbelief.”

Elements of Theatre Spectatorship

Special Qualities of Theatre

Lifelikeness

Theatre recreates everyday experiences.

Ephemerality

Theatre is live performance, and becomes a part of the past immediately after it occurs.

Objectivity

Theatre “presents both outer and inner experience through speech and action.”

Complexity

Theatre combines varied elements such as movement, lighting, and sound while also drawing from all of the other arts.

Immediacy

Theatre is psychologically immediate, because it transpires in the simultaneous presence of live actors and spectators in the same room.

Special Qualities of Theatre

How do these Special Qualities define the strengths and weaknesses of theatre?

• Lifelikeness

• Ephemerality

• Objectivity

• Complexity

• Immediacy

What do YOU think?

Art and Value

Theatre as a Humanizing Force

Understanding through role-playing and observation

Theatre as Cultural Expression

Understanding various cultures through their theatre

Multiple Types of Intelligence

1. Linguistic/Verbal

2. Logical/Mathematical

3. Musical

4. Spatial

5. Bodily/Kinesthetic

6. Interpersonal

7. Intrapersonal

Something to Think About: How does theatre incorporate multiple intelligences?

Something to think about:

(1)Make a list of all of the forms of art that enhance your life.

Making Connections:Chapter 1 encourages us to access the value of art in our lives

(2)Consider how your life would change without these art forms (either for the positive or negative).

(3)Consider ways in which you can share the art in your life with others.