Pre-midterm
What are french exits?
all scene transitions demarcated by entrance or exit
Who was Anna Cora Mowatt?
Successful female american playwright, broadway.
"Fashion, or life in New York City" satire socialites with European aspiration (very racist play)
What did Ibsen use in his plays (devices, style, etc)
Realism with emphasis on symbolism and character study (emphasis on thoughts & interior worlds of characters)
What's the alienation effect
Also called estrangement effect, alienation effect aims to separate audience from the stage and in doing so force critical thought
"An old woman will be soon tired with anything she will do, and isn't it nine days herself s after crying and keening, and making great sorrow in the house?"
Riders to the Sea; Nora
Who's Ira Aldridge?
travelled Europe acting Shakespeare, played King Lear
Who was Royall Tyler & Mercy Otis Warren?
Royall Tyler: First American play --> the contrast (compare America to Europe) First post-revolution American playwright
Mercy Otis Warren: 1st playwright, pre-revolution, published plays only on newspaper
Who wrote Trifles? What is Trifles based after?
Susan Glaspell; Minnie Foster for murdering her husband
What did Epic Theatre aim to do?
disrupt actor & audience relationship, remind the audience they're observing forcing critical thought, audience leave changed from start
"all theatre is political"
"No boundaries have been defined, no inhibitions imposed. We have, for the while, secure, or blundered into, our release, for the while, secured, or blundered into our release for the while. Spontaneity and whim are the order of the day. Other wheels are turning but they are not our concern."
Ros + Gui; Guilenstern
Oscar Wilde was part of "the Aesthetes". What were they?
Aesthetes believed moral < beauty
Who was David Garrick
Actor, playwright, theatre manager & producer
promoted realistic acting
reform audience behaviour
consistent set design, costume, & effects
brought Shakespeare to contemporary audiences
Who wrote Machinal & what is it based off?
Sophie Treadwell; based off Ruth Snyder's crime story real life
What is absurdism?
belief that we live in a chaotic world, human existence has no meaning, despite this humans try to find meaning. That paradox makes it absurd.
"Sometimes dripping in my head, ever since the fontanelles.
Splash, splash, always on the same spot."
Endgame; Hamm
What are the 5 French Neoclassical Principles?
Verisimilitude -- all events believable
Decorum -- adhere to morals
No mixing of dramatic styles
Three unities -- place, time & action
5 Act structure Seneca
Name 3 actors in Eng Restoration
Margaret "Peg" Woffington: Crossed dressed as men, performed dancing & singing
Anne Bracegirdle: actress & soprano, performed lead actress roles, important & audience fav
Nell Gwyn: mistress of King Chalres II, 'pretty witty Nell'. restoration comedy suited her
Ned Kynaston: played women roles as boy
What real life connections (history etc)were made within Endgame?
references to the Ardennes (WWI battlefield), all character names reference to nail & hammer in german, french, & english (able to rebuild but unwilling to) Fear of nuclear war & destruction
What is stationnendrama
Creating tableaux from scene to scene to depict the emotional state
"I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still and each thing in its last place, under the last dust."
Endgame; Clov
What's Stanislavsky's Germ? What does it do?
a single word that encapsulates a person
Germ motivates through action
Germ + through action = overarching goal
Aristotle's 6 elements of tragedy (in order of importance)
1. Plot
2. Character
3. Reason (logos, interior logic)
4. Diction
5. Song (chorus)
6. Spectacle
Who wrote Riders to the Sea & where?
John Millington Synge in the Aran Islands
What's expressionism?
aim to capture the feel of a moment, portrayal of state of mind > accurate depiction of plot or characters
used stationnendrama
"Before we know the words for it, before we know that there are words, out we come, bloodied and squalling with the knowledge that for all the compasses in the world, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure."
Ros + Guil; Rosencrantz