Roman Theatre
The key periods of Roman Theatre's development?
What is 1) Beginnings (pre-240 BCE), 2) Literary Drama (240 BCE - ca. 100 BCE), 3) Renaissance of Popular Entertainment (ca. 100 BCE - 476 CE).
Why is the term "Middle East" problematic? What is a better term for it? What countries are a part of thjis region?
The Middle East: very colonial title and problematic as it is named in comparison to Great Britain as a dominating colonizing source
Swana: Southwest Asia and North Africa: a decolonial term that better describes this region of countries
Comprises of Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Jordan, Yemen, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Lebanon, and Oman
What are the 2 philosophical foundations of Chinese Theatre?
Shang Dynasty: (1766 to 1122 BCE or 1600/1523 to 1028 BCE)
Zhou Dynasty: (1122/1027 BCE to 256 BCE)
Important time periods
The Middle Ages:
The period from 500 through 1400 CE
The Renaissance:
The years between 1400 and 1650 Ce
When the classics of Greece and Rome were rediscovered and emulated
Some of the greatest European Medieval Drama est. in the period between 1300 and 1550 CE, a period when Renaissance painting and sculpture was already established
Early Middle Ages:
From 500 through 1000 CE
Troupes of traveling popular performers—comic, acrobatic, circus-like entertainments
High Middle Age:
From 1000 through 1400 CE
New awareness of anxiety philosophy and the arts
Significance of theology
Bugaku
Form of dance drama that staged legendary battles; no dialogue but accompanied by music influenced by Korean and Chinese traditions
Offerings to the gods
Still performed in many Shinto temples in Japan
Left dance answered by a right dance
Not all use masks, originally, masks we used in 32 out of the 100 dances
Begins with several non-masked dances
Who were the prominent playwrights of Roman Comedy and what did they do? (3)
Plautus:
Comedy
Most popular Roman comedy writer
(254-184 BC)
Eight out of Plautus’ twenty surviving plays feature intriguing clever slaves (serui callidi): Pseudolus, Asinaria, Bacchides, Epidicus, Miles Gloriosus, Mostellaria, Persa, Poenulus.
Miles Gloriosus - Produced 205 BCE
His stock characters influenced Commedia Del’Arte and some of Shakespeare’s plays
The plot revolved around cunning plans involving deception, disguise, role playing and outwitting of masters by slaves (reversal comedy).
Physical miming and comedy (Attelan Farce elements)
and
Terence:
Comedy
(c. 185–159 B.C.E .)
Second-most important Roman comic writer
Combined Greek plays
Prologues
Was a slave himself
Credited as second most important roman comic author
All works contain amazing prologues about what it means to take these plays from greek and transpose them to roman context
May have been the first major black playwright in western theatre
Seneca:
Contemporary of Jesus, born between 1 BCE and 4 CE
Lived through dangerous period in Roman history, under Emperors Tiberius, Gaius (Caligula), Claudius and Nero
Roman Republic long dead; Roman Empire expanded, corruption
Seneca’s tragedies focus less on the relationships of people to one another, and more on the relationship of individuals to their passions”
Seneca’s plays focus less on the workings of the divine in human life and more on the conflicts within human nature itself”
Plays were very violent, it is debated whether his plays were closet plays not intended to be staged
Phaedra playwright
Seneca borrowed from Euripides, Sophocles, and Aeschyles
What is Hikayat?
interesting type of storytelling in ancient times in this region.
People created a very big circle where a narrator or a board would retell stories from epics from this time.
After the storytelling, people would also perform things apart from the aerator such as; magic shows, acrobatics, riddle shows.
A mixture of performance, storytelling, martial arts, acrobatics, etc.
It is from Hikayat that Arabian Nights were created.
3 Philosophers of ancient china and key points about them and the 2 religions that impacted chinese theatre
Confucius 551-479 BCE in China (Confucianism). Served government roles. Analects - his teachings. “do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself”. 1. Ceremony is important. Ritual propriety. 2. We should treat our parents with reverence. Moral life begins in the family. 3. We should be obedient to honourable people. Let the ruler be a ruler, the subject a subject, and the son a son. We need to be modest enough to recognize when people’s contributions and knowledge outweigh our own. Not an attribute of weakness, but humility. 4. Cultivated knowledge can be more important than creativity. 5 constant virtues: benevolence, ritual propriety, wisdom, humility, righteousness. Millions of people still follow his teachings.
Lao-tzu born 604 BCE (Taoism) stresses the importance of the Tao or path, patience and simplicity of working within nature's harmony. Following the path of the cosmos leads to self realization.
Mencius 371-288 BCE emphasises that all people are good, and that people's innate moral sense can be cultivated or perverted by an unfavourable environment. Environment is key to the cultivation of people's relationship to moral behaviour.
Shamanism aspects to Chinese theatre. Shamans were spiritual leaders who were thought to have magical powers to communicate with the dead.
Buddhism found its way from India to China and had some influence.
The Resurrection of Theatre as Liturgical Drama and the role of Christianity in the Medieval Periods
Christians were outlawed and were not allowed to pray in public
Emperor Constantine had a dream were he met Jesus and legalized christianity the next year
Christians hated actors just as much as Romans
Actors could not be baptized and anyone who married one would have to be ex-communicated
533 CE is the last recorded performance in Rome
Roman Mimes invented themselves as strolling mimes
Byzantine empire: until 1453 and the fall of Constantinople
No scripts survived, we know of creeds complaining about the theatre
Hippodrome: hosted gladiators and wild animal fights
2 roman theatres, 1 lasted a while and produced the things of menander
Mimes kept theatre alive in some form for centuries
People went to church for entertainment, as it ticked a lot of boxes associated with service
Resurgence of drama began as the easter service in 10th century CE
What is significant about the performers and acting technique of Noh theatre?
No female performers originally. This is only now changing
Actors trained since childhood
Characterized by a slowness and measured precision
All elements unnecessary to the drama are completely eliminated
Cristaline hypnotic quality
Very specific opening standing neutral position
Stylized sliding no walk is called Hekobi
The soles of the feet are covered with white socks and are rarely lifted from the floor at all, constant connection to the floor itself
Knees are kept slightly bent, enabling actors to slide on stage floor without any noticeable vertical movements
The movements of male characters and female characters are different. Males have a more opening standing position, while female characters have their feet closer. The knee bending gives opportunity for the characters to “grow”
What role do slaves play in Roman Comedy according to Plautus?
Slaves are central figures, often depicted as clever and resourceful, embodying trickery and reversal comedy.
What is Maqamat and Trickster?
Dialogues in Hikayat evolved into Maqamat
Narratives with no specific length
Oral and written
Rhymed prose mixed with poetry, integrated with sermons, debates, or articles
Typically has 2 characters: the Narrator - Isa Ibn Hisham who is tricked by the hero and The Hero - Al-Iskandri or trickster an intelligent man dressed as a beggar pretending to be different people relying on witty puns and impersonation
Tricksters would trick people into doing things through only words - a master of the Arabic language. Never caught lying or scheming. Never exposed or humiliated
Tricksters represent flawed and complex human nature, transgresses social norms and authorities and causes transformation in other people
Very popular in Spain and among Jewish people
The Miracle of prophet Mohammed was words and language
Arabic as a language is very rich and poetic, very rhetorical.
1279-1368
Known in the west due to Marco Polo
Mongolian empire, Kublai Khan
Mongols dismantled much of traditional bureaucracy
Intellectual literati were no longer employed by the government and theatre was taken up as a way of promoting philosophies
Confuscian scholars who were once the elite of chinese society found themselves at the bottom of society
A way to preserve Confucianism
Compared to Greece in the 5th century or Elizabethan England
Caused rebirth of the theatre
Mixing of high art and popular theatre traditions
Hrosvit
Earliest known woman dramatist
Born 935-973
Christian hagiographies (stories about the lives of saints)
Dulcitius
She wrote 8 poems about saints and 6 plays
She wrote about virginity, rape, power, desire, love, and how political and spiritual issues often play out on women’s bodies
Through engagement with her work, we are reminded that women have been thinking and writing and feeling and existing since before the mid 1800s
Use outrageous scenarios and hour to show the ludicrous nature of evil over good
Men often perish while women are always martyred
Started writing in secret and was motivated by hunger to respond to the work of Terence but took issue with the lack of christian values in his work
She believed she could transform the lucidious women from his plays
Use of masks
Facial expressions were regarded as vulgar during these periods
Actors without masks keep their faces expressionless
The expressions of the mask reflect ambiguity, allowing spectators to interpret changes to those expressions
Focus on slight alterations to angles of the head, allowing actors to change the masks expression
Small cushions attached to the back of the masks so that they are always at the right angle of the actors faces
Masks regarded as valuable works of arts themselves
Costuming
Allows practices of court circles of Muromachi period
Were historically more simple but became more elaborate
Guide booklet to the costumes symbolism
Stage assistants come out on state to ensure that positions of wig and costume are perfect
If anything is wrong, it is fixed on stage in view of audience
Wide folding trousers of some male characters
Highly ornamented colourful robes of female characters
Draping of fabric and hair are very important
Fabula crepidata, Fabula praetexta, Fabula togata, Fabula pilliate
Fabula crepidata—adapted from Greek works
Fabula praetexta—Roman storylines
Fabula togata —Set in Italy, featuring Roman or Italian characters, often from the lower classes or country towns.
Fabula pilliate—Typically set in Greece, featuring Greek characters and names
What was the role of Kurraj: Hobby Horse Shows - Wooden Horse Dance (Asb-e Choubi)
A performer rides a wooden horse and dances while swordfights another performer.
Historically performed throughout north, central, and south Iran and across Khorasan; now primarily confined to north Khorasan
Typically staged at wedding celebrations and festive occasions as a ceremonial ritual
Mongols banned sword fights and martial arts in Iran, but people still learned skills to defend themselves
Iranians moved to practicing swordfighting during wedding ceremonies in order to not get in trouble with authorities
These dances became the only means of training
Commemorates Khoarasani people’s resistance against the 13th century Mongol invasions, when the region suffered devastating destruction and massive loss of life
What is Zaju?
(mixed performance/miscellaneous performance)
Four acts
A suite of songs in which one actor sings throughout the piece
The lead singer is the main emotional focus of the play
Protagonist sang all the music in any act
Great deal of music that was already popular
Lyrical nature
Few characters and no subplots and other complications
Topics included love and romance, religion and history, domestic and social themes, crimes and lawsuits, and bandit heroes
Important zaju plays from the Yuan period:
The Circle of Chalk
Lawsuit-and-trial genre
Twentieth century German playwright Bertotl Brecht adapted it into The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Mystery and Cycle Plays
Ministerium: religious service or office
Mystery Plays: serie of biblical events (from creation to last judgment)
Cycle Plays: dramatized other stories connected to biblical figures, the lives/miracles of saints, and contemporary church doctrines
Staged independently as drama
Short drama - part of a sequence/cycle
Spring and summer were the most popular times to perform these
The feast of corpus christi between last week of may and last week of june
Reminded late people that the bread and wine of mass become the body and blood of Christ, the union of the divine and the person of christ and promise of redemption is made possible upon his sacrifice
Processional staging - audiences assembled in various places, performance is ‘on the move’
Used pageant wagons - cycle play set up on a wagon that could be rolled into town or nearby field
Stationary staging also used
Significance of the stage space in Noh Theatre
Dressing room as mirror room
The bridge is a slow crossing area of Hashigakari, symbolizing long journey and travel of character from one world to another; present world and world they are entering
Extension for chorus on right side of audience and extension at rear for musicians
Bridge separated from dressing room by small colourful curtain
Wooden wall is always decorated with large pine tree with metaphysical and religious connotations
Bamboo and trees remind audience of time when no was performed outside
High roof reflects spirit of zen architecture
Shades of wood give each stage it particular atmosphere
Props are used very sparsely, most important prop is a large fan which indicates specific things to an audience
Larger stage props are brought by stage managers on the stage
Causes of the end of theatre?
Anti-Theatrical Prejudice
Theatre in early Christianity thought of as “irreligious obsession”
Insisted that other gods were false despite the Roman tradition of accepting all gods
Despite persecution, the power of Christianity increased, and Constantine (Emperor, 324-337 CE) first made Christianity lawful in 313 and in 393 Theodosius I made the profession of any religion other than Christianity unlawful
398 CE: Council of Carthage decreed excommunication for any Christian who went to the theatre rather than to church on holy days.
“Like prostitution, the stage had come to be thought of as a necessary evil”
“The actors found themselves forbidden to vote, forbidden to hold public office, forbidden to serve as attorneys. Moreover, the law bound them to their trade like serfs, forbade them to leave it for any other, and required their children to follow it in their turn. As it was illegal for an actor to cross the line into honesty and respectability, so it was unthinkable for any regular citizen to cross the other way”
Theatre in the Dark
• 330 CE: Constantine est. two capitals—Rome and Constantinople
• 476 CE “Barbarian Rule”
• From theatre to entertainment
• Disintegration of Roman civilization
“Following the disintegration of the Roman Empire, organized theatrical activities had virtually disappeared in Western Europe as conditions returned to a stage similar to the period that preceded the emergence of drama in the sixth century BCE. But theatrical elements survived in at least four different kinds of activities: the remnants of Roman mimes, Teutonic minstrelsy; popular festivals and pagan rights; and Christian ceremonies. The theatre was to emerge again from these wellsprings during the early Middle Ages.”
What are the key points about the Natyasastra? What are Bhavas and Rasas? Name the 8/9 rasas?
200 BCE - 200 CE
Natya - Drama+Dance+Music
Sastra - Treatise+Science
Written by Bharata Muni
Bharata Muni was divinely inspired by Brahma (god of creation)
Bharata and is 100 sons, summoned by Brahma as the first actors
First performance: defeat of demons by god Indra (keeping away evil spirits) on a consecrated ground
Christian church’s opposition to theatre as a site for diabolical forces vs. Sanskrit making the demon’s transformation a theatrical event
In Hinduism, there was no hostility towards theatre even from the beginning
Measurement of theatre’s success: causing the audience to weep, shut, and experience horripilation
Emphasis on the creative spirit of sexuality plus decorum (families should not blush watching)
Rasa:
A dominant “Flavor” or sentiment the audience experiences at the end of the show
Cumulative result of stimulus, involuntary reaction and voluntary reaction
Eight different Bhavas (emotions) performed by the actors become a Rasa or a taste in the audience
Rasa is produced from Bhavas and not vice versa
A multiplicity of Bhavas create ONE Rasa (like all of the ingredients create one flavour of the food)
The 8 Rasas:
Erotic
Comic
Pathetic
Furious
Heroic
Terrible
Odious
Marvelous
Peace
Guan Hanqing
(1245-1322)
65 plays, 14 survive
Best known of all the dramatists working during the “Golden Age of Chinese Drama” (Yuan Dynasty Theatre)
Guan is often acknowledged in Western texts as “China’s Shakespeare. Considering that Guan preceded Shakespeare by more than 300 years, Shakespeare may be Brittania’s Guan Hanqing
He began writing plays in 1260 and wrote more than 60, 18 of which have survived. These extant works are now exemplary forms of classical Chinese drama, with a robust history of revival and adaption. His best-known play is Dou E Yuan, or The Injustice to Dou E that Moved Heaven and Earth, the source play for Cowhig’s Snow in Midsummer.
Morality Plays and an example
An allegory in which characters personify abstract ideas to teach a moral lesson by acting out the conflict between good and evil
Other form of religious vernacular drama
Allegories: a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. The principal technique of allegory is personification, whereby abstract qualities are given human shape—as in public statues of Liberty or Justice.
Example:
Everyman by Anon
What must a man do to be saved?
Everyman represents all man kind
Good and evil are tallied like plusses and minuses
Everyman's journey to his final reckoning
Tries to convince other characters to join him in order to help his recount
Shows how everyman should meet his death but also how everyman should live
Expects his worldly wealth to save him
When you enter death, you will have nothing with you but yourself and the only wealth exists in the heavens
He turns to good deed to save him, if he invests in them he can be saved
His fortunes improve, he gains various friends (parts of himself) that are more reliable than his earlier friends
He is disappointed because beauty and physical things won’t go with him to the grave
It is the things he has done that go with him to the end
A sermon on how to find redemption, emphasizing the importance of repentance and good deeds
Zeami's resonance and theories on Noh theatre
A theatre theorist - his writings established the aesthetic and philosophical basis of No
Zeami's writings on the ‘Flower’
Fushi Kaden (The transmission of the flower of acting style) (1400-1418)
Shikadōsho (Essay on the Way to the Flower) (1420);
Kakyō (The Mirror of the Flower) (1424)
Hana & Yugen in No
Zeami wrote of hana (flower) and of yugen (subtle beauty). The former distinguishes the fine actor, the latter the fine performance of a play
Hana (flower) refers to freshness and aptness. An actor who gives the audience the feeling that they are seeing for the first time, with keen emotion, an otherwise familiar role, has the “flower”
“The flower represents a mastery of technique and throughout practice, achieved in order to create a feeling of novelty”
Yugen, on the other hand, ranges in meaning from grace or elegance to something like “ineffable mystery.” yugen is the aim of No performances; another definition of it might be philosophical and physical gracefulness
Zeami’s Resonance
Dangers of typecasting; Need for “Novelty”:
The Importance of Secret and Surprise for Audience Enjoyment