The Nature of Theatre
The most basic definition of theatre.
What is A performs B for C?
Instead of working from a full script, Commedia was largely improvised using these kinds of characters.
What are stock characters?
These folks favored stages of the portable variety.
The Greeks honored this god of wine and revelry with their theatre festivals.
Who is Dionysus?
These are the zany, repeatable jokes that were a fundamental ingredient of Commedia dell’Arte.
What are lazzi?
This theory supports the idea that theatre offers important learning opportunities that traditional education can't offer.
What is multiple intelligences theory?
One of the six “rules” of neoclassical theatre.
What is...any of the six will do.
This Renaissance development led to more pictorial scenery and a proscenium stage.
What is perspective drawing?
This guy was a real wet blanket; he closed all the theatres in England in 1642.
Who is Oliver Cromwell?
An example of this would be the King neatly resolving everything at the end of Tartuffe.
What is deus ex machina?
This element has the greatest influence on how a live performance varies from night to night.
What is the audience?
These folks need a repertoire of plays (and a way to contain the audience and charge admission.)
What are professional repertory theatre companies?
The original reason that box, pit/orchestra, and gallery seating areas were created.
What is to separate the social classes?
Though they had disapproved of theatre in the past, they revived theatre for didactic (teaching) purposes.
Who is The Catholic Church?
A handy term, shorter to say than “unrhymed iambic pentameter.”
What is blank verse?
Most theatres today are trying to attract these kinds of audiences.
What are younger and/or more diverse?
BOTH of these guys wrote plays, acted in them, and were part-owners of their theatres.
Who are Shakespeare and Moliere?
Perhaps the most famous theatre in history, it burned down in 1613, thanks to onstage cannonfire. Oops.
What is The Globe?
This English king really liked French theatre (...and really, really liked the actress Nell Gwynn).
Who is Charles II?
This is the first question a thoughtful critic asks in evaluating a performance.
What was attempted?
Theatre isn’t preserved like film; instead it has this quality.
What is ephemerality?
He wrote Oedipus, which is still considered one of the greatest plays ever written (right up there with Hamlet).
Who is Sophocles?
The term for the performance space in Greek theatres.
What is the orchestra?
An experience that the Greeks sought from tragedy, a purging of emotions like pity and fear.
What is catharsis?
If Time, Place, and Action formed a band, they’d go by this name, thanks to Aristotle.
What are The Three Unities?