Chapter 1: The Nature of Theatre

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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 Nature of Theatre

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

Examples:
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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:
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Theatre forbidden/banned because considered a form of lying

Theatre as a truthful reflection of human behavior

What do YOU think?

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?

The Basic Elements of Theatre

3 Basic Elements of theatre: (1) What is performed (2) The Performance (3) The Audience The 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
The Performance translates the potential of a script, scenario, or plan into actuality.

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 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 Audience Performers 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 vs. 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

Popular Culture vs. Elitist Culture

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

What do YOU think?

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?

Purposes of Art
Art as a means to understand ones 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 .

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.

Elements of Theatre Spectatorship

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 audiences willing suspension of disbelief.

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.

Special Qualities of Theatre

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.

What do YOU think?

How do these Special Qualities define the strengths and weaknesses of theatre?
Lifelikeness Ephemerality Objectivity Complexity Immediacy

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. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Linguistic/Verbal Logical/Mathematical Musical Spatial Bodily/Kinesthetic Interpersonal Intrapersonal Something to Think About: How does theatre incorporate multiple intelligences?

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

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