Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ARTS 9
WESTERN CLASSICAL PLAYS AND OPERA
Name of Teacher : Mr. Raymond M. Maño
Module Number : 4
Inclusive Date : Nov. 14 - 25, 2022
Date of Submission : November 25, 2022
General Instruction:
Hello and Benedicite! How are you? In case you haven’t heard it today, I’m proud of you!
This is a learning activity intended to guide you in understanding the key concepts about the
Western Classical Plays and Opera. This journey focuses on how theatrical elements such as sound, music
gesture, movement, props and cstume affect the creation and communication of meaning in Wetern Classical
plays and operas as influenced by history and culture. These performances can be considered as the
synthesis of the beauty of the arts.
It is hoped that after this journey, you will have a deeper appreciation of the performing arts and how
it encompasses the different disciplines of art like music, literature and visual arts.
Pieces of information and instructions are provided to guide you in creating an output. As you venture
into this learning activity, you have to answer several questions and activities to test your understanding. Your
answers must be encoded on the spaces provided. At the end of the learning activity, be sure to accomplish
the Performance Criteria Checklist (Self-Assessment). Do not forget to write your significant learning
experience after finishing the module. Please also ask your parent/guardian to write their remarks and
suggestions. Thank you and have fun!
1|P age
• take part in a performance of a selected piece from Western Classical plays and opera through an
interdisciplinary project.
The learner...
• defines what makes selected western classical plays and operas unique through visual representation;
• identifies selected theatrical forms from different art periods;
• identifies the elements and principles of arts as manifested in Western Classical plays and opera;
• designs the visual elements and components of selected Western classical theater plays and operas;
• choreographs the movements and gestures needed in the effective delivery of a selected piece from
Western Classical plays and operas; and
• performs in a group showcase of the selected piece from Western Classical plays and operas.
At the end of this learning journey, you, as a learner are expected to:
• identify selected theatrical forms from different art periods and the elements and principles of arts as
manifested in Western Classical plays and opera through an interactive online discussion; (A)
• define what makes selected western classical plays and operas unique through visual representation;
(A)
• enumerate the importance of studying Western classical plays and operas through an essay (art
analysis); (M)
• designs the visual elements and components of a selected Western classical theater play and opera
through IP props and costume making; (T)
• choreographs the movements and gestures needed in the effective delivery of a selected piece from
Western Classical plays and operas through a one-act comic operetta; and (T)
• performs in a group showcase of the selected piece from Western Classical plays and operas through
an interdisciplinary project. (T)
ev
• Ballpen, Notebook
• Please refer to the “Art Attack” activity
• Any gadgets for online learning
ONLINE
The theater is the one major art form that brings together all the other art forms—
from painting and sculpture to installation art, to music, to dance, to literature, and even to
computer arts—in a single production. A story is acted out on stage (or another performance
area) by actors portraying the characters, bringing them to life, and developing the plot through
dialogue and actions, and sometimes through song and/or dance.
2|P age
Contributing to the vivid theater experience are the stage sets and props, the lighting, the background
music, sound effects, the costumes, and accessories. In recent decades, computer-generated visual effects and
mechanized sets have been incorporated as well.
All of these components draw from the various art forms and call upon the artistic skills and techniques
that you have been exposed to over the last three quarters. In this learning journey, you will get to experience
the complex and exciting process of mounting an original performance together with your classmates—
combining most, if not all, of these skills and techniques.
Have you watched a play in your school? How did you feel while you were
watching it?
You must have also participated in a classroom play or drama. How did your group
prepare for it? What made you come up with your costumes and props? How did you decorate
your “stage”inside the classroom?
Watch some popular songs that came from theater musicals. Think about the people who made this
production possible. These include the director, playwright, actors, production designer, and crew members
responsible for makeup and costumes. This of all the challenges they had to face just to make the production
successful. Visit or click the link if possible to access the videos.
“Defying Gravity” from Wicked and “All I ask of you” from Phantom of the Opera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INSzM6AB1eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfPLh_6ckzI
1. What did you observe about the performances of the characters? Describe and compare them.?
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3|P age
2. Have you experienced watching a live theatrical production? If so, what have you observed? Share your
experiences from entering the venue to taking your seat, watching the performance itself, and then leaving the
theater.
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3. What were the actors and actresses wearing? Did they use any props, and was the stage or backdrop
decorated? Did the actors and actresses use appropriate props and costumes? Did these things help you
understand and appreciate the play better? Why or why not??
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4. Do you agree that theater is the most collaborative form of art? Explain.
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Amazing! Were you able to enjoy the given activities? So, do you have
now an idea of the things that we will discuss in this learning journey? It’s time to
formally start our lesson! As we move along, look back to these questionss and
check if you were able to learn the things that you were not able to comprehend
before.
Let’s get started! Read and understand the Western Classical Plays and Operas
in your textbook “MAPEH for Today's Learner 9” on pp. 209- 236. It will greatly help
you to answer some questions in the next learning activities.
4|P age
Great dramas were produced in Athens as early as the 5th century BC. The famous
writers of tragedies were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Tragedies were based on
myths and ancient heroes. Themes were focused on moral issues, especially on the danger of
arrogance, or hubris in Greek.
Comedies, on the other hand, were their way to comment on and criticize their
government and politicians. The artists enjoyed remarkable freedom of speech as they
criticized their government policies and politicians through jokes and puns. The famous Greek
comic playwright or writer was Aristophanes. He also wrote comedies about powerful women.
Greek plays were usually performed outdoors during the festivities honoring the god of harvest, wine,
fertility, and theater. During these celebrations, thousands of Greeks gathered at the theaters.
Lysistrata was a famous ancient Greek comedy written by Aristophanes during the turn of the 4th century
B.C.E. The plot revolves around a strike by the women of Athens. The women demanded that the leaders of
their city should stop engaging in wars or else they will refuse to sleep with their husbands.
What are the elements and principles of arts as shown in Western Classical plays?
Oedipus Rex
Plot Oedipus Rex is a famous ancient Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. It was about
the life of a man called Oedipus, who at birth was prophesied by an oracle that he
would unintentionally kill his father and marry his mother.
At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is the beloved king of Thebes, His city was
plagued and people suffered. After consulting the oracle of Delphi, he learned that the
plague will stop once the murderer of the first husband of his wife Queen Jocasta will
be punished. The middle of the play showed Oedipus finding out who the killer of King
Laius was to be able to save Thebes from the plague.
Finally, Oedipus found out that the old man he killed when he was still a young
man approaching Thebes was King Laius. He also discovered that King Laius was his
father and Jocasta, his wife and mother of his children, is in truth, his mother. At the
end of the play, Jocasta hangs herself, while Oedipus blinds himself.
Characters • alternate in voicing contrasting positions
• use the other character's words and suggest other meanings
• possesses hamartia or tragic flaw of character; in the case of Oedipus, hubris,
or excessive pride
Dialogs/ • theatrical and lofty language Language
Language • use of stichomythia, a dialog involving a dispute presented in alternating lines
• The dialog is used as a device to heighten the emotional intensity of the scene.
Costumes • The actors and chorus wore colorful bright costumes and masks.
• Colors and sizes convey particular information.
• Padded robes increased the actors' size while thick-soled boots increased the
height.
• The use of a mask with a protruding wig-like object also tends to increase the
height.
5|P age
Picture of the plan of the Theater at Epidaurus, Greece, c. 350 B.C.E
Renaissance
Shakespearean Theater
What are the characteristics of Shakespearean theater?
The Shakespearean theater is based on the plays written by the great English playwright and poet,
William Shakespeare, during the 16th century. Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright in the history
of English literature. Shakespeare had a great appreciation of the Italian Renaissance. This is shown in the
subject and settings of many of his plays.
Shakespeare's works are classified into three genres: comedy, tragedy, and history. An example of his
comedy is "The Taming of the Shrew." The drama "Julius Caesar" is his famous tragedy. Shakespeare's history
represents Elizabethan theater which reflects England's rising greatness as a result of defeating the Spanish
Armada. With England's prosperity, English kings were glorified as shown in Shakespeare's plays like Richard
II, Henry V. The drama, King Lear, however, was about a mythical king. It is more of a tragedy rather than a
history.
Unlike other plays during his time, which are full of symbols and abstractions, Shakespeare's stories are
about men and women with strong and weak qualities. The plays are vehicles to understand more about life and
love, action, and nationalism. The plays have universal appeal because they are all about human nature,
character, and motivation. They appeal to everyone because people could relate to Shakespeare's characters.
Until now, Shakespeare's plays continue to delight many modern-day theatergoers because of their richness in
language, artistry, and meaning.
Acting Style
The acting style for the early Elizabethan plays was heroic and exaggerated, like the plays themselves.
Language
• Magnificent poetry
• Unrivaled use of tone, color, and complex word meanings that made the plays more dramatic and
appealing
Did you know that… the costumes and sets of Shakespeare's time influenced the production of the plays?
The visual effects were aided by the costumes of the plays as
did the lighting and the sound effects. The stages and sets
created a realistic setting for a specific location.
7|P age
What is an example of an opera?
Carmen is the best operatic example of naturalism, an art movement which is popular in France in the
late 19th century. Carmen, the opera, is based on a French novella by the French writer, Prosper Mérimée (1803-
1870). Mérimée was inspired to write the story on his trip to Spain.
What are the theatrical elements of Carmen?
Artistic Elements
• It is the best example of Naturalism, an anti-Romantic movement in arts, which was popular
in France in the late 19th century.
• The libretto or the text of the opera is an adaptation from a literary classic written by
Mérimée.
• Carmen employs a prose text and not a poetic text. When Bizet wrote his score, he used
spoken dialog.
• The opera shows naturalistic scenes with colorful and vibrant music.
Plot
• At the start, Carmen is introduced as a young gypsy girl who works in a cigarette factory
in Seville, Spain. The seductive girl meets Don José, an infantry officer, outside the factory
where she works. Carmen gets attracted to Don Jose and flirts with him. However, Don
Jose ignores her.
• Later on, Don José becomes infatuated with Carmen and deserts the army for her. Carmen
and Don José live together in the mountains where gypsy smugglers live.
• In the middle of the play, Carmen meets Escamillo, a bullfighter. This time, she becomes
interested in Escamillo. The two become a couple which infuriates Don José.
• The final scene of the opera is a murder of passion. On the day of a bullfight in Seville,
after Escamillo enters the bullring, Don Jose also approaches Carmen. Looking disturbed
and lost, he asks Carmen to return to him. After Carmen refuses, Don Jose stabs Carmen
with a dagger. Emerging from his bullfight, Escamillo witnesses Don Jose weeping
desperately over Carmen's dead body.
1. Lines
In this act (left photo), which is part of the musical "Les Miserables," dead
French revolutionaries played by actors seem to present the horror of death as
they lay flat in horizontal formation. The horizontal line, combined with colors in
the range of red and black, truly suggests death.
2. Colors
The technicalities of lighting are very important elements in a musical
because they will present colors that will evoke mixed emotions in the
audience. Accompanied by sounds and rhythm of music, lighting will
affect the audience to sympathize, admire, love, side with, or be amused.
In this photo (from the musical, "Hair"), lighting discloses the weird long-
haired actor in the center, who is pale and wearing a grayish-blue vest
expressing the feeling of being belittled and accused. The dominant color,
red, in the range of natural colors of the earth, surround the pale color.
The gestures and movements of the actors who are accusing the main character will incite the audience.
8|P age
3. Shapes
Shape, being the basic design element that is best described as a closed outline that appears of occupies
a certain space must be emphasized on the stage. Whether it is two-dimensional (painting) or thrèe-
dimensional (installation or sculpture), the weight, the size, and the texture must be pointed out. At the
beginning of the 20th century when the English had established the form of musical and emphasized its
distinction from opera, they put importance on each particular shape installed on the stage, from costumes, to
stage properties or props to express the feeling of grandeur and magnificence in accord to the 3D (all-
perspective setting).
4. Rhythm
The rhythm of the musicals comes out when there is an ordered
repetition of movement in the dances accompanied by songs. It comes to
light as simply repetitive, providing variations on a basic theme, or
indicating a progressive development. In the left photo, the cast of the
musical "Open Boat" touched the audience's joyful emotions with their body
rhythm of synchronized dancing and songs.
5. Space
The floor space or the entire area on the stage floor is where the cast, including their costumes and
props, are presented to the open. The area is neither large nor small
6. Sound
During the antiquity of Greek and Roman dramas, the actors are compelled or trained to project their voices
to be audible, firm, and clear enough for the audience to be heard. This system went on until the 20th century
when high technology assisted the technicalities. At present, the advent of a micro pick-up microphone
attached near every actor's mouth helps a lot for voice projection. Background soundtracks are also used
nowadays apart from a live chorus.
7. Texture
Like visual arts, the image design of backdrops, props, and costumes may extend to the audience the
feeling of roughness, hardness, finesse, and smoothness. In musicals, these are emphasized according to
the "act" where they are essential to the feelings conveyed.
8. Movement:
Various body movements of the cast are differentiated according to movement, yet integrated
consistently for the development of the plot.
Just wow! We have definitely made it! Give a pat on your shoulder for doing
your best in journeying with me in our subject, Western Arts! I do hope that our time
spent together was worthwhile and enjoyable as well.All the best on next learning
journey!
Appreciating the arts during the Western Classical periods centered around the enjoyment of well-known
plays and operas that flourished during those times. They have become representative works in the field of
theater arts and are considered canon by theatre scholars and practitioners. In this module, we focused on a
representative artist from each era- Ancient theatre’s Sophocles, the Renaissance period’s William
Shakespeare, and the Romantic period’s Georges Bizet. Take note that there are other great playwrights/ opera
composers from those different eras and discovering them and their works will vastly add to your knowledge and
appreciation of theatre arts.
9|P age
I. ESSAY (Art Analysis)
Deepen your understanding of the Western and Classical Plas and Operas by reflecting on the answers
you have to the following questions.
RUBRIC
Content (5 points)
Organization of ideas (5 points)
Relevance/ significance (5 points)
1. Why do people love to watch plays? In what ways does visual art support the effectiveness of plays and
operas
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2. What do you notice on the stage plays in our country? Is Asian influence more prevalent than Western? Or
do you think it is more influenced by Western culture? Why?
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3. Can Filipino visual arts and design support an adaptation of either an Asian or Western theater? If yes, in
what way?
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ONSITE
Please refer to (Interdisciplinary Project) I.P project guide. This will be further discussed during the
virtual meeting.
REMEDIATION/
I. EXTENSIONS
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
Extend your knowledge of the performance with the use of media by checking out the following
videos. Scan the QR code or access the link if possible.
Working in Theatre: Choreographer How to Be a Good Theatre Actor : How To Direct a Play |
Center Theatre Group Theatre 101 Theatre Directing
https://qrgo.page.link/DMQit eHow TVLessonDotCom
https://qrgo.page.link/gG5gkv https://qrgo.page.link/XLEqh
Rank Reel Presents: Rak of Aegis Sandosenang Sapatos Preview | Bluebird of Happiness
Rank Magazine Tanghalang Pilipino Trumpets Philippines
https://qrgo.page.link/qGG5h iWantTFC https://qrgo.page.link/Q5Jo4
https://qrgo.page.link/MPfnK
Before this day ends, don’t forget to accomplish your “Art Journal”. Write a reflection on the
things you learned in this self-learning module and their relevance to you. As an Agnesian,
what important values did you learn from this self-learning module which you can apply
in your daily life? Cite specific instances which you feel these learnings will come handy.
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Put a check in each box that reflects your immediate response to each statement. These statements
refer to skills required in a theater production. For each row, you can check only once.
Statement Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree
I can act.
I can dance.
I can sing.
I can direct.
I can write.
I can
choreograph
I can make
costumes.
I can make
props.
I can design the
set.
I can do sound
and musical
effects.
I can do the
lighting design.
Mr. Raymond M. Maño Ms. Ofelia F. Laureto Ms. Joan C. Alejo, Ed. D.
Arts 9 Teacher MAPEH Coordinator JHS Academic Coordinator
DISCLAIMER
I do not own some of the photos/pictures, icons, website links, clipart, and graphics used in this self-learning module. Moreover,
they were modified and enhanced for educational purposes only.
All rights reserved to the original owners/artists of the said photos/pictures, icons, clipart, and graphics.
No copyright infringement is intended.
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References
Books:
Abayan, P. R., Jimenez, Ed.D., R. N., Perez, M.A, A. B., & Romeo, R. R. (2018). UPSCALE MAPEH 9. Quezon City, Philippines: Brilliant Creations
Publishing.
Africa, A. P., Dela Cruz, M. S., & Ruaya, T. B. (2018). Practical MAPEH 10 (Kto12 ed.). Makati City, Philippines: Diwa Learning Systems.
Miranda, Q. S., Jugueta, L. R., Sacdalan, G. E., & San Jose, M. R. (2018). MAPEH FOR TODAY LEARNER 9 (Kto12 ed.). Quezon City, Philippines: The
Phoenix Publishing House.
Miranda, Q. S., Jugueta, L. R., Sacdalan, G. E., & San Jose, M. R. (2018). MAPEH FOR TODAY LEARNER 9 Teachers Wraparound Edition (Kto12 ed.).
Quezon City, Philippines: The Phoenix Publishing House.
Muyot, F. R., Baarde, M. G., Garcia, M. D., Pastor, E. V., & San Jose-Mathews, J. (2015). MAPEH on the GO 9 (Kto12 ed., Ser. 2015). Quezon City,
Philippines: Sunshine Interlinks Publishing House.
Roldan, J. B., Razul, J. A., Callanta, H. P., Mallari, M. T., Ulanday, M. D., Juliano, M., . . . Mojica, W. P. (2019). POWER UP with MAPEH. Quezon City,
Philippines: Abiva Publishing House.
Vecino, M. C., Rosenberger, L. G., Boquiren, L., Grecia, J. G., & Angeles, P. R. (2017). Living with Music, Art, Physical Education and Health 9 (Kto12
ed.). Davao City, Philippines: Vibal Group.
Websites:
https://znnhs.zdnorte.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Grade-9-ARTS-Q3-M1.pdf
https://depedtambayan.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ARTS9-Q3-MODULE1.pdf
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