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Chapter:  INTO  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13

 

C H A P T E R  6/5

 


 T H E A T R E

 

The word theatre was derived from the Ancient Greek word theatron - meaning "the seeing place". It’s where the audience sits.

The word thespian was derived from the first known Greek actor Thespis. In ancient Greek theatre the chorus narrated the entire story, and there were no actors. It's said that Thespis suddenly stepped out from the chorus, and he spoke the dialogue as if he was the character, and acting was born in the West. 

Ancient Theatre

 
 

 

 

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
English poet and playwright

 
 
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. - Shakespeare
 

 

Method Acting

 

 

Questions:


What's my motivation?

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Where do I come from?

Where am I going?

 

 

Constantin Stanislavski  (1863 – 1938)
 Russian

Constantin Stanislavski was the first to create a system of method acting where actors analyze their character's motives and emotions. An actress might recall emotions or sensations from her life, and portray them in her character.

Method acting was popularized in the United States by the Group Theatre in New York City in the 1930s.

 
   

Lee Strasberg (1901–1982)

 

 

Improvisation

Affective Memory

 

 

 

 

QUESTIONS:

What is bad acting?
What is good acting?
Are people acting their lives?

 

 

 

Strasberg's method of sense memory and affective memory  has actors recall their own personal experiences, and incorporate them in their characters.


Strasberg's students include: James Dean, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, and Dennis Hopper.

 

Sanford Meisner (1905 – 1997)

Be in the moment.

Be spontaneous.

Act from instinct.

Act from imagination.

MASTER CLASS

I

 

Meisner broke from Strasberg, and argued that Strasberg's method of recalling personal experiences caused actors to focus on themselves - not the story or character. He sought to free actors by fully immersing them in the moment, and concentrating on their partners. For Meisner spontaneity and improvisation creates a sense of reality that he described as, "living truthfully under imaginary circumstances."

 

 

Stella Adler
 (1901 – 1992)

 Russian Actor / Director

 

 

Believe the situation.

Acting is doing.

Act from imagination.

 

 

 

 

Stella Adler, a student of Stanislavski, also broke with Strasberg. She believed that actors should conjure up emotions through the scene's circumstances - not your personal memories. Adler's technique seeks to stimulate the actor's imagination.

Her students included: Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro

 

PLOT


Freytag's Pyramid

The Elements of a Plot   (VIDEO)

 

PARTS OF A PLOT: Timeline / Structure / Climatic Pyramid

 

1. EXPOSITION - Background information

    a. The Characters are introduced.
         The protagonist is the main character.

    b. The setting is revealed.

    c. The background information is given.

    d. The problem is introduced.
   

2. COMPLICATION - Conflict / Problem

    a. Rising Action / Suspense (Protagonist confronts Problem)

    b. Climax (Problem solved - highest emotional intensity)

    c. Falling Action - Results of the climax. The book considers this the Denouement.

3. DENOUEMENT - Resolution / Conclusion
    a. Loose ends are tied up.
    b. Things are explained.

 

 

 

   
 notes
 

 

 

 

TYPES OF THEATRE

1. TRAGEDY
- unhappy ending (p136)
- based on the hero’s flaw
- It questions if we have freewill, or is destiny in control?


Example:
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ends tragically with deaths that were caused by Romeo's impulsive thoughtless actions. He kills Tybalt, and he and Juliet both die unnecessarily. He claims to already be in love with Rosaline, and then falls in love at first sight with Juliet.

Romeo & Juliet with Claire Danes and Leonardo Di Caprio
Music by Des'ree - Kissing You

2. COMEDY – (Greek Word Komoidia)


Comedy of Character – Satire / Ridicule of Individuals (The Clouds by Aristophanes, 446? BC-385? BC)

 

Example - Dave Chapelle Prince


Comedy of Manners – Satire / Ridicule of Conventions

William Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing was the first comedy of manners in England.
 

Example - Brazil


 

3. TRAGICOMEDY -

 

4. MELODRAMA - Plot and action take precedence over character development. Good triumphs at the last minute.

Example - Taken

 

 

5. PERFORMANCE ART:

- Influenced by the pop art of the 60's
- a critique of commercialism.
- controversial and rebellious
 

Examples -

 

Frozen At Bus Stop (a happening)
 

Human Art
 

Buddha With 1000 Hands
China Disabled Peoples Performance Art Troupe
 

Kathy Rose/The Cathedral of Emptiness

 

Kathy Rose/Oriental Interplay
 

Kathy Rose/She Excerpt

 

Kathy Rose/Syncopations

 

Kathy Rose/Excerpt Queen of the Fluids

 

 

6. MUSICAL

Example
 - Moulin Rouge
- Cats

- Jesus Christ Superstar

 

 

 

 

STAGE TYPES

 

LIGHTING
 

 

Additive Color Mixing

  1. The color theory we studied is called subtractive color where red, yellow, and blue are the primary colors. We mix those colors to create the other colors. With additive color we mix different colored lights. We mix red, green and blue light to produce the other colors; these are the primary colors. Combining two of these colors in equal amounts produces an additive secondary color. Blue light plus green light produces cyan. Magenta is created by mixing red and blue in equal amounts, and yellow is the result of mixing green and red light. Combining all three primary colored lights in equal intensities produces white.

  3. Lightness
    - light verses dark


  4. Saturation
    - the intensity of color
     

  5. Hue
    - another word for color
       Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple are all hues.

 

On the Magic of Theatrical Lighting

David Hockney

 


COSTUME DESIGN
 

Lion King London

Tony Award Winning Lion King
Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, director and costume design by Julie Taymor.

 

Julie Taymor on TED

 

Official Site

 

cirque du soleil

 

Parade the Circle / 2004
 

Hans Silvester:
 Omo People: Slides | Otra Vez | African Tribal


 


 VERISIMILITUDE -

In order for a piece of art to hold significance or persuasion for an audience, according to Aristotle, it must have grounding in reality. See the Poetics by Aristotle - Translated by S. H. Butcher (e-book)

French Academy of Languages censured drama and literature. It had to be:

- True to life - as things could happen - not did happen (Titanic)
- Moral with no surprises
- No violence onstage

 

 

THEATRE APPRECIATION
 

 

Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Pulitzer Prize Winning Drama

 

 

ONLINE BOOKS

 

- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

- Poetics by Aristotle - Translated by S. H. Butcher

 

 

Copyright © 2011