THEATRE

Team leftovers
 What is Theatre?
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live
performers to present the experience of a real or
imagined event before a live audience in a specific
place.
 History of Theatre
History of theatre charts the development
of theatre over the past 2,500 years. While
per formative elements are present in every
society, it is customary to acknowledge a
distinction between theatre as an art form
and entertainment and theatrical or per
formative elements in other activities.
O Greek theatre
O Roman theatre
O Transition and early Medieval theatre, 500–1050
O High and late Medieval theatre, 1050–1500
O Commedia dell'arte
O Golden age theatre
O Renaissance theatre
O Restoration comedy
O Restoration spectacular
O Neoclassical theatre
O Nineteenth-century theatre
O Twentieth-century theatre
 GREEK THEATRE
Greek theatre, most developed in Athens, is
the root of the Western tradition; theatre is
in origin a Greek word. It was part of a
broader culture of theatricality and
performance in classical Greece that
included festivals, religious rituals, politics,
law, athletics and gymnastics, music, poetry,
weddings, funerals, and symposia.
 ROMAN THEATRE

The theatre of ancient Rome was a thriving

and diverse art form, ranging from festival
performances of street theatre, nude
dancing, and acrobatics, to the staging of
Plautus's broadly appealing situation
comedies, to the high-style, verbally
elaborate tragedies of Seneca.
INDIAN THEATRE
O Sanskrit theatre
O Kathakali
O Modern Indian
theatre
CHINESE THEATRE
O Shang theatre
O Han and Tang theatre
O Song and Yuan theatre
PHILIPPINE THEATRE
During the 333-year reign of the Spanish
government, the introduced into the islands the
Catholic religion and the Spanish way of life, which
gradually merged with the indigenous culture to form
the “lowland folk culture” now shared by the major
ethno linguistic groups. Today, the dramatic forms
introduced or influenced by Spain continue to live in
rural areas all over the archipelago. These forms
include the komedya, the playlets, the sinakulo, the
sarswela, and the drama. In recent years, some of
these forms have been revitalized to make them
more responsive to the conditions and needs of a
developing nation.
THAILAND THEATRE
In Thailand, it has been a tradition from
the Middle Ages to stage plays based on
plots drawn from Indian epics. In
particular, the theatrical version of
Thailand's national epic Ramakien, a
version of the Indian Ramayana, remains
popular in Thailand even today.
 JAPANESE THEATRE
O Noh
O Bunraku
O Kabuki
O Butoh
 MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC
THEATRE
The most popular forms of theatre in the
medieval Islamic world were puppet theatre
(which included hand puppets, shadow plays
and marionette productions) and live passion
plays known as ta'ziya, in which actors re-enact
episodes from Muslim history. In particular, Shia
Islamic plays revolved around the shaheed
(martyrdom) of Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali and
Husayn ibn Ali. Secular plays known as akhraja
were recorded in medieval adab literature,
though they were less common than puppetry
and ta'ziya theatre.
 TYPES OF THEATRE
O Puppet Shows
O Mime
O Musical Theatre
O Drama
O Comedy
O Tragedy
O Improvisation
O Fantasy
O Action
 FORMS OF THEATRE
O Arena : A theatre in which the audience
completely surrounds the stage or playing
area. Actor entrances to the playing area are
provided through vomitories or gaps in the
seating arrangement.
O Thrust : A theatre in which the stage is
extended so that the audience surrounds it
on three sides. The thrust stage may be
backed by an enclosed proscenium stage,
providing a place for background scenery,
but audience views into the proscenium
opening are usually limited. Actor entrances
are usually provided to the front of the thrust
through vomitories or gaps in the seating.
O End stage: A theatre in which the audience
seating and stage occupy the same
architectural space, with the stage at one
end and the audience seated in front facing
the stage.
O Flexible theatres: Flexible theatre is a
generic term for a theatre in which the
playing space and audience seating can be
configured as desired for each production.
Often, the theatre can be configured into the
arena, thrust, and end stage forms
described above. Environmental,
promenade, black box, and studio theatre
are other terms for this type of space,
suggesting particular features or qualities.
O Environmental theatre : A found space in
which the architecture of the space is
intrinsic to the performance, or a theatre
space that is transformed into a complete
environment for the performance.
O Promenade theatre: A theatre without fixed
seating in the main part of the auditorium –
this allows the standing audience to
intermingle with the performance and to
follow the focal point of the action to
different parts of the room. Multiple-focus
action and a moving audience are the
primary characteristics of the promenade
theatre.
O Black box theatre: A flexible theatre usually
without character or embellishment—a
“void” space that may indeed be black, but
isn’t always. Usually, audience seating is on
the main floor, with no audience galleries,
though a technical gallery may be provided.
O Studio theatre: A flexible theatre with one or
more audience galleries on three or four
sides of a rectangular room. The main floor
can usually be reconfigured into arena,
thrust, endstage, and flat floor
configurations. The room usually has some
architectural character.
O Courtyard theatre: The term courtyard
theatre embraces a range of theatre forms,
all with the common characteristic of at
least one raised seating gallery surrounding
a central area. Often this central area is
flexible, and can be configured into arena,
thrust, end stage, and flat floor
configurations. Sometimes the central area
has fixed seating that faces a proscenium
opening and stage.
O Proscenium theatre: In a proscenium
theatre, the stage is located at one end of
the auditorium and is physically separated
from the audience space by a proscenium
wall.
O Thrust and open stage: Some larger drama
theatres take the form of a thrust stage, with
the audience surrounding three sides of the
performance platform.
 SPACES FOR ACOUSTIC
MUSIC
O Recital hall: A space designed for soloists
and small ensembles (up to chamber
orchestra size), with a seat count typically in
the range of 150 to 800.
O Shoebox concert hall: The classic concert
hall form is the shoebox, named after the
rectangular shape and approximate
proportions of a tennis-shoe box. The
shoebox form has high volume, limited
width, and multiple audience levels, usually
with relatively narrow side seating ledges.
O Vineyard concert hall, surround hall: Some
modern concert halls have audience seating
in terraces reminiscent of a vineyard. The
seating may completely or partially encircle
the concert platform. An important early
example of the vineyard form is the Berlin
Philharmonic
SPACES FOR OPERA AND
DANCES
O Opera house: An opera house is a
proscenium theatre in form. Seat count
ranges from 1,200 to 2,000 with an upper
limit of about 2,400 seats. The auditorium is
almost always multilevel with side tiers or
boxes to enhance visual and aural intimacy.
O Dance theatres: The design of the
auditorium emphasizes frontal sightlines
and a clear view of the stage floor.
Sometimes the seating is on telescopic
risers that can be retracted to allow the
whole space to be used for rehearsal or
instruction.
O Multipurpose theatre: The contemporary
multipurpose theatre is commonly found in
medium to large US cities and occasionally
elsewhere around the world. These
proscenium theatres are designed to
accommodate a range of activity—
symphonic music, opera, musical theatre,
ballet, and touring productions.
 SPACES FOR
ENTERTAINMENT
O Multiuse commercial theatre - a “Broadway
theatre” form: This is a proscenium theatre
designed primarily for amplified sound. The
room acoustics are usually “dry” with little
adjustment available, making these rooms
unsuitable for un-amplified acoustic music.
O Showroom: The term showroom usually
implies an entertainment venue connected
with a casino, hotel, or resort. A showroom
may be designed to accommodate variety or
headliner acts, or it may be purpose-built for
a specific production, such as a circus show.
ELEMENTS OF THEATRE
O Performance
O Audience
O Director
O Theatre Space
O Design Aspects
O Text
O Performers People onstage presenting characters in
dramatic action.
O Audience The essence of theater is the interaction
between the performer and audience, Theater needs to
be experienced live.
O Director The director makes certain that the performers
understand the text and deliver the script excitingly and
appropriately.
O Theater Space Another necessary element of theater is
the space in which performers or audiences come
together.
O Text A final element essential to theater is the text that
is performed, and it must be present for theater to
occur.
EVOLUTION OF THEATRE
O Background
O Highlight and shadow
O Makeup and lighting
O Light's effect on makeup
O Straight makeup
O Training/Education
 In theatre real acting tells your emotion
which catching people feeling through
gestures, posture, body movements , face
expressions etc.