Theatre History Timeline

THEATRE HISTORY TIMELINE Dates / Period

Key Styles

600BC-600AD

Greek Theatre  Aeschylus: The Oresteia Development of the classical genres of Comedy and Tragedy. The Euripides: The Trojan Women, Medea  philosopher Aristotle established the classical rules of tragedy  Sophocles: Oedipus, Antigone (unities of time, place and action). Aristotle identified identified the central   Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Frogs  purpose of theatre ± to arouse strong emotions in its audience (catharsis). Greek Tragedies were often based on explorations of  conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. Masks were used for characters. A group of narrators called the Chorus would  tell the story, comment on the actions taken by the protagonist as well as engage in dialogue. Tragedies were in five acts. Plays were written within a closed structure.

CLASSICAL

Key Playwrights

 Aristotle considered Comedy to be inferior to Tragedy; comedies were bawdy, frivolous, based on chance, fantasy & comic errors. Provided an escape from the realities of life. The Greeks also developed Satyr Plays ±more informal, often crude, with phallic imagery. The plays satirised or were parodies of myths, legends, historical figures & tragedies. They combined  songs, dances & sketches and laid the basis for the later  development of Burlesque & Farce. Roman Theatre Particularly influenced by the Satyr plays. The Romans developed  new forms of theatre including Mime, Farce, and Spectacles (including gladiator contests.) contests.) A model for Roman Tragedy was developed by the theorist Seneca. 600-1500 MEDIEVAL

Liturgical Drama Certain parts of the t he Catholic mass were enacted in church,  particularly in the Easter liturgy. These enactments were developed in the monasteries and later spread to other churches. The µplays¶ were performed by the community. Three principal  forms of drama developed from this: t his:

Plautus Homer: The Odyssey  Ovid: Metamorphoses  Anon: Ev eryman eryman  Anon: The Mystery Cycles

Mystery Plays based on episodes from the Bible. Miracle Plays based on the lives of saints & martyrs Morality Plays in which virtues like goodness & truth and  vices like greed & sloth became characters in simple µgood  triumphs over evil¶ stories. These became increasingly political & appealed to the socially oppressed peasant class. 1500-1650 RENAISSANCE

1500-1650

Revenge Tragedy Plots involved murder, death, revenge. Plays often included  nightmare visions of ghosts. Complicated subplots. Unrequited or  unacceptable love. Gruesome actions. Sword fights. Poisons and   potions. Madness M adness..

Shakespeare:

amlet, Titus H amlet,

 Andronicus

Tourneur: The Rev enger¶s enger¶s Tragedy  Middleton/Rowley: The Changeling  Marlowe: Doctor Faustus Ford: Tis Pity She¶s a Whore Webster:The Webster: The Duchess of Malfi 

RENAISSANCE continued«

1650-1700 RESTORATION

1700-1800 BAROQUE

1800-1850 ROMANTICISM

1800-1850

Elizabethan & Jacobean Comedy Shakespeare¶s comedies mix elements of farce, comedy of  manners, romantic comedy and black comedy. Jonson¶s comedies were more Satirical, exposing the follies and vices of  society through the use of biting humour.

MSND, Much Ado,12th Ado, 12th Shakespeare: MSND,Much

Commedia Dell¶Arte Began in C16th Italy. Used caricature half-masks for middle-class and servant characters. Hero and Heroine were unmasked. Stock  Characters were placed in stock situations (scenarios). Ensemble  playing allowed for free improvisation around the roles & situations. Depicted clashes between Masters & Servants. Used   physical humour known as Slapstick or Lazzi as well as acrobatic  & juggling skills to amuse the audience. Street Theatre.

Goldoni: A oldoni: A

Comedy of Manners Examined rules of the society of the time from a satirical  standpoint. Portrayed and commented upon the affectations of the upper classes. Based on the wit & banter of the aristocratic class. Thrived in time of m aterial prosperity and moral laxity. Satirised  the affected wit and self-importance self-importance of the minor m inor aristocracy and a world where everyone thought that to better oneself was merely a question of speaking the right language and wearing t he right  clothes. Uses a heightened form of language. Courtship and  Sexual attraction was an underlying theme. Plots were concerned  with scandals and illicit love affairs. Women were allowed onstage for the first time. t ime. This became an excuse for raunchy and titlating drama based on the manners of the court and featured  licentiousness, licentiousness, adultery and cuckoldry. In the later C18th, this developed into Bourgeois Comedy which was targeted more at  the rising mercantile class. In more recent years, Oscar Wilde & Noel Coward developed this into an intellectual form known as High Comedy. Burlesque / Ballad Opera Uses caricature and distortion almost to a grotesque extent to mock society, particularly respected society figures. First used in connection with Italian Opera in the C16 th. Based on puns and  humour of low wit. Music used as parody. Ballad-operas were a  popular new drama which appealed to all classes. They parodied /  satirised the Italian operas which were popular at the time. They  mixed popular songs and melodies together with action-orientated  action-orientated   plots which often poked fun at the government & the establishment.

Moliere: The H ypochondriac  ypochondriac  Wycherley: The Country Wife Goldsmith: She Stoops to Conquer  Congreve: The Way of the World  Farquhar: The Recruiting Officer  Behn: The Rov er  er 

Night  Jonson:

Volpone

Ser v  a vant   nt to Two Masters

Sheridan: The Ri v  a vals,   ls, School for  Scandal 

Gay:

The Beggars Opera

Melodrama  Anon: Maria Marten (The Red Barn) Most popular form of theatre for the majority of the C19 th. Light Anon: Sweeney Todd  hearted entertainment as a means of escapism. Plays revolved  around extremes of good & bad: characters were either heroes or  villains. Dealt with sensationalist stories. Gruesome crimes were turned into theatre. Fast paced scenes with plenty of action. Used  cliff-hanger curtain scenes to heighten the audience¶s emotional  response. Lack of subtlety in acting style. Large gestures and  grand voices. Plays were invariably quite short & presented as  part of an evening interspersed with other forms of entertainment, such as Victorian Music Hall.

ROMANTICISM continued«

Romanticism Reacted against the constraints of neo-classicism. Often base don the representation of the heroic individual¶s struggle to maintain lofty ideals and values in an imperfect and corrupt world. Themes included nature, the oppression of the poor, liberty and  nationalism. Often dealt with extreme experiences like suicide, infanticide and incest.

20

TH

Goethe:

Faust  Schiller: Mary Stuart 

CENTURY & BEYOND

Styles

Playwrights

Significant Plays

Realism & Naturalism Originated in Europe as a challenge to the melodramatic forms of theatre that preceded  it. Depicted ordinary lives in ordinary settings. Used everyday speech rather than verse. Sought to offer the µillusion of reality¶. Allowed  greater depth to characters; believed  believed   personality and actions were based on family, background and circumstance (based  on Darwin¶s theories of evolution.) Concerned with political and social issues. Fascination with class and the way the upper  classes could cover up the problems within society. Reliance on dialogue rather than action. Sets were highly detailed & very  realistic. Chekov developed Tragi-Comedy  which combined the funny with the sad, absurd, terrifying & the pathetic.

Ibsen

edda H edda

Chekov Strindberg Shaw Gorky Priestley Leigh Cartwright  Ayckbourn

Gabler, A Doll¶s H ouse ouse Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters Miss Julie, The Father   Arms & the Man, Major Barbara The Lower Depths  An Inspector Calls Two Thousand Years, Abigail¶s Party  Road, Two, The Rise & Fall of Little Voice Sisterly Feelings, Norman Conquests, Confusions

Symbolism Challenged realism & naturalism. Believed  truth lay beyond mere appearances. appearances. Aimed  to reflect the mental or spiritual life. Strong on atmosphere and effects, the influence of  supernatural powers and the occult. Nonnaturalistic scenery.

Pirandello Lorca Eliot

Six Characters in Search of an Author  Blood Wedding, Yerma, The H ouse ouse of Bernarda Alba Murder in the Cathedral 

Expressionism Movement in literature & art which originated  in Germany before WW1 and ended in 1920s. Erratic & explosive. Tried to destroy  superficial ideas of reality and explore deeper  meanings underneath.

 A Dream Play, Ghosts Strindberg Woyzeck, Danton¶s Death Buchner  Spring Awakening  Wedekind (Stephenson) (The Memory of Water)

Surrealism Revised the definition of reality. Concerned  itself with accounts of dreams, madness, the subconscious subconscious and the non-rational.

Jarry Cocteau

bu Roi  U bu La Machine Infernale

Theatre of the Absurd Influenced by Camus: µthe human situation is essentially absurd and devoid of purpose¶.  Also by the horrors of WW2. Characters share a somewhat pessimistic view of the world in which humans struggle with their  attempt to understand why they are here. Man inhabits a universe whose meaning is undecipherable. undecipherable. Structure is very loose. Rarely any plot or any sense of time passing. Non-linear. Language is disjointed; uses  puns & repetition. Conversations go around  in circles or are pure nonsense. Serious underlying discussion at a metaphysical level  invariably to do with existence and death. Technical elements use symbolism. Pinteresque  Amalgamates Realism with Theatre of the  Absurd. Characters merely exist. No explanation as to why things happen, or who the characters are. Dialogue is simple & sparse. Noted for the use of pause & subtext. Generally features working class characters & settings. Focuses on relationships. Characters are seemingly unpleasant.

Ionesco

Beckett Genet Stoppard Sartre

Storey Pinter 

The Chairs, The Bald Prima Donna, The Lesson Waiting for Godot, E ndgame ndgame The Maids Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead  In Camera, Kean

ome H ome The Dumb Waiter, The Caretaker, The Birthday Party, The Room, The H omecoming, omecoming, Betrayal 

Epic Primary aim was to use theatre as a means to induce an enquiring, critical, objective audience. Main focus was µtelling a story¶. Often used a Narrator. Projections used to add commentary or to allow for modern or  historical parallels to be drawn. Puts a social  or political message before the exploration of  character. Often structured using montage form. Non-linear plot. Each episode is selfcontained. Uses Direct Address, Songs & Music. Usually involves a whole people¶s history, or many different characters, span across decades of time and be set in a number of places.

Brecht Durrenmatt Wertenbaker  Littlewood

The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Threepenny Opera The Visit  Our Country¶s Good  Oh What a Lov ely ely War 

Political Theatre Emphasises a political issue(s) in its theme or plot. Can also explore themes more universal and central to a society which defines itself as politically conscious. Deals with contemporary social & political issues.  Aims to impress political truths upon the audience. Can sometimes be polemic, or  one-sided. Propaganda. Writers are often   politically committed.

Brecht Brenton McGrath Griffiths Bond  Arden

Mother Courage, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Arturo U i  i  Plays for the Poor Theatre, Paul  The Chev iot, iot, the stag and the black, black oil  Comedians Sav ed, ed, The Sea, Restoration Sergeant Musgrav e¶s e¶s Dance, Li v  ve   Like Pigs

Italian Political Theatre Critical of the deeply religious Italian world, with special vehemence for the position of  women in such a Catholic society. Frequently  censored & banned. Draws on traditions of  Commedia Dell¶Arte ± characters are exaggerated, comic grotesques. Satirises the bourgeoisie. Uses elements of Farce. Sometimes uses a documentary style.

Fo

 Accidental Death of An Anarchist, Mistero Buffo, Can¶t Pay, Won¶t Pay, The Dev ilil in Drag 

Docudrama / Verbatim Theatre Used to describe plays based on fact. Doesn¶t normally distort or speculate the facts. Depicts real events on stage, usually  narrated by representations of the original   participants. Text is created out of sources and documents such as news reports, autobiographies, interviews, interviews, photos etc. Often includes narration & projection ± real  documents & film footage. Major historical  and political figures are represented. It has a  political purpose. Editing process often favours one viewpoint; audience are not left  entirely to make up t heir own minds.

Hare Soans

Permanent Way, Racing Demon Talking to Terrorists

Physical Theatre Berkoff adapted the main elements of   physical theatre & mime & combined them with vocal exploration to produce his own style. Uses stylised, extreme physical work  where the outer image creates the inner soul  of a role. Shocking language and visual  images. Use of rhyme, rhythm & other poetic  conventions. Use of violence. Limited Set  and props. High energy levels.

Frantic Ass. DV8 Complicite

The Trial, Metamorphosis, E ast, ast, Greek, Decadence Rabbit  nter Achilles, Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men. E nter The Street of Crocodiles, Mnemonic 

Churchill Townsend Daniels Keatley Dunn Ensler  O¶Malley De Angelis Page

Vinegar Tom, Cloud Nine, Top G irls The Great Celestial Cow, Womberang  Masterpieces My Mother Said I Nev er er Should  Steaming  The Vagina Monologues Once a Catholic  Playhouse Creatures Tissue

In Yer Face Blatantly aggressive or provocative. Confrontational. Theatre of sensation. Uses shock-tactics. shock-tactics. Controversial C ontroversial.. Confronts ruling ideas of what can or should be shown on stage. Bold. Experimental. Mixes sex, violence & street-poetry. Critique of modernlife, focusing on the problems of violence, the questioning of masculinity, myth of postfeminism & the futility of consumerism.

Ravenhill Kane Marber  Pritchard Eldridge Williams Harrower 

Shopping & F***ing, Citizenship Cleansed, 4:48 Pychosis, Crav e Closer, Dealers Choice Yard Girl, E ssex ssex Girls Ser v  i  ng it U  p ving Local Boy, Sing Yer H eart eart our for the Lads Blackbird 

Irish Drama  At the end of the C.19 th there was a rise in Irish nationalism which began to inspire Irish  playwrights to investigate their background  as a Celtic nation and attempt to make some sense of the violent political and social  upheaval. This became the focus of Irish drama from that point on. Since then, Irish drama has divided itself into two camps:  plays that focus on the rural traditions of  Ireland and plays that focus on the political  uprisings & conflicts. Often makes poetic use of language. Examines the power of religion. Focuses on recent history & nationalism.

Synge O¶Casey McDonagh Friel McPherson Behan

Playboy of the Western World  The Plough & the Stars, Juno & The Paycock  The Pillowman, Beauty Queen of Leenane Dancing at Lughnasa, Translations The Weir  The H ostage ostage

Kitchen Sink Many plays in England before the 1950s had  been concerned with the middle and upper  classes. In 1956, Osborne wrote a play that  changed this situation. µLook Back in Anger¶  took working class men for its leading characters and was set in a working class environment. Plays generally expressed  dissatisfaction with the socio-political order of  the time, and were outspoken against the class system. The style was term domestic  realism. Plays used the language of the working class. Atmospheres were grim, grey.

Osborne Wesker  Delaney

Feminist

Central themes are the place & treatment of  women in society. Other themes include relationships, sisterhood, gender politics, anatomy, sexuality. The intention is usually to  promote a positive change for women. Sometimes uses historical figures & incidents to comment on modern-day society. Plot is often less important than content. Characters learn by altering assumed perceptions.

Berkoff 

Look Back in Anger, The E ntertainer  ntertainer  Roots, Chips with Ev erything  erything   A Taste of H oney  oney 

Black Comedy Often based on farce but deals with grim situations & themes, and makes a mockery of  them. It finds comedy in things that many   people would find inappropriate, but allows an audience to laugh at their fears. Characters & Situations are often exaggerated beyond the level of usual satire until they become grotesque. High Comedy See notes on Comedy of Manners

Orton Nicholls

Loot, E ntertaining ntertaining Mr Sloane  A Day in the Death of Joe E gg  gg 

Coward Wilde

Pri v  a e vate   te Li v  ves,   s, Present Laughter, Blithe Spirit  The Importance of Being E arnest  arnest 

Stoppard Frayn Orton Cooney

Black Comedy, The Real Inspector H ound  ound  Noises Off  What the Butler Saw  Run for Your Wife

American Drama Influenced the fashion for Realism in postwar British theatre. Often concerned with family tensions &/or sexual anxiety as well as morality and frustration. High-dramatic  tension. Lyrical dialogue. Reflected  individuals¶ response to the pressures exerted by the forces of family & society.

Williams Miller  O¶Neill Mamet

 A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie

Total Theatre Theatre that encompasses encompasses different forms, such as ritual, myths, mask, mime, music... Theatre of Cruelty is its basis. Aims to grab audience¶s attention and keep it through the use of so many different techniques. Complex combination of elements working in a unified way. Often explores the relationship between protagonists. protagonists.

Weiss Shaffer 

Marat/Sade quus, Royal H unt unt of the Sun E quus,

Farce

Particularly popular in France in C19 th. Usually the protagonist is placed into a situation and/or location where they should  not be & their increasingly frantic attempts to avoid discovery are what lead to t he comedy.  Actors play the ludicrous situations as real  and dangerous. The potential for disaster is the key. Plots are often Increasingly complex  & refer to sexual misadventure. Action is fast   paced, and frenetic. Complex sets include many entrances and exits. Physical Timing.

The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, View from the Bridge

The Iceman Cometh, Long Days Journey into Night  Oleanna