What I learned in Theatre

Theatre Review

Theatron- to see or place of seeing (noun and verb)
A Theatre- a building with a stage designed for live and public performances
Theatrical Art- the art of telling stories by performing then for an audience (mythos – myth constructing)
The Theatre- a subculture of artist and crafts people who spend their lives in the business of “adult make believe.” (noun and verb; culture and subculture). An exchange of information on the occasion of an event.
The theatre equation-

A(actor) pretends to be --> X(character) is watched by --> S(spectator) is fully aware of each other and react to each other--> A(actor)

Phenomena: observations, looking at real concrete things

Semiosis: interpretation (hyper real, imagined.) Looking through and event that is literally there

LIVE THEATRE
Reality
-real time
-real place
-real people
Occasion
Action
Ephemerallity
-nothing left of the work of art itself
-traces remain, but event vanished
Mimesis (key element in A pretending to be X)
-Representation
-Imitation

CRITICS QUESTIONS
Understanding- What were they trying to do?
Effectiveness- How well did they do it?
Worth- Was it worth doing? Or What about it was worth doing or not doing?

THE ACTOR IS HIS OWN INSTRUMENT
Uses:
-Body
-Voice
-Thought
*Imagination
*Memory
*Intelligence
-Discipline
*Observation
*Control- being able to act something out being in control of themselves to where they can reproduce it every night

-Style
*Presence- extra ordinary ordinariness. How the present the work, includes costumes that require a particular kind of movement

CREATING A ROLE: ACTING PROCEDURE
-Exploration
*Movement (blocking)
>Movement
>Gesture
>Business- careful or spontaneous actions

DIRECTING
Mise en scene- is the director’s medium in which he works everything perceived, in the experience of the audience ephemerality

DIRECTOR’S APPROACHES
Transcription- renders the playwright vision faithfully on stage
Translation- captures and uses the spirit of the playwright and transfers it to the stage
Transformation- transform and reshape source material to create a new play(film directors)
Transcend- inventing the medium of the stage, write in the mise en scene like Rosmer and Rebecca been seen walking off stage and Ulrik coming throught the window

REALISM / MELODRAMA
Realism- actual events that could happen in real life realistic events
Melodrama- (resent definition) refers to people being extreme or over reacting (reality TV)
“Melo” “drama”- drama with music or music accompanying dialogue
Tragic hero- a hero that is divided against himself, they destroy themselves. Suffers because of something they did. They are drawn by circumstance
Melodramatic hero- a hero that fights outside forces is good in nature and is usually dressed in white and has music that is in the major chords. The evil they fight is usually dressed in black and has music in a minor key.

WHAT SEPERATES ROCK CONCERT FROM A MUSICAL?
Polyphany- music that takes you to an emotional place with multiple voices simultaneously singing. Enables conflict or AGON.
Agon- (a greek word stemming from protagonist) a struggle or game by means of polyphony.
EX: Rent