Theater

Theater is a collaborative form of fine art in which performers stage a depiction of a real or fictional event in front of a live audience. Early theatrical practices evolved separately in both Eastern and Western cultures during ancient times. As the art of theatrical performance developed, a number of distinct theatrical forms, including tragedy, comedy, and drama, gradually emerged. In the centuries since it first appeared, theater has grown to become one of the leading forms of artistic and cultural expression around the world.

Characteristics

Although different types of theater can vary significantly in terms of method and presentation, nearly all theatrical performances conform to a number of key characteristics. First and foremost, theater is generally viewed as a collaborative art form made possible through cooperation between artists who specialize in different artistic realms. For example, theatrical productions may incorporate elements of language, acting, music, and/or dance as part of their broader spectacle.

Another important characteristic of theater is staging. Regardless of the physical setting, theater is always performed in front of a live audience. While this performance often takes place in a venue specifically designed for such activities, theater can be staged in any location where a live audience can be assembled.

In theory, theater is an artistic representation of the human experience. This means that theatrical performances are usually focused on stories and characters that audience members can understand and relate to based on their own personal life experiences. As a result of this circumstance, theater often serves as a forum of sorts for the artistic exploration of social issues and a platform for advocating social change.

Historical Background

While no definitive explanation of how theater first emerged exists, it is likely that early theater had a strong basis in the religious and ceremonial rituals of primitive civilizations. In many of these civilizations, such rituals often included theatrical elements such as storytelling, music, and dance. As these rituals became larger and more deeply ingrained in primitive cultures, it is probable that they gradually became valued not only for their practical purposes but also as a form of art and entertainment. This may have been the catalyst for the initial emergence of formal theater.

The earliest versions of formal theater first developed out of the primitive cultural and artistic customs of various Eastern cultures, particularly those in India, China, and Japan. The first of these civilizations to develop a theatrical tradition was India, where theater emerged as a unique art form thanks to the influence of Hinduism, the caste system, and Sanskrit literature. At the core of early Indian theater are the two great epics known as the Ramayana and the Mahabharta. These landmark dramatic works tell the stories of Hindu elites such as Prince Rama and his wife Sita. Unlike their later Western counterparts, these works are defined by mood instead of being categorized by form. Most traditional Hindu theater incorporates the use of verse at particularly emotional moments and prose in most other circumstances. Dramatic elements such as movement, song, costuming, and psychological insight are typically assigned to different performers based on their characters and their characters' places in the caste system.

The emergence of theater in China coincided with increasing internal stability, particularly around the eighth century CE. It was at that time that the country's greatest theatrical institution, an acting school called the Pear Garden training institute, was founded. The popularity of theater in China quickly led to the formation of theater companies and traveling theater troupes. Performances were often staged in tea houses or theaters called goulans. The most popular types of theater included puppet and shadow plays. Usually, these plays are historical in nature and based on themes like loyalty, devotion, and justice.

In Japan, the early theater was closely tied to the Shinto religion. Formal Japanese theater first appeared with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century CE. At first, the Shinto and Buddhist theaters existed separately, but after a stricter, more segmented social structure was implemented by the shoguns in the twelfth century, they essentially merged into a single entity. Moreover, the elevated social status that the artist-artisan class enjoyed in the new social structure led to the development of Noh theater. Strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism, Noh theater productions are characterized by sparse staging, all-male or mostly male casts, simple costuming, little use of props other than fans, and slow, deliberate dance and movement. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, several other forms of Japanese theater, including Kabuki and doll theater, also emerged.

The roots of Western theater lie with the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, in Ancient Greece. The ritual celebrations associated with the worship of Dionysus included tragoidia, a special performance tied to animal sacrifice. Eventuallytragoidia evolved into a type of theatrical performance that became known as tragedy. In time, the performance of tragedies became a central part of the City Dionysia, an annual festival held in honor of the god. Later, the City Dionysia also played host to the first comedies. As the popularity of this type of performance art increased, the Greeks built both temporary wooden theaters and permanent stone theaters. The larger stone theaters provided seating for audiences that often exceeded ten thousand people. In the fifth century BCE, Greece entered its theatrical golden age—a period in which numerous great works of tragedy and comedy were produced by playwrights including Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.

Eventually, the great theatrical traditions established by the Greeks were adopted by the Romans. Unlike their Greek predecessors, however, the Romans favored violent spectacles such as gladiator fights and chariot races over intellectual entertainments such as theater. As a result of both Roman disinterest and later Christian disapproval of the art form, Western theater entered a period of decline from which it would not recover until the Middle Ages.

As the Renaissance swept through Europe between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, professional theater enjoyed a noted resurgence. Nowhere was this more evident than in England, where plays quickly became one of the most popular forms of entertainment. At the center of Elizabethan England's thriving theatrical scene was the renowned playwright William Shakespeare. During his illustrious career, Shakespeare penned such landmark works as Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. Thanks to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, Western theater entered a new golden age.

In the years following its Shakespearean revival, Western theater evolved through various stages dominated by different popular styles. Some of these have included neoclassicism, romanticism, and realism. Regardless of these changing tastes, interest in the theater among Western audiences has remained strong to the present day.

Theatrical Forms

Theatrical performances can vary greatly, but most share certain elements through which they are defined as theater. The most significant of these elements is form. Form refers to the manner in which the plot elements of a given play are organized. Different theatrical forms have different plot structures that are constructed so as to emphasize certain aspects of the human experience. The major theatrical forms include tragedy, comedy, and drama, but many other variations have been developed as well.

Tragedy

Tragedy was the very first theatrical form, created by the Ancient Greeks around the sixth century BCE. Traditional tragedies focus on the downfall of a powerful figure, usually a king or a mythological hero who is essentially good, but makes a critical transgression or error from which it is impossible to escape. Often, the central character's fatal choice has potentially catastrophic consequences for an entire community of people. The famed Greek philosopher Aristotle, one of the greatest theatrical theorists, argued that a true tragedy allows audience members to empathize with the main character's plight.

Although the tragedy did not survive long after the Greek era as a distinct theatrical form, its influence continues to be found in many of the forms and styles that emerged later.

Comedy

Where tragedies focus on the fall of a powerful leader, comedies focus on the rise of an unlikely but agreeable hero. Rising from the same Athenian roots as tragedies, comedic plays offer a humorous, lighthearted alternative to their more serious theatrical counterparts. As these comedies were generally written for the average Greek citizen, the so-called heroesfeatured within tend to be everyday people themselves. For the same reason, comedy plots revolve around situations familiar to the average person, such as family disputes or simple misunderstandings that spiral out of control.

The three types of comedies are farce, romantic, and satire. Farces are the most simplistic and direct of the three, often including slapstick humor and outlandish zaniness. Romantic comedies feature love plots in which, for example, a likable couple experiences some sort of relationship trouble before ultimate reconciliation and a wedding. Satire pokes fun at humankind's propensity for vice and foolishness. Most satires feature a cast of characters that includes both deceptive con-men and easily misled fools. Where the main character of other types of comedies is in some way heroic, the main character of satire is just as mischievous or foolish as everyone else in the play.

Drama

Drama, as it is understood in the context of theatrical form, is closely related to tragedy, but is far broader in approach. Dramas, which first appeared in the mid-eighteenth century, typically feature plotlines that are as serious and emotionally charged as those of tragedies, but which are not as limited in regard to their characters and the conflicts they face. In most cases, dramas focus on characters whose personal convictions or worldly desires do not mesh with social conventions, the psyche, or even the very fabric of society itself. Most modern, non-comedic plays are considered drama.

Other Forms

As theater evolved over time and across many different cultures worldwide, various alternative theatrical forms developed as well. While many of these forms are tied to tragedy, comedy, or drama in some way, they approach plot organization and presentation in different, unique ways.

One of the oldest alternative theatrical forms is puppetry. First popularized in China, puppetry involves the use of puppets, rather than human actors, to tell a story. Through the manipulation of various types of puppets, puppeteers breathe life into a story while making the puppets the stars of the show.

Commedia dell'arte is a theatrical form that developed in Italy during the fourteenth century. Commedia dell'arte performances are noted for the use of complex plots and a cast of stock characters like Harlequin and Pantaloon. To convey emotion, actors don various masks that clearly indicated their characters' feelings.

In mime and other forms of physical theater, movement is used to convey plot and emotion. Without the benefit of dialogue, actors must rely only on gestures, poses, and facial expressions to bring characters to life and tell a story.

Musical theater combines the typical theatrical experience with music and singing. The plot of a musical may be dramatic or comedic in nature. In many cases, the musical score is developed first and the plot is written afterwards. Opera, one of the oldest and most complex forms of musical theater, has been popular since the sixteenth century.

Often, circuses are also considered to be a form of theater. Circuses are traveling shows that may feature wild animals and an array of specialized performers such as acrobats and clowns.

Bibliography

"Comedy and Tragedy." The School for New Learning. DePaul University, condor.depaul.edu/dsimpson/tlove/comic-tragic.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.

Darity, William A., Jr., ed. "Theater." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Vol. 8. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 336–39. Print.

Runco, Mark A. and Steven R. Pritzker, eds. "Theater." Encyclopedia of Creativity. Vol. 2. London: Academic Press, 2011. 465–72. Print.

Schmidt, Axel and Arnulf Deppermann. "Editorial: Social Interaction and the Theater Rehearsal." Human Studies, vol. 46, 27 June 2023, pp. 191-7, doi.org/10.1007/s10746-023-09678-2. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.

"Theatre Genres." ArtsAlive.ca. National Arts Centre, www.artsalive.ca/en/thf/faire/genres.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.