Main Description
This lively introduction to theatre offers equal measures of appreciation of theatrical arts, history of performance, and descriptions of the collaborative theatrical crafts. The author’s enthusiasm for and knowledge of the current theatre, highlighted by contemporary production shots from around the world, put the students in the front row. The text includes extensive excerpts from seven plays:
Prometheus Bound, Oedipus Tyrannos, The York Cycle, Romeo and Juliet, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Three Sisters, and
Happy Days, as well as shorter excerpts from
The Rover and
A Doll's House.
PrefaceIntroductionPart 1: The Theatre: Its ElementsChapter 1: What Is the Theatre?The Theatre BuildingThe Company, or Troupe, of PlayersThe Occupation of Theatre Work Art Impersonation Performance Live Performance Scripted and Rehearsed PerformanceChapter 2: What Is a Play?Classifying Plays DurationGenre Tragedy Comedy and Other GenresDramaturgy: The Construction of Drama and Dramatic Performance Drama’s Components: The Vertical Axis Plot Characters Theme Diction Music Spectacle Conventions Drama's Timeline: The Horizontal Axis Preplay Play PostplayNon-Aristotelian Theatre EventsPart 2: The PastChapter 3: The AncientsRitualStorytellingShamanism, Trance, and MagicThe Beginnings of Traditional DramaTraditional Drama in Sub-Saharan Africa Nigerian MasqueradeEgyptian DramaThe Greek Theatre Origins and Evolution The Birth of the Dithyramb The Classic Period The Theatron The Spectacle The City DionysiaThe Greek PlaysPrometheus BoundOedipus Tyrannos The Roman TheatreChapter 4: The Middle AgesThe Quem Queritis: From Trope to DramaOut of the ChurchThe Corpus Christi Plays at YorkThe York Cycle Medieval Morality PlaysChapter 5: The RenaissanceThe Shakespearean Era The Theatres The Players The PlaysThe Plays of ShakespeareRomeo and Juliet Renaissance Theatre in Italy and Spain Italy: Machiaveli and the Commedia dell'Arte Spain's Golden AgeChapter 6: The Theatre of AsiaTheatre in AsiaThe Drama of India Sanskrit Dance-Theatre KathakaliChinese Opera: Xiqu Xiqu’s Origins Staging of XiquThe Drama of Japan Nō Kabuki Kabuki's Origins Visualizing Kabuki Kabuki Plays Kabuki Theatres Kabuki Scenery Kabuki Music Kabuki Actor Families Kabuki Acting Style Kabuki Costumes and Wigs Kabuki Actor-Training and Rehearsals Kabuki Actors' Assistants Kabuki Acting Moments The Kabuki Audience Kabuki and Artistic Creativity Kabuki Today Bunraku: Japan's Puppet Theatre Asian Theatre TodayChapter 7: The Royal EraA Theatre for Courts and Kings Dramaturgy Staging PracticesThe French Theatre The Royal Court and the Tennis Court The Public Theatre Audience MolièreThe Bourgeois Gentleman England: The Restoration TheatreThe RoverPart 3: The Modern and the NowChapter 8: The Modern Theatre: RealismRomantic BeginningsRealism: Likeness to Life A Laboratory Henrik Ibsen: The Pioneer of RealismA Doll's House The Spread of Realism Naturalism Anton Chekhov: The High Point of RealismThe Three Sisters American Realism Eugene O’Neill Clifford Odets Arthur Miller Tennessee Williams August Wilson Realism and the American CinemaChapter 9: The Modern Theatre: AntirealismSymbolist BeginningsThe Era of "Isms"Early Isms and Stylizations: A Sampling of Five Plays The French Avant-Garde: Ubu Roi Intellectual Comedy: Man and Superman Expressionism: The Hairy Ape Metatheatre: Six Characters in Search of an Author Theatre of Cruelty: Jet of BloodPostwar Alienation and Absurdity Theatre of Alienation: Bertolt Brecht Theatre of the Absurd: Samuel BeckettHappy Days Future Directions in Antirealistic TheatreChapter 10: The Musical TheatreThe Role of Music in Theatre HistoryThe Development of the Broadway Musical: America's Contribution Musical Comedy: Gershwin, Kern, Darktown Follies, and Rodgers and Hart A Golden AgeThe Contemporary Musical The Emergence of Choreographer-Directors Stephen Sondheim Black Musicals Foreign Invasions: British, French, Swedish, and Disney Musicals of the Twenty-first CenturyChapter 11: Theatre TodayWhat's Happening? A Theatre of Postmodern Experiment A Nonlinear Theatre An Open Theatre A Diverse TheatrePhoto Essay: Theatre in the Borderlands A Global Theatre A Macaronic Theatre A Theatre of Difference A Theatre of Nontraditional Casting Spectacular Theatre Verbatim Theatre A Dangerous Theatre A Theatre of Community Movement Art and Dance-Theatre Solo PerformanceThree Theatre-Makers in the Theatre Today Peter Brook Robert Wilson Julie TaymorTheatre Today: Where Can You Find It? New York City Broadway Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway Regional American Theatre: Not for Profit Boston Chicago Los Angeles Minneapolis Seattle Washington, D.C. Shakespeare Festivals Summer and Dinner Theatres Amateur Theatre: Academic and Community International Theatre Beyond North AmericaConclusions about Theatre Today?Part 4: The PractionersChapter 12: The ActorWhat Is Acting? The Paradox of Acting - from Socrates to Stanislavsky Acting Today Acting from the Inside: The Stanislavsky Legacy Emotion Memory Acting from the Outside The Actor as Virtuoso Putting It Together MagicBecoming an Actor The Approach The Actor's Instrument Voice and Speech The Psychological InstrumentPhoto Essay: Actor Patrick Stewart Movement DisciplineThe Actor's Routine Audition Rehearsal PerformanceThe Actor in LifeChapter 13: The PlaywrightWe Are All PlaywrightsLiterary and Nonliterary Aspects of PlaywrightingPlaywrighting as Event WritingThe Qualities of a Fine Play Credibility and Intrigue Speakability, Stageability, and Flow Richness Depth of Characterization Gravity and Pertinence Compression, Economy, and Intensity CelebrationThe Playwright's Process Dialogue Conflict StructureThe Playwright's RewardsA Sampling of Current American Playwrights David Mamet Tony Kushner David Henry Hwang Neil LaBute Lynn NottagePhoto Essay: Playwright Neil LaButeChapter 14: Designers and TechniciansThe Design ProcessWhat Design DoesScenery Scenic Materials The Scene Designer at WorkPhoto Essay: Scene Designer Tony Walton The Scene Designer at WorkLighting Modern Lighting Design The Lighting Designer at WorkPhoto Essay: Lighting Designer Don Holder Costumes The Functions of Costume
