Midterm Spring Flashcards
Free plantation
Set design where you can freely plant props or sets anywhere on stage. Not constricted by the groove system. Moves more towards box sets.
Melodrama
Music drama, used to get around the licensing of theatres
Combination companies
Company that traveled with stars, a full company, and all the costumes, properties, and sets needed for a single show or small repertory. Replaced resident companies.
Claque
A well-organized and well-trained group of audience members who were paid to respond in certain ways to the plays
Minstrel Show
Began in the 1820s by Thomas Dartmouth Rice. Used as a means to show “authentic” authentic slave culture. White actors put on black face. Had a three part format: a semicircle with Tambo and Bones on the ends, the olio which would be specialty acts, and the after piece which would be a scene or full one act play.
Well-made play
Created by Eugene Scribe. Had an Aristitilian structure, like the ancient Greeks. Play moved by cause and affect, scenes built to a climax. There was still intrigue though. Important because it is the dramatic structure that Ibsen is going to use.
Caroline Neuber
Century/period: 18th Century
Country: Germany
Contributions to Theatre: Formed a company with her husband Johann Neuber. Tried to reform her company to be more sophisticated and professional (disciplined rehearsals, assigning actors backstage duties)
Sturm und Drang
German experimental movement to revolt against 18th century rationalism and neoclassicism. Plays would have 5 acts and normally deal with alarming subjects (prostitution, rape, murder). Challenge artistic and social values. Wasn’t popular but The Robbers by Schiller was a major play in the genre.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Century/period: 18th-19th Century
Country: Germany
Contribution to Theatre: German playwright who first wrote for the Storm and Stress movement but then moved to a more classical style. He wrote plays that were considered sollen, a tragedy that is powerful and great.
Friedrich Schiller
Century/period: 18th century
Country: Germany
Contributions to Theatre: German playwright who wrote the Storm and Stress play The Robbers. Like Goethe, wrote more classical later on in life. Wrote the treatise The Stage as a Moral Institution where he believed the stage was meant to teach and display vices. Also said that theatre should bring about nationalism and that everyone should have a national stage.
Victor Hugo
Century/period: 19th century
Country: France
Contributions to Theatre: Wrote the “Preface to Cromwell.” He talked about poetry in the form of the grotesque and beauty. He says that the grotesque is complex, has many forms and is everywhere and that beauty is simple. He believes good poetry must have both the sublime and grotesque because the grotesque makes the beautiful more beautiful. He says that we shouldn’t imitate but create and that there’s a mythical element to religion.
Romanticism
A 19th century movement that completely moved away from neoclassical values. It dealt with emotion, and showed how nature was greater than humanity. Theatre became more like real life and this movement gave birth to the theatrical genre of melodrama.
Weimar classicism
Unique style that influenced German theatre in the 19th century. Lead by Goethe and Schiller, they wanted drama to transform ordinary experiences and lead the audience to an ideal truth.
Madame de Stael
Century/period: 18th-19th century
Country: France
Contributions to Theatre: she did everything in theatre (performer, director, playwright, etc). She wrote the treatise “Of The Dramatic Art” where she said it was important to write for the audience. She also dressed that drama is subjective to each nation and every nation has the right to their own taste in theatre. Also believed that the unities should be abandoned except for the unity of action.
Dion Boucicault
Century/period: 19th century
Country: England
Contributions to Theatre: Actor who was a successful dramatist and wrote the play The Poor of New York. He wrote melodramas. Introduced combination companies to England. He pushed for playwrights to receive a percentage of the receipts for every performance if others produced his plays. This led to the International Copyright Agreement.
