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THEA 236: Theatre History II > Midterm Study Deck > Flashcards

Midterm Study Deck Flashcards

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1
Q

History Of Performance in the Roman World to the 6th Century C.E.

A

Fall of Rome: 500 year cease of organized performance

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2
Q

Development of the Roman Catholic Church

A

Spread throughout the Western Roman Empire (Constantine)

Frankish Empire (Charlemagne)

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3
Q

Latin as an International Language

A

The Roman Empire had spread Latin (east and west Mediterranean) across borders.

Latin becomes the language of public administration.

Golden Age Latin authors remained influential. I.e.Terrence, Plautus

Latin became the language of the Western Church, focused on Rome.

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4
Q

Growth of Vernacular Languages

A

700 C.E. Charlemagne declares sermons should be delivered in vernacular languages to teach.

Latin manuscripts were created and widespread, interpreted with illustrations and ornamental lettering.

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5
Q

Romanesque Architecture

A

9th and 12th century

Rounded arches and massive masonry wall construction.

Smaller.

Very dark, feelings of being enclosed.

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6
Q

Gothic Architecture

A

Late 12th century and on (French cathedrals)

Humbled man and glorified God. (Huge).

Pointed arches (two Roman arches)

Windows and stained glass

flying buttress

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7
Q

Aspects of Drama in the Roman Catholic Church

A

Audience used to symbols (Formalized, recognizable symbols that may establish context on behalf of playwright)

Clergy actors - no professionals

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8
Q

Quem Quaeritus Trope

A
  1. Part of the Easter service
  2. “whom do you seek” in Latin.
  3. Trope between angel and three Marys
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9
Q

The Frankish Empire (c. 400 - 900 CE)

A

Charles the Great (Charlemagne) (768-814 C.E.)

Reunited vast areas of the former Roman Empire.

The capital, Aachen, became a hub of learning and cultural revival.

Provided political stability that is required for the arts to thrive.

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10
Q

Aspects of Pre-Christian dramatic performances or rituals with dramatic aspects

A
  1. Early Pagan Celtic & Teutonic drama (seasonal)
  2. Parallel Christmas and Easter
  3. Pagan rites of death and resurrection (vegetation)
  4. Maypole dancing
  5. secondary parallel to religious drama
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11
Q

Development of Secular Plays During the Middle ages

A

Protestant Reformation

Cost of Religious drama

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12
Q

Minstrel

A

Sung poetry in praise of the delights of war to his lord.

Unconverted England.

Minor nobles sought after and paid.

Eventually became an organized group of wealthy individuals with an HQ in Paris.

Norman Trouveres (France).

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13
Q

Troubadours

A

Sung poetry to impress influential women and climb the social ladder.

Paid by others to court women.

Courtly love, same obedience and loyalty to his liege lord.

South of France.

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14
Q

Church Reactions to Troubadours

A

Promoted infidelity and distracted from love for God.

Church edicts.

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15
Q

Decline of Minstrels, Trouveres, Troubadours

A

8th-12th century

Decline due to church edicts and imposter minstrels and trouveres who made a mockery of the art.

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16
Q

Natyasastra

A

c. 200 B.C.E/200 C.E.

Bharata Muni (and/or multiple authors)

Fifth veda.

Mythological origins of theatre (divine ingenuity, sacred and separate from daily life, performed by specialists)

Theatre spaces (200-500 ppl theatres separated caste seating, noble courts, courtyards)

Goes over everything of theatre: costumes, makeup, props, dance, etc.

Divides human experience into eight basic sentiments (rasa), bhava (corresponding emotions/feelings to the sentiments), additional transitory feelings

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17
Q

Sudtradhara

A

Troupe leader, production manager, and chief actor in early Sanskrit drama.

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18
Q

Sanskrit Theatre

A

All male troupes, all female troupes

Elaborate costumes

Dance, symbolic gestures, and music

Declined with Arab invasion and Islamic rule - vernacular folk dramas continued.

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19
Q

Nata

A

Performers in Sanskrit drama.

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20
Q

How does the Little Clay Cart reflect elements of Sanskrit theatre?

A
  1. Caste System
  2. Opening Prologue
  3. Influence of Buddhism
  4. Ten Acts
  5. Written in multiple languages
  6. Poetic verses
  7. Stock characters - the Vitas
  8. Opening scenes through the discovery of a character
  9. Rasas
  10. Presence of the Sudradhara
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21
Q

Processional Staging

A

Either the drama is moving to the audience or the audience is moving to the drama.

Pageants/Wagons

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22
Q

Simultaneous Staging - Market Square

A

Audience surrounding the play area, not a part of the play area.

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23
Q

Simultaneous Staging - Raised Staging
(Theare-like arrangements)

A

Stage in front of the audience.

Heaven on the east, Hell on the west.

Proscenium

Mansions

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24
Q

Theatre-in-the-round

A

Theatre seating is all around the play area.

Scaffolding and mansions surround the seating area.

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25
Q

Humanism

A

Response to scatological view.
Focus on maximizing the quality of the current life rather than the afterlife.
Coexisted with Christian classical teachings and ideals.
Inspired by Greece and Rome

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26
Q

Rules of Neo-Classism

A
  1. Decorum (characters should behave in ways appropriate to their age, profession, sex, rank, etc.)
  2. Verisimilitude
  3. Separation of drama
    4/5/6. Unity of time, place, and action

Didactic
No onstage violence, chorus, soliloquy, or deus ex machine

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27
Q

Italian Innovations

A

Opera
Commedia dell’arte
Proscenium stage
Painted perspective scenery
Neoclassical playwriting rules

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28
Q

Characteristics of the Renaissance in Italy

A

Decline of feudalism
Humanism
Patronage
Introduction of perspective
Innovation, experimentation, and discovery
Rising secular interests

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29
Q

Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?

A

Geographically aligned to absorb new ideas from Eastern cultures.

Corruption of papacy made space for secular influences.

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30
Q

Italian Renaissance Architecture

A

Inspired by Classical Roman examples

Combination of the pit, box, gallery, and proscenium-arch stage.

Vitruvius’ writings defined beauty in architecture.

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31
Q

Renaissance Drama

A

Tragedies, Comedies, and Pastorals

Were first also written in Latin before new plays were written in Italian.

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32
Q

Intermezzi

A

A short comedic mythological tale is presented in between acts of full-length plays.
Extinct by 1650

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33
Q

Katherine of Sutton

A

First English woman playwright to be recorded.

Rewrote the Easter dramatic offices for Bakring Nunnery while she was abbess.

She included rubrics of the plays that detailed the costuming, movements, and gestures of the performers.

34
Q

Hildegard Von Bingen

A

Wrote for the public to financially support her community.

Renaissance man worked in health as well as composed much more complex music.

Had visions.

35
Q

6 of Hildegard Von Bingen’s Accomplishments

A

The Ordo Virtutum (first musical)
Poetry and music
The Subtleties of the Diverse Nature of Created Things
Natural History/Book of Simple Medicine
Causes and Cures
77 Chants

36
Q

Hrosvitha and Terrence

A

Written in Terrence style and in Latin

Hrosvitha focused on the purity of virgins rather than the victory of vice.

Female characters were given agency over situations given to them by Terence and reacted to male-aggression.

37
Q

Hildegard Von Bingen’s Musical Style

A

Soaring (wide range)

Leaps (vaulting upward and downward)

Contour (the shape of the music was complex)

38
Q

Commedia dell’Arte Characters

A

Pantalone: Miserly old Venetian man
Dottore: Pedant obsessed with his neighbours’ affairs
Capitano: Cowardly braggart soldier
Zanni: Sly/foolish servants
Arlecchino
Harlequin
Innamorato/Innamorata: male/female lover

39
Q

Commedia dell’Arte Performance Aspects

A

Scenarios outline the plot, and dialogue and actions are improvised.
Actors play the same stock character throughout their careers.
Lazzi: repeated bits of physical comic business
Masks
Zibaldoni: Manuscripts of actors that contain jokes, lazzi, and repeated scenes and speeches (entrances and exits)

40
Q

Commedia dell’Arte Business Orginization

A

Troupe of 10 people - 7 men, 3 women
Organized by families and chose names that characterize them.
Profit-sharing plan

41
Q

Function of Mystery Cycles

A
  1. Didactic drama to express a moral message to save the souls of the audience and actors.
  2. Occasions for popular entertainment.
  3. Occasions for the expression of civic display, craft honour, and local unity.
42
Q

Details of Cycle Plays
(15th century)

A
  1. Mystery Plays (Corpus Christi Cycles), Miracle Plays, Passion Plays
  2. Structure: fall, redemption, judgement
  3. Vernacular
  4. Secularized in locality and character without undermining Christianity (anachronisms)
  5. Introduced comedy and tragedy
  6. Special effects known as secrets
  7. Produced by guilds and/or confraternities
  8. Amateur Performers
43
Q

Passion Plays

A

Germany and France
Easter celebrations that dramatized the events immediately around Christ’s crucifixion

44
Q

Driving Factors for the Creation of Cycle Dramas Outside of the Church

A

Became increasingly elaborate and difficult to stage

Cost of staging dramas was becoming burdensome

church officials opposed using holy spaces for theatre

45
Q

Mystery Plays

A

Dramatized biblical events from creation to last judgment.

46
Q

Cycle Plays

A

Sometimes other stories related to biblical figure

i.e. lives and miracles of saints, contemporary church doctrines.

47
Q

Morality Plays

A
  1. Plays that attempted to teach a moral lesson through allegory (people representing ideas)
  2. Station Dramas (reflecting crises in the stations of the cross)
  3. Struggle between the forces of good and evil.
  4. Staged by professional performers on neutral platform stage
  5. Episodic
48
Q

Para-Theatrical Folk Traditions

A

Pagan rites of death and resurrection (mainly of vegetation)
Parallel Christmas and Easter
Maypole dancing
Sword dance (mimetic in character, rhymed speeches)
Mummers’ Play (Resurrection of vegetable spirit)

49
Q

Types of Secular Plays

A

Interludes
Farces
Puppet Shows

50
Q

Strolling Performers

A

Professional secular medieval performers

Successors of mimes and pantomimic actors

Low on the socio-political ladder

Stock comic business inherited from Rome and potentially passed down to Commedia Dell’arte

51
Q

Roystering Citizen Performers

A

Prank mummering

52
Q

Fool Companies

A

Enfants sans Souci
Societe des Sottes
La Basoche du Palais

Introduced Morality and Farce

Very crude and over the top making fun of catholicism

Immunity with anonymity and sheer crass

53
Q

Scholarly Performers (Fourth Group)

A

School and choir boys, and university men

Scholarly imitations of Seneca and Terence: recreating classic stage

54
Q

Growth of Secular Plays

A

Protestant Reformation

Expensive Inflation

55
Q

Sottie

A

A copy of the farce, but weaker in story, political in purpose, and keenly satirical in character

56
Q

Shrovetide Plays

A

Interludes, sotties

Subjects of sex and digestion

Ex. Sheep lawyer: The Farce of Master Pierre Pathelin

57
Q

Interlude

A

Short, humorous piece, 2/3 actors, banquet entertainment

Used to split up more serious pieces

English Parallel to Pastorals - evolution into English realistic comedy

58
Q

Puppet Plays

A

Pantomimic performances with either actors or puppets.

Old stories of cheating merchants, devils in disguise, and of Noah’s Ark

59
Q

How were medieval secular plays funded?

A

Guilds funding their own works.

Special pageant taxes were levied in York and Coventry (Tourists)

Romans, Lucerne, and Valnciennes - audience bought their seats

Deposits and fines from performers

60
Q

How did medieval secular productions spend their money?

A

Parchment and copying services for actors’ parts.

Authors had to be paid (depending on status)

Payments to owners of rehearsal spaces

Expenses for food and drink during rehearsals

Stage, stage machinery, costumes

61
Q

7 Dramatic Aspects Of Performance in the Church

A
  1. The content for the performers was taken from the bible.
  2. Dialogue was generally improvised or transmitted orally from one set of actors to another.
  3. Actors are clergy. No Professionals.
  4. No division into acts or scenes
  5. Little scenery
  6. Church chancel was the stage
  7. Hymns & chants from the service that day provided music.
62
Q

What are the 2 basic areas when staging liturgical drama?

A
  1. The Platea, Playne, or Place (general acting area)
  2. Mansions, seeds, loci, or domi (small scenic structures dispersed around the church
63
Q

Verisimilitude

A
  1. Reality
  2. Morality
  3. Universality
64
Q

6 Main Forms of Roman Popular Entertainment

A
  1. Chariot Racing
  2. Equestrian
  3. Gladitorial
  4. Naumaciae (sea battles)
  5. Jugglers/Gymnastics/Acrobats/Pantomimes/Mimes
  6. Animal performances
65
Q

Feudal System

A
  1. Lords or Counts
  2. Vassals or Lesser Lords
  3. Peasants or Serfs
66
Q

7 Theatrical Elements of Roman Catholic Church Services

A
  1. Mass
  2. Canonical hours (when tropes were sung)
  3. Vestments worn by clergy
  4. Church space
  5. Musical Accompaniment
  6. Symbolic events
  7. Tropes (2 groups singing & responding to each other in song)
67
Q

What committees produced medieval plays

A
  1. Church
  2. Civic Groups/Communities
  3. Guilds
68
Q

Responsibilities of Cycle Play Production Committees

A
  1. Keep law and order
  2. stage, seats, scenic elements, and machines
  3. Food, lodging, and amenities for actors and audience
69
Q

How were medieval plays paid for?

A
  1. Guilds
  2. Pageant taxes
  3. Box office - audience buys their seats
  4. Deposits and fines
70
Q

Caste System in The Little Clay Cart

A

Brahmana (priests and scholars)
Kshatriya (warriors and nobility)
Vaisyas (trades caste - merchants)
Sudras (peasants)

At the beginning of the play, Charudatta, the most virtuous character, says that he would rather be dead than be poor.

71
Q

Opening Prologue in The Little Clay Cart

A

The characters in the prologue establish the setting and introduce a relevant character but are not included for the rest of the play.

72
Q

Influence of Buddhism in The Little Clay Cart

A

The gambler is revered when he becomes a Monk, and this is an important aspect that drives the plot.

73
Q

Ten Acts in The Little Clay Cart

A

The Natyasastra says there should be at least ten acts for a story to be complete.

4/5 hours.

74
Q

Numerous Languages in The Little Clay Cart

A

Different languages can lead to misunderstandings between people of different castes - such with the Monk and Samsthanaka and the words dhanya and punya.

Dhanya > skeptic/blessed

Punya > water-pot for cattle/virtuous

75
Q

Poetic Verses in The Little Clay Cart

A

Used to demonstrate character and caste.

Charudatta’s repeated laments for Vasantasena.

76
Q

Rasas in The Little Clay Cart

A

Charudatta’s repeated laments for Vasantasena display karuna (sorrowful).

77
Q

Stock Character in The Little Clay Cart

A

The Vitas are a stock character, “dissolute man”. You can see the extent to which they were stock characters, as there are two separate Vitas in the play.

78
Q

Opening Scenes in The Little Clay Cart

A

Scenes often open with the discovery of a character.

In scene 5, Charudatta is discovered by opening a temporary handheld curtain, which was removed with a dramatic flourish.

79
Q

Sudradhara in The Little Clay Cart

A

Introduces the plot, playwright, and setting (from a blank stage).

Demonstrates the role and importance of the Sudradhara in Sanskrit theatre.

80
Q

Who wrote The Little Clay Cart?

A

Shudraka

81
Q

Textbook?

A

The Norton Anthology of Drama

J. Ellen Gainor

THEA 236: Theatre History II (1 decks)

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