Theatre
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Theatre (in British English and American English), or Theater (in American English only) , has several meanings.
In American English, the word "theater" can mean either a place where films are shown (this is called a "cinema' in British English) or a place where live stage plays are performed. In British English, theatre means a place where live plays are performed.
Theatre or Theater can also mean the business of putting on plays. An actor might say "I am in the theatre business," or a writer might say "I write for the theatre," meaning that they write plays, rather than writing for movies or television shows.
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[change] History
[change] Ancient Greece
- Main article: Theatre of Ancient Greece
The first people to create plays were the Ancient Greeks, in about the year 500 A.D. They divided plays into two kinds: tragedy and comedy. This division is still used today. The most known Ancient Greek writers of plays are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes; their plays are still played today.
These ancient Greek plays were performed outdoors in large amphitheatres for large crowds. These plays were very popular. There were contests among the playwrights (people who write plays are called playwrights) and the winner would win a prize of a goat, some money or maybe some wine.
[change] Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the Christian church began to use theatre as a way of telling the stories from the Bible to people who did not know how to read. They wrote Mystery Plays, where each part of the Bible story would be a play put on by a different group of people. They also wrote Miracle Plays which were plays about the lives of the saints. There were also Morality plays which taught the audiences how to live a good Christian life.
[change] Commedia dell' arte comic plays during the 1500s
In the 1500s, groups of actors who would tour around Italy performing comic plays to entertain townspeople. These plays were called Commedia dell'arte, and different stories would be created around the same group of characters. Often the spoken lines would be made up by the actors for each performance.
Other kinds of plays called Neoclassical Dramas and Neoclassical Comedies were also popular in Italy and in France at this time. These plays were written to copy the style of the plays from Ancient Greece and Rome.
At the end of the sixteenth century (the 1500s), the travelling actors began to perform in fixed theatre buildings. This was the period when William Shakespeare wrote. He lived from 1564 to 1616. At that time, in England, women were not allowed to perform, so male actors would play female characters.
His theatre was in London, England. It was called The Globe. It was an outdoor theatre and plays were performed in the daytime for large audiences. His plays were very popular and are many are still performed today. Many scholars and theatre people believe Shakespeare was one of the best playwrights (a writer of plays).
He wrote many kinds of plays: tragedies, comedies, romances and also history plays. All of his plays are written in beautiful, poetic language. Shakespeare often wrote plays set in Italy or in exotic, far-away places that would be interesting to London audiences. His plays are still popular today for many reasons. His characters (the people in his plays) are interesting and talk about interesting ideas.
The stories he tells in his plays are often exciting, very funny (in the comedies), or very sad (in the tragedies) and make you want to know what happens to his characters. He also talks in his plays about things we still think about today, like love, sadness, hope, pride, hatred, jealousy, and foolishness.
[change] Plays from the 1700s
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[change] Plays from the 1800s
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[change] Plays from the 1900s
After World War II, playwrights in Europe and the United States began doing plays in a new style called "Theatre of the Absurd." After seeing the horrors of war, these playwrights felt that all their old values had been destroyed. Playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Jean Genet wrote plays that are considered to be "Theatre of the Absurd."
The "Theatre of the Absurd" plays have some of the same ideas that are found in the philosophy (a way of thinking) called existentialism. Existentialism is very different from many other philosophies. Most religions and philosopies say that human life has a meaning (or a purpose). The philosophy of existentialism is that human life does not have a meaning (or a purpose). When something has no meaning, it is "absurd". (absurd means means silly and meaningless.)
The plays written in this style make people think about questions like "what is it like to be a person in the world?" and "what does it mean for a person to be free?" They are often filled with sad emotions, such as worry, fear, and thoughts about death.
[change] Plays from the 2000s
There are many other types of plays performed in the theatre today.
