Elements of Theater: Aristotle's Six Elements of Drama

• Elements of theater are covered in fact sheets
• Six Aristotelian Elements of a Play are considered

Plot (Mythos)

• Considered the "organization of incidents" in a play
• Plot refers to the action, the basic storyline

Character (Ethos)

• Refers to the moral/ethical character of agents, revealed when a moral choice is made
• People (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by actors in the play
• These characters move the action/plot forward

Thought (Dianoia)

• The story background being delivered in spoken reasoning
• It is also considered the meaning of the play/theme

Language/Diction (Lexis)

• Refers to the quality of speech in a tragedy
• It is the expression of meaning of words
• Dialogue helps move the action of the play along

Melody (Melos)

• It can also mean Music or Dance
• Aristotle referred to it as the rhythm of the actor's voices (chorus)

Spectacle (Opsis)

• Refers to the visual elements of a play; sets, costumes, special effects
• Spectacle is everything the audience sees when watching

Literary Elements

• These contain the six Aristotelian elements

Modern Theater

• The Six Aristotelian elements are: Plot, Theme, Character, Language/Dialogue, Rhythm/Music and Spectacle
• With the addition of Genre/Theatrical form, Audience (group of people who watch the play), convention (techniques and methods used by the playwright and director to create the desired stylistic effect)

Technical Elements

• Scenery/Set: theatrical equipment like curtains, platforms, backdrops
• Costumes: clothing/accessories worn by actors to portray the character and period
• Properties (Props): any articles except costumes and scenery used as part of the dramatic performance/production.
• Lights involve every placement, intensity and color to help communicate environment, mood, or feeling
• Sound: the effects the audience hears during performance to communicate character context or environment
• Make-up includes costumes, wigs, and body paint used to transform an actor into a character

Performance Elements

• Acting: use of face, body, voice to portray a character
• Character motivation: reasons for a character’s behavior
• Character Analysis: process of examining how literary, technical, and performance elements are used
• Empathy: the capacity to relate to the feelings of others
• Speaking: the mode of expression/delivery of lines
• Breath control: proper use of the lungs and diaphragm muscle for maximum capacity and efficiency of breath when speaking
• Gestures involve any actor movement of head, shoulder, arm, hand, leg, or foot to convey meaning
• Facial expression: physical or vocal aspects used to convey mood, feeling, or expression

Ancient Theater

• It took place around 700 B.C.E. to 410 B.C.E.

Ancient Greek Theater

• It began around 700 B.C.
• Theatrical forms or genres were tragedy, comedy and satire
• Tragedy deals with tragic events/unhappy endings/defeat; most admired type of play in Grease
• Tragedy had only three players onstage; a "chorus" (group of up to 15 actors who sang/dance but did not speak) helps in scene transition
• Thespis was the earliest recorded actor in a tragedy play and introduced the use of masks; often called the "Father of Tragedy", "Thespian" is an English term for performer
• Comedy mirrors society in humorous way reflecting wickedness and immorality
• Satire is a greek theater combination of tragedy and comedy; spoof of tragedy known for vulgar indecency; usually after a set of three tragedies; also called tragicomedy, a term coined by Titus Maccius Plautus (Roman Playwright)

Roman Theater

• Took place in the 3rd century B.C.
• Theatrical forms were tragedy and comedy

Medieval Theater

• Took place around 500 C.E. to 1400
• Transitions and Early Medieval Theater (Byzantine Empire) theatrical forms were: mime/pantomime (recitations from tragedies and comedies), liturgical/religious plays (dramatized versions of biblical events ex. Mystere de Adam/Mystery of Adam)
• High and Late Medieval Period included: "Feast of Fools" festival (clergy ridicule superiors/routine church life), Mystery Plays (earliest formally developed plays in Medieval Europe, actors were local males that used vernacular in plays), Morality Plays (ex. "The Castle of Perseverance" and "Everyman"), Secular Performances (not religious ex. "Play of the Greenwood" by Allen de la Halle), force (comedy with highly exaggerated/extravagant situations), Masques (festive courtly entertainment that developed in Italy during 16th-17th century)

Renaissance Theater

• Took place around 1400-1600
• The Commedia dell 'arte from Italy was a theater troupe that performed improvised playlets
• Plays came from the 'Lazzi' (stock comedic routines that provide framework for stories the actors improvise)
• Genres included: History plays (English/European history), Tragedy ex. revenge plays, comedy (subgenre city comedy)
• Older genres like pastoral, morality plays, tragicomedy, and masque were featured
• The companies of players became foundation of professional players on the Elizabethan stage
• William Shakespeare was the most famous playwright in this period

Baroque Theater

• Took place around 1600-1750
• Tragedy was the preferred genre, but aristocrats preferred lighter tragicomedy
• Pierre Corneille produced works that were un-tragic and had happy endings (Le Cid)
• English theater era of restoration comedies were the most common
• Sentimental comedy counters the immoral tone of restoration comedies and its aims to be more realistic on tendencies and overcoming trials; comedy ends in tears when the main character triumphs over trials
• Technological development supported broadways and commercial plays using ropes/pulleys to support special effects/scene changes
• The opera was another important product in the Baroque period

Neoclassical Theater

• Took place around 1800-1900
• It was dominated by Neoclassicism with exact adherence to unity
• This period was characterized by lavish and complex scenery, costumes, gestures, and melodrama
• Politically satirical comedies outshone the sexual farces of the Restoration
• Historic accuracy in costumes and settings was the trend in Germany
• German Romanticism theater became a form
• Realism depicts life naturally
• Symbolism expresses intangible or unseen internal feelings by means of visible representations
• Naturalism (Darwin's Theory of Evolution) says character is determined by heredity

Romantic Theater

• Took place from 1800-2000
• Melodrama and operas were the most popular theatrical forms
• Experimental theater (avant-garde) rejected conventional theater styles, changes theme, language, and actor relationship
• The breaking of the fourth wall is when actors address questions to the audience
• Hollywood came out and endangered American theater, which continued to be known worldwide

Western Classical Plays and Operas

• Prominent western classical plays and operas feature entertainment and a moral lesson near the end

Greek Theater

• Representative plays from Greek theater, Renaissance theater, & Romantic theater
• Playwright Sophocles (497/6 BC-406/5 BC) wrote Greek tragedies
• Contemporaries consisted of Aeschylus and Euripides
• He created 123 plays, but only 7 emerged
• Most famous play was Oedipus the King

Oedipus Rex

• Also called Oedipus The King
• Main characters include Oedipus: the King of Thebes, Creon: Oedipus’ brother-in-law, Apollo: God or Oracle of Delphi
• King Laius: father of Oedipus, Jocasta: mother and wife of Oedipus, Tiresias: the blind prophet
• Antigone and Ismene: daughters of Oedipus, Sphinx: half-human, half-lion that symbolizes plague and misfortune
• Genre: tragedy, the play is composed of at least three characters
• The Chorus had 12 members wearing identical masks that express likeness
• Masks give dramatic impact express changes and focus on character rather than physical traits

Renaissance

• William Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616
• Shakespeare was an English poet/playwright known as the greatest English writer
• He was branded as “Bard of Avon”
• Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 novels, and 2 narrative poems
• History plays were written in the early 1590s

Comedies

• Included A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew

Tragedies

• Hamlet, King Lear
• Tragedy genre, some props that may be used include: fireworks/poppers/bubbles, small bouquet of flowers, vial of potion
• Style of dress during renaissance
• Main stage included back doors and curtain for discovery scenes
• Upper canopied area was called heaven, used for balcony scenes
• Under stage area was referred to as hell, trap door in stage

Romantic Period

• Georges Bizet (1838-1875) was a French composer and pianist
• Carmen, a play by Bizet, is an opera in four acts

Carmen

• Main characters include: Carmen, Don Jose, El Dancairo, Escamillo, Micaela, Zuniga
• Genre: opera comique (musical numbers separated by dialogue)
• Brief History: best opera.
• First performance was March 3, 1875; music by french composer George Bizet, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy
• Story is set in Seville Spain (1820) and follows the downfall of Don Jose

Philippine Theater Art Form

• Philippine theater has merged with zarzuela, comedia bodabil, senakulo, Moro moro
• Theater was performed in English, zarzuelas became known beyond regions
• Playwrights include Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz and Severino Reyes
• Francisco Balagtas is known for Florante Laura; Severino Reyes is known as "Father of Tagalog Zarsuela"