Theatricality before the theatre. The beginning of theatrical expression (original) (raw)

THEA 240: Theatre History and Dramatic Literature I (From Origins to the 1700s)

This course introduces students to the history of world theatre and corresponding dramatic literature from the prehistoric rituals to the eighteenth century. The student will be introduced to the ways in which the theatre played a crucial social, political, and cultural role throughout its early history. The course will also examine the various lenses that effect the writing of history and problematize the idea of a singular and linear historical narrative. We will encounter several representative plays and critical material from major historical periods. We will read this material closely in conjunction with contemporary critical responses to classical theatre texts and styles. Throughout the semester we will interrogate if there is the possibility of an alternate history of theatre, what is left out from the current historical narrative, the importance of learning the history of our craft, and collect the basic facts of theatre practice from its supposed ritual origins to the eighteenth century.

Theatricality. A critical genealogy

2004

The notion of theatricality has, in recent years, emerged as a key term in the fields of Theatre and Performance Studies. Unlike most writings dealing with theatricality, this thesis presents theatricality as a rubric for a particular discourse. Beginning with a casestudy of a theatre review, I read an anti-theatricalist bias in the writer's genre distinctions of "theatre" and "performance". I do not, however, test the truth of these claims; rather, by deploying Foucauldian discourse analysis, I interpret the review as a "statement" and analyse how the reviewer activates notions of "theatricality" and "performance" as objects created by an already existing discourse. Following this introduction, the body of thesis is divided into two parts. The first, "Mapping the Discursive Field", begins by surveying a body of literature in which a struggle for interpretive dominance between contesting stakeholders in the fields of Theatre and Performance Studies is fought. Using Samuel Weber's reframing of Derrida's analysis of interpretation of interpretation, in Chapter 2, I argue that the discourse of the field is marked by the struggle between "nostalgic" and "affirmative" interpretation, and that in the discourse that emerges, certain inconsistencies arise. The disciplines of Theatre, and later, Performance Studies in the twentieth century are characterised, as Alan Woods (1989) notes, by a fetishisation of avant-gardist practices. It is not surprising, therefore, that the values and concerns of the avant-garde emerge in the discourse of Theatre and CHAPTER 7: The 16th/17th Century Epistemology Of "Theatre" 205 7.1 The medieval sense of being 206

The Origins of Drama: an Introduction

Introduction The word drama comes from the Greek meaning “to act, do or perform”, and it is in the several subtle and diverse meanings of “to perform” that drama can be said to have begun. All communities accept that their later drama has roots in pre-history. Anthropologists have shown that primitive societies used (and in certain cases still use) role-playing in teaching the codes and behaviour required to live and survive in that society; for example, to teach the skills needed in knowing what and how to hunt, the making and use of weapons and the rules of warfare. Performance could be involved in oral repetition to teach the laws and social customs, while enactment of mythical or historical episodes perpetuates and transmits what is thought important to maintain in the race-memory of the tribe.