CATA 171

Intro to Theatre and Cinema

Chapter 15

Theatre History (prehistory-Roman)

Theatre probably arose out of forms of game playing. Games remind us of past triumphs or future preparations.

People created images and fictions by representing people, places and objects long before any written records were made

I.                    Prehistory

a.       Cave paintings

b.      Stories around the fire

II.                 Greek Theatre

a.       Athens was the political and cultural center of Western Civilization 2500 years ago

b.      The birthplace of both democracy and theatre

c.       Playwrights

1.                  Tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripedes

2.                  Comedies of Aristophanes

d.      Large, open-air amphitheatres

1.                  Epidaurus – best preserved (still produce plays there)
A.                       Evolved from threshing circles
B.                       Celebrated harvest
C.                       Chorus born from this
D.           Design evolved from 500 BC to 300 AD
1.    Orchestra (dancing place)     2.   Skene (stage house)     3.    Proscekenium (porch)     4.    Theatron (seating area)     5.  Peraktoi (3-sided column)     6.    Ekkyklema (display wagon)     7.    Deus Ex Machina (crane)
III.               Roman Theatre                 a.     Very prolific numbers constructed                          1.            Turkey                          2.            North Africa                          3.            Spain                 b.     Built on flat ground; Semicircular                 c.      Proscene big enough for horses and chariot	Theatre in Orange, south of France
	1.    Scaenae Frons (elaborately decorated facade)     2.    Cavea (seating area)     3.     Velum (roof)