Originally this class was simply called "Drama" and it was only at the weekend that I learned it had been changed to "Dramatic Criticism". It was necessary then, in our first lesson, to find out exactly what your expectations were and to find out what we would be looking at in this semester.
We decided that we would not confine ourselves only to one specific medium (form; subject) but that we would look at different kinds of Performing Arts. This means, practically, that we will mostly be looking at Theatre and Cinema, but we will manage to discuss other performing arts such as Mime, Street Entertainment and even pop concerts.
We will, however, confine ourselves to foreign - mostly Western - dramatic forms as, apart from Japanese Noh theatre and puppeteering, my experience and qualifications have been gained through Western Drama and I would not consider myself qualified to discuss, for example, Beijing Opera or other Chinese forms such as shadow puppets. However, many aspects of Dramatic Criticism apply to Drama as a whole and apply across all cultures.
We also decided that, although very few people have had acting experience, we will combine practical work with theory. We came to this conclusion as it is very difficult to know how to assess a performance if one has no knowledge of how to perform. Mostly this practical work will take the form of short warm-ups or techniques used by those in the performing arts in order to hone (sharpen. polish) their craft.
We also did a compilation (collection) of some of the occupations that are necessary in Dramatic production in order to show that the field of Drama is not confined simply to actors, directors and producers but provides job opportunities for people from all walks of life. Some of the persons involved in either Theatre or Film are, for example:- stunt workers, caterers (very important!) labourers, painters, clapper boys/girls, gaffers, accountants, advertising agents, designers, carpenters, sewers, artists, technicians of all kinds from lighting experts to I.T. experts, drivers, security guards, body doubles, voice coaches, and many, many more. Establishing a Drama Company provides employment for literally hundreds of different people.
HISTORY OF WESTERN DRAMA.
Primitive Humans
Some of you seemed surprised to learn that the history of Western Drama goes back to the Greeks. In fact, it is known that centuries before the Greeks constructed theatres and wrote plays, performances enacting, for example, successful hunting parties were enacted around campfires and in caves - perhaps even since Neanderthal times. The Australian Aboriginals whose 40,000 year old culture still survives in part, are certainly accomplished mimics and their unchanged traditional dance/mime/ skills show them to be accomplished actors.
Greek Drama.
However, although we are uncertain about how it developed, we usually date the apogee (the high point) of early drama to around the 5th century B.C.E. in Ancient Greece. It was at this time that plays were presented as either Tragedy or Comedy: - the two main divisions in acting to this day. The most famous Greek playwrights were Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles whose plays continue to be acted to-day. Lesser known but immortal, was the playwright Thespis. Until his time it was the Chorus who told the story and who held either tragedy or comedy masks in front of their faces as they spike. Thespis, however, conceived (first thought of) the idea of having one person come out from the Chorus onto the main stage to dramatise the story...to this day the name for those who act upon the stage is Thespians.
Roman Theatre.
The Romans were more interested in Warfare than Culture and more popular than any written plays were the Circuses, where thousands of citizens came to watch people in combat (fighting with) fierce creatures such as lions and leopards, or fighting each other until someone was dead. However, the Romans playwrights did introduce more different kinds of Drama - especially of comedies such as those written by Plautus and Terence in around the second century B.C.E. The writer Seneca is also a very important contributor to the history of Drama as his plays were revived over a thousand years later and gave birth to an entirely new genre(type) of Drama.
The Role of Christianity.
After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. Christianity started to spread and Christianity regarded drama as sinfull and unacceptable. It is therefore somewhat(slightly; a little bit) ironic (a kind of joke; humour) that it was the Christian movement which actually kept Drama alive by allowing mimes or enactments of religious stories or tales from The Bible to be shown in town and villages where the people could neither read nor write. Inside their huge(very big) Cathedrals and Churches their religious ceremonies were acted out with choirs (resembling the Chorus of the Greeks) and the priest and monks singing while the celebrant(the person who actually performed the ceremony)became the Thespian.
The Middle Ages
Travelling play, which had started off as stories from the Bible, were one of the main forms of entertainment until the 16th century and, as they became more popular, they started to lose their religious seriousness and developed into comedies...with a lot of sexual jokes and comedy. In England these plays were called The Mystery Plays and in France The Miracle Plays and they are still acted out today during Easter and Christmas in countries throughout the West.
The 16th Century
Although drama was still Christian based the first texts of plays appear that were not authorised( requested by) or originated (start off; made or written) from monasteries and churches but by private citizens. Apart from the clergy (monks, priests and nuns)it was mainly only the nobles - and not all of them - who could read or write so the numbers of plays written were not very many. However the Queen herself (Queen Elizabeth 1) loved plays and drama and people like William Shakespeare, Ben Johnson - his biggest rival - and others were kept very busy. Several noble women, who were related to poets and writers, began to write as well but this was rather scandalous(improper). This was made more improper when it was seen that these women were actually criticising not just the Church but the place of women in society.
The Seventeenth Century.
From this time onwards we refer to this period of history as The Early Modern period. Plays too were early Modern and plays dating back to this time are still popular in England and Europe. These plays were very clever and humorous - but the humour was language-based so only the very well educated and clever could be successful playwrights. The fact that women such as Margaret Cavendish, The Duchess of Newcastle, and Aphra Behn were successful was thought to be impossible: women were neither clever or intelligent. Women were also not supposed to have anything to do with the theatre...therefore all women who had anything to do with the Theatre were considered to be sluts and whores and some even went to jail. Only Cavendish, because of her high social position, could not be accused of being a whore so it was said that it was her husband who wrote her plays for her and she was considered by all to be insane.
The Eighteenth Century
For the first time ever women were allowed to become actors rather than men playing both the men's and women's parts. However, if a woman was an actress she was considered to be slut and a whore. However, King Charles 11 took as his beloved mistress a girl called Nell Gwyn whom he loved until he died so people could not say too much. However Nell was uneducated and could not write so the treatment of women who actually wrote plays deteriorated (got worse). Aphra Behn went down in history as nothing more than a prostitute so her work was buried until recently when people have realised once more how talented she was. At the end of the Eighteenth century gas lighting was invented and Theatres became luxurious, palace-like structures.
The Nineteenth Century
The stage now began to be used not just for plays but for different kinds of entertainment. Singers, dancers, magicians, acrobats, choirs all took part in Variety Shows. Comedy became more and more popular but now, as more and more people from the lower classes began to go to the Theatres to be entertained comedy became more physical. People pretending to fall over or hit themselves on the head were considered hilarious. The audiences wanted to laugh and forget their troubles. At this time, in Europe, several people were experimenting with the newly invented camera. They found that if they took several pictures and then played them back very very fast, it looked as though the people in them were actually moving. The public flocked to see this new kind of entertainment which was called The Moving Pictures, The Bio scope, The Nickelodeon, The Magic Lantern and The Shadow Box.
The Twentieth Century.
The son of an immigrant to America became fascinated with Moving Pictures. He went to the coast of America where there was not much rain and beautiful sunny weather all year round and bought himself an orange farm. There he experimented with moving pictures and persuaded his friends and acquaintances to help him with his new hobby as he knew people were doing in Germany and France. "The Movies" were born and the small orange farm was to turn into Hollywood.
"Variety Shows" were still popular until the Second World war when they began to fade away. Every small town or big city continued to have thriving theatres for both amateur and professional stage actors but The Theatre was beginning to become an entertainment for the well-educated or upper classes again. The public at large mostly wanted movies after the end of World War Two and, by the 1960's Theatres were closing down all over the world or being converted to Movie Theatres. Berthold Brecht in the 1930's and '40's was to revolutionize Theatre and his influence was felt throughout the world of drama. Modern Theatre began and "bad boy" writers such as John Osborne and Pinter changed it even more. But the Hollywood Dream Machine was now a billion dollar industry which, even with the rival "Bollywood" Indian film industry, continues to dominate the world of entertainment into the Twenty First Century.
The Seventeenth Century.
The first secular (not Christian or religious) plays appeared
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