First Time to the Rep?: Theatre 101
It Was All Greek to Us.
The performing instinct seems to be hard-wired into humans. We all know how to put on an act when it suits our purpose. But what we know as theatre is different. It’s formalized. The ancient Greeks, as far as we know for sure, started it all some thousands of years ago. They wrote plays that involved enormous masks and high-heeled boots. Men dressed up as women (only because women were not allowed to act). Oedipus Rex, one of the era’s best known plays, has been thrilling audiences ever since.
When the Romans moved center stage, they happily adopted and adapted Greek customs such as theatre and mythology—along with its multitude of gods and goddesses. The rise of organized monotheistic religion, however, forced most theatre underground. Ironically, the church did recognize the power of theatre and used “mystery plays” to spread the message
Enter The Renaissance.
People began to question everything around them, including the church and government’s tight grip on art and self-expression. Retro was cool again; they began to dust off those yellowed Greek and Roman scripts. Some of them even took a cue from the toga-wearers and began to write plays of their own. One of the greatest and most prolific playwrights was William Shakespeare. He wrote and acted in his own plays in the late 16 th and early 17 th centuries. Almost everyone’s heard of Hamlet and Macbeth. Shakespeare and his fellow playwrights made theatre popular. It eventually became respectable enough that even women were on stage.
From this point, despite some ups and downs, theatre has never really looked back. Different kinds of stories have gone in and out of fashion. Acting styles have changed and the visual aspect has altered. In Shakespeare’s day actors were generally costumed in the everyday clothes of the time. Later, the idea caught on of putting actors in appropriate “period” costumes. It was supposed to be more “real”. But even now some directors prefer to put actors in “modern day” dress or have costumes designed that are not so much realistic as symbolic. This is called a “visual metaphor”.
People have always enjoyed spectacle and theatre has been quick to pick up on the latest technology. You’d be amazed at the complicated stage machinery they invented hundreds of years ago, all operated by human muscle. Shakespeare’s plays, like their Greek and Roman ancestors, were mostly performed in open-air theatres. Once theatre got a roof over its head, candles, then gas lamps were used for illumination. (No wonder so many theatres burned down!) The advent of electric light had a huge impact and allowed directors to turn day into night with the flip of a switch. Electricity also reduced fire insurance claims and electric motors spared that human muscle power. Today, computer technology is used to achieve magical lighting transformations and to move sets around.
Into the Modern Era.
The 20th century unleashed massive upheavals: two world wars, political revolutions and huge social changes. Polite “drawing room” comedies still had their escapist appeal but there was also an appetite for plays that delivered more emotional punch, even if they dealt with troubling subject matter. As the century wore on playwrights increasingly tackled real life drama of immediate relevance with such as Look Back in Anger and A Streetcar Named Desire. Even Broadway musicals have tapped into the demand for “real” drama. Think of Rent or Miss Saigon.
So, from the Greeks to the present, theatre has survived, adapted and endured to remain as relevant and compelling as ever. Through theatre we continue to recognize our beauty, embrace our pain, laugh at ourselves, tease our intellect, and envelop and return love. Here in the Bay Area, populated by people from many cultures and backgrounds, theatre has the power to unify us, enhance our appreciation of our community, and stimulate our lives.
Do you speak theater? Review a glossary of terms to enhance your stage smarts.