The history of Western TheatreTheatre within human society since the dawn of time has been part of man's community existence

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Lisa Marie Richardson

English literature

                                   The history of Western Theatre

Theatre within human society since the dawn of time has been part of man’s community existence. Long before the first Stone amphitheatre was erected Men had already produced dramatic presentations concerning the prophesising and worship of their gods. Ancient tribes performed “Rain dances” and story told surrounded by their audience, this is thought to be the inspiration behind theatre in the round. However theatre as it would be recognised today, began in Greece between 400 and 500BC

In ancient Greece, theatre was a place of social gathering and entertainment. The Audience would be divided according to social status; the most powerful and rich members would sit in the God’s (elaborately decorated seats placed above the ground) whereas the lower class members would be sat closer to the front. The amphitheatre’s themselves were situated on hillsides so that the mise-en-scene would be that of the heavens.                                                                                     Greeks used masks in order to represent their characters, however they also used high-soled shoes in order to give the character a taller stature. Of course the use of masks and platforms reduced the movement of the actors in-fact the “actors” were not originally an aspect of Grecian theatre at all, and were only developed by playwrights in the late 400’s.                                                          It is well known that most western dramatic traditions originate from ancient Greece such as the three main genres of theatre, Tragedy, Comedy and satire.                                                                                                     According to Aristotle Greek drama or specifically Greek tragedy began whilst a choir were singing the dithyramb, a choral hymn dedicated to the god Dionysus. Aristotle claimed that the lead singer a man called Thespis added an actor to the chorus; this may have initiated the beginning of dramatic action.                                                                                                              There were three more key Grecian playwrights Aeschylus (525-456 BC) who is world renowned for his tragedy Oresteia, Sophocles (496-406 BC) who is famed for the trilogy Oedipus rex and Euripides (480-406 BC) who’s was although the lesser known playwright, employed a far more relaxed and natural style of theatre. Euripides was the last Greek classical theatrical dramatist.

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Although the Roman theatre my not be as respected and renowned as their Greek counterparts, many of our modern day theatrical traditions were influenced by it. An example of this is the word “play” which is derived from the Latin word ludus, which quite literally means recreation.                            A famous playwright during this period is Platus (c.250-184 BC) who wrote plays of farce and physical humour. Other forms of entertainment for Roman socialites involved gladiators and chariot races. The theatre as it would be recognised today, a raised stage ...

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