How different were Greek theatres to modern theatres

Fred Speight How different were Greek theatres to modern theatres Theatre today as in ancient Greek times is a popular from of entertainment. Today's theatres share many similarities with the Greek predecessors however they are also very different. There are in fact many differences for example; layout, special effects, seating arrangement, the importance of drama and religion, setting, location and architectural features. In ancient Greece festivals were mainly held at the Great Dionysia. This was the oldest theatre in Greece and many plays were performed here for example the first performance of Antigone. The patron of the theatre was the God Dionysus and there was a temple near which was dedicated in his honour. There was also a statue of the patron Goddess Athene. Today there is no link between religion and theatre, as we live in a multi-cultural society with people who follow many different faiths; therefore the theatre is secular to appeal to all people. First I will discus the various aspects of ancient Greek theatre then compare with today's modern version of theatre. Today it is widely believed that theatre first began in ancient Greece, the evidence people used to come to this conclusion was from ancient Greek plays, Greek art and architecture. Orchestra The diagram on the right shows the layout of a typical Greek theatre. The circular area in the middle of

  • Word count: 1716
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Crucible plot

Plot in 'The Crucible' Arthur Miller's play, 'The Crucible' is set in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 this time period in which Arthur Miller's play is based upon was a time of great hysteria and relentless accusation. The play is based upon a group of young girls who were caught commencing the prohibited act of dancing; young and frightened they made the profoundly religious town believe in rumours of witchcraft; a lie which went too far. The play is closely linked to the events which unfolded at this time; Miller however adapts some events and characters to create a thrilling and tense tragedy for the audience to indulge in. 'The Crucible' commences with Reverend Paris, the local minster of the village, kneeling beside his daughter Betty. The girl lays seemingly unconscious whilst a crowd begins to form around her. Tthe crowd is made up of several young girls; amongst them is the Reverend's niece, Abigail who becomes the source of questioning of Betty's insentient state. The audience is made known to the events which had inaugurated before the gathering. The girls had been caught by Reverend Paris dancing in the forest with their black slave Tituba, an illegal act which had instigated the gathering in the first place. The bewildering collapse of Betty arouses intense suspicion of witchcraft amongst the villagers although Abigail refuses to admit to anything but dancing in the

  • Word count: 2113
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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"Ashes to Ashes" presented by the "Badac Theatre Company" - review.

Ashes To Ashes - Review "Ashes to Ashes" was presented by the "Badac Theatre Company". A tragic piece of physical theatre telling the story of two Jewish men held in captivity at Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Although this piece is non-naturalistic it portrays the horrifying truth of the ordeal that thousands of Jews suffered. The play started even before you got to your seat with the three performers reciting a Jewish prayer, their voices strong and in time with each other. This created a feeling of suspense, it's not very often you come into a theatre to see the actors staring blankly out at you repeating over and over the same words. The staging was simple, very minimalist. The only material objects being sheets of metal hanging upstage centre. And a metal rod used for beating them. The main acting happened within three spotlights, stage left and right was the prisoners, with upstage centre being the guard. In only one scene did the performance move out of the spotlights. Not too much variation there, making the performance rather static. The three men introduced their characters standing in the audience, directly addressing them; however, I didn't 'feel' their characters. There was no sense of emotion. They were telling of the happy times they had lived and how they were shattered by them being taken to Auschwitz, yet I felt no desire to

  • Word count: 1057
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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"Discuss how Tim Burton establishes genre and narrative in the opening 5 minutes of Edward Scissorhands and Sleep Hollow"

MEDIA STUDIES COURSEWORK 1 "Discuss how Tim Burton establishes genre and narrative in the opening 5 minutes of Edward Scissorhands and Sleep Hollow" Genre is the French word for 'type'. Type is the kind of text it is. The genre of a film text may be Sci-Fi, Horror, Action, Romantic, Comedy, etc. In most films, the genres are combined, this is known as a 'hybrid genre'. Narrative of a film is the structure or order in which the plot (sequence of event) is presented to an audience. This piece of coursework is going to discuss how Tim Burton establishes genre and narrative in the opening five minutes of two films, 'Edward Scissorhands' and 'Sleepy Hollow'. Timothy William Burton was born in Burbank, California, USA on August 25th in 1958. He was not very good in school but found pleasure in painting, drawing and movies. He loves monster films such as Godzilla, and Vincent Price was one of his heroes. Vincent Price was an actor. He worked with Tim Burton when Tim became a director. Be fore he became a director, he was animator. Vincent Price sadly died in 1993. Tim tends to use dark colours in his films and is also known to be weird. There is always music in a film at least one type. Music creates effect In Edward Scissorhands, the music in the beginning is choral. Choral mean 'to be sung by a choir'. This is informs the audience that it is a Holy time such as Christmas. It is

  • Word count: 2552
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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"Discuss the ways in which the following are used in the contemporary dance work you have studied"

Emma Wardle Dance "Discuss the ways in which the following are used in the contemporary dance work you have studied" Essay structure: Introduction - Definitions of structure, dynamics and mood. Structure of Matthew Bourne's Swan lake e.g. Acts or scenes, story/narrative * Princes bedroom - nightmare * Palace - formal royal life - Paparazzi * Palace - prince introduces girlfriend * Theatre * Princes bedroom - Row between him and queen * Club - Thrown out * Outside club - wanders to park * Park - swans * Ballroom - recognition of swan * Princes bedroom - prince delirious/sedated * Dies - reaction of queen Dynamics - The how. Work through the different types and ways in which dynamics are used in dance. What they result in. * Time * Weight * Space * Flow Mood, tension throughout scenes. How created. * Contact * Expression * Mirror * Film - can focus - lighting * Movement * Costume * Gesture * Set Conclusion - How the three link etc Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is a prime example of contemporary dance. Taking his influences from aggressive swans, his personal life, and several of his colleagues from the Laban centre where Bourne completed the majority of training, Bourne has recreated Tchaikovsky's classic ballet. Bourne has given his piece a clear structure, and within it has incorporated dynamics and mood to build tension. A structure is an

  • Word count: 1119
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Sports Development

Sports Development Introduction Within my placement period for sport development I wanted a placement that was both challenging and interesting. For me it seemed too easy to apply to my old school to teach PE. I wanted to do something with a sport that was under developed, with this in mind I secured a placement with Dance Northern Ireland the largest dancesport organisation on the island. Introduction to organisation Dance Northern Ireland is located in Holywood and was formed in 1997 with clearly defined aims,objectives and operating principles. Dance NI's role is that of facilitator and promoter of dance in general, whilst reaching out to as wide an audience as possible. The development of Dance in Northern Ireland with opportunities for the development of professional practice and performance are paramount. Also the commitment to quality, equality and accessibility for all. Dance N I has a Board of Directors with a management team lead by Director Vicky Maguire and six other salaried staff. Dance NI functions with a large volunteer base and operates on a relatively small budget of £40,076 per annum largely funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council. As an organisation they regularly seeks funding from other sources. Introduction to your role in the organisation After my initial meetings with the Director, I was placed to work

  • Word count: 1968
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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This essay will attempt to show you the brilliance that is Psycho and how Alfred Hitchcock managed to create a film which even today grabs and retains the interest of any audience.

Psycho, the greatest film of all time? I believe that it is. This essay will attempt to show you the brilliance that is Psycho and how Alfred Hitchcock managed to create a film which even today grabs and retains the interest of any audience. The music in the film Psycho was a brand new idea at its time in the 1960s and acted like magic on audiences, making them sit in horror at the edge of their seats. The music in Psycho is 'non-diagetic' and is performed by an all-strings orchestra. At the time when Psycho was released, using music that was played by an all-strings orchestra in horror movies was a brand new idea and startled film critics and the audience alike. This method of using high-pitched, sharp music was such an effective idea that many other horror films and television series adopted the thought and this style of music is still used to this day (for example, in Nightmare on Elm Street. Using an all-strings orchestra in Psycho was a fantastic way of building tension and it worked very effectively. The reason it worked so well was because the sound was so recognisable. This is because, as the music was played on and on-and-off basis, the audience gradually noticed that when the music played, something bad was probably about to happen. No other music could have been used in Psycho which would have created the same amount of tension in the movie and sounded so shrill

  • Word count: 1757
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Select around 10 minutes of a film of your choice that is very significant. Explain it's purpose and why you have selected it - Saving Private Ryan.

GCSE Media Coursework Title: Select around 10 minutes of a film of your choice that is very significant. Explain it's purpose and why you have selected it. Analyse thoroughly: (i) the camera shots (ii) characters (iii) action portrayed (iv) lighting (v) soundtrack (vi) music (vii) dialogue Comment on the general editing and overall film product. Saving Private Ryan was created in 1998 and won five Academy Awards including "Best Director" for Steven Spielberg. Saving Private Ryan is a WWII drama; it stars Tom Hanks as Captain John Miller, Edward Burns and Tom Sizemore to name but a few. Saving Private Ryan also won Golden Globes for "Best Picture" and "Best Director". The ten or so minutes that I have selected happen in the very beginning of the movie. The story line is when a squad of American soldiers invade Normandy, known as the D-Day landing. They then move beyond the beaches of Normandy to embark on a treacherous mission to save Private Ryan whose brothers have been killed in combat. I have selected this particular film because I believe that it is an important part of history and that everyone should have the opportunity to learn about it. The film starts with a medium shot of an American flag waving in the wind, which creates a sense of patriotism. You can hear the mellow sound of brass instruments, which makes the audience think of the military or the

  • Word count: 1898
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Write an essay which describes your involvement in this term’s Drama Activities

Write an essay which describes your involvement in this term's Drama Activities Over the past few weeks, a group of nine drama students have been working on a short pantomime suitable for infant children. In this essay I hope to describe my involvement in this term's work. Due to the fact we had a very short amount of time to produce the pantomime, we focused on the content of the production. However, we did dedicate one lesson to props and costumes. In this lesson, as a group we discussed what would be needed as a minimum to portray our characters well enough so young children would understand the characters. As the villain, I thought it would be best if I wore dark clothing evoking evil. However, being completely dark may have upset some of the young children, so I added my name in metallic sliver to a black leather jacket, to brighten up my costume. As the play was to be performed around Christmas, we had elves in the play and as a group decision, we decided the elves should be in a brightly coloured uniform. We used very little music as we felt there was not enough time to prepare or learn any more routines. Therefore, we only used a few verses of "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" so the children could join in. Our play consisted of 9 separate characters, Santa; who was the brains behind the situation, we decided it was best to do it this way because young children have

  • Word count: 828
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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Role writing in Ghetto.

The Response Phase In role writing: Look at him he's just a geek sitting there doing his work like teacher's pet with no breaks. "Oi four eyes what are you doing?" "urrgghh... Just doing the work how we're supposed to." "Well carry on, you can do my work afterwards as well." Why can't he stop picking on me he always makes fun of me for no reason. What have I ever done to him? Just because my dad got a new job and we had to move here doesn't justify what he's been doing. No one else in the class gets picked on just me because I'm the new kid, it makes me feel so small and alone. How would he like it if I bullied him? He'd probably be feeling exactly as I am now he's no different from me. I bet the reason why he's making fun of me is because he's lonely, stupid and unable to cope with the work set, maybe if I just ignore him he'll stop. Or will he? What if he doesn't stop? I'll never be able to enjoy school again and If I complain no one will do anything just tell me it'll be alright. "Have you finished my work yet?" Just stand up to him, what's the worst that can happen. "No I'm not going to do it, do it yourself otherwise you won't get anything out of it." "You're even more stupid than I thought, don't you know what happens to people who don't do what I say. You asked for it wait until I get over there." I shouldn't have done that If I've just got myself into deeper

  • Word count: 2485
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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