History of the European Theatre Art - Research Paper Example

of the History of the European Theatre Art Theatre art refers to the live performances carried out in specially designed buildings or grounds called theatre houses. Theatrical performances are among the most traditional forms of art that have been in existence for a very long period in human history. The need for the invention of theatre arts came about because of man’s curiosity to spend his leisure time in a more constructive and enjoyable manner. People therefore started gathering in common places such as marketplaces, church grounds or any central arenas in the traditional cities in order to have leisure together (Benedetti 1997). The need to entertain the gathering later developed within these groups. People then begun looking for the link between the actions performed by the groups and as a result, soon the whole community was attending these gatherings to witness the performances, still in open grounds. According to Benedetti, the actions and the trends in gatherings later on becoming habits and grew into traditions among these communities. These traditions then became regular ceremonies and rituals that were strictly observed by the whole community. This later on culminated into the development of the theatre houses where live performances could be done under closed-door conditions hence the beginning of the theatre performances (Benedetti 1997). In this paper, I will look at the history of the performing or theatre art in the European continent right from the ancient times to the pre- Renaissance periods in entire Europe. The history of the development of theatre performances in Europe can be traced back alongside the Greek history, which began around 700 B.C. The Greece had numerous festivals in honour of their gods such as Dionysus in whose honour; the festival of the city Dionysia was performed. People involved themselves in revelry during these times while the festivities of the whole occasion were always led by drunkards who would hide their identities by wearing goatskins as they performed (Brinton 1981). These ceremonies were usually flowered with fierce competitions from the different Greek communities in attendance and the winning communities would always enjoy the honour of being crowned the winners of the festivals. Most plays that were presented during this time in Greek were majorly tragic- comedies that were based on love and romance as viewed in the context of the people of that time, the term ‘tragedy’ originated from the Greek name for ‘goat skin’ that were worn during these performances. Collin notes that most of theses plays owed their main thematic origins from the Greek mythologies and the histories about the human personal life and expressed man’s quest to relate the meaning of life and the nature of their gods (Collin 1996). Their performances followed a specific format whereby they were usually accompanied by songs introducing a period of paradox, the time during which the characters were introduced, the mood for the plays set in the minds of the viewers and the expositions made concerning the nature of the plays. Some of the very common plays that were performed during this time in the Greek theatres include Sophocles and Euripedes that were common in the fifth century performances. A Writer such as Aeschylus, a performer at shows in Dionysia at around 499 B.C., was among the first writers of this kind and whose writings are among the oldest in the Greek history of theatre arts. Others include Sophocles with his famous works such as Antigone Electra and the Oedipus Rex. Aeschylus (525- 456 B.C) and Sophocles (496- 406 B.C) added major contributions into the Greek theatre by introducing the second and the third actors to the stage respectively. Moreover, they led to the improvement of the quality of the songs and increasing the number of singers on stage thus giving theatre performances a more realistic dimension and giving the viewers what they liked most (Brockett 2003). The new dimension had more impact on the viewers as the two or three characters added interacted with each other on stage making these plays more like mere conversations. Euripedes (480-406 B.C) further helped in shaping the value of theatre drama to what we see on stage today by using a more formal approach in presenting his plays. This made a remarkable shift in the theatre performances to the modern day dramas acted on stage. Other comedians of the Greek theatre history included Aristophanes (448- 380 B.C) and Menander (342- 292 B.C). These playwrights majorly wrote comedies that were performed during spring and winter festivals Most of the Greek plays and comedies of the time were mostly pegged on the utter exploitation of the writers’ humor and satire in representing the realities of the human nature. This made such plays more attractive to the listeners and hence their survival through to the recent past. The two main genres of the time, comedies and tragedies occupied distinct times in the Greek history. As Brockett notes in his book History of the European Theatre, with the tragedies dominating the times of peace and stability in the Greek governments while comedies became more rampant during the time when the Greece government was undergoing a transition in her last phases of collapse and the consequent decline of the Greece Empire (Brockett 2003). The fall of the Greece Empire was coincidental to the rise in the Roman Empire and with it came the Roman theatre performances that borrowed heavily from the Greek theatre. The Roman theatre was not adequately developed as compared to the Greece theatre and saw the birth of the ‘plays’ written today around the entire globe. The Roman theatre can be traced back in history to have taken two forms, these included: the Fabula palate and the Fabula togata that were translations of their original scripts in Greek. Some of the famous Roman playwrights of the times included Terence (190- 159 B.C) who is remembered for famous contribution to the theatre acts by introducing the concept of sub- plot (Collin 1996). This made a rather major contribution in the field of theatre and performing arts by exposing the vivid inner traits of the various characters in these plays. This was artistically done by exposing the reactions of the character in various occasions on the same subject matter. Fabula togata plays were mostly Roman in origin and were more of humeral in nature meant entirely for entertainment purposes. Some of the Roman writers for such stories included Plautus (250-184 B.C). It is however worth noting that the Roman theatre proliferated due to its much audience drawn from both the Roman church as well as from the pagans. The theatre performances were publicly made in churches during church services as the theatre acts formed part of the service hence attracting many audiences. The Romans also contributed in the modification of the theatre from the Greece amphitheatre that carried a maximum of around twenty thousand people by eclipsing it, raising the stage and increasing the vigour in actions performed by the actors on stage. The Roman theatre however received remarkable threats that later on lead to its decline in the early days. This came about because of the introduction of the plays based on the stories of the Roman martyr on the Christians of the time that led to its disfavour from the senior Roman religious officials. Being therefore that theatre was linked to the Roman church; the influence of the church against it proliferated to the disfavour of the theatre arts in the Roman Empire. However, with the coming of the pagan Romans’ performances being introduced into the theatre houses, which were mainly used to mark important pagan holidays and offer an appreciation to their pagan gods, the Roman theatre managed to survive the transition period to see the dawn of the middle ages. The Roman theatre however faced its decline with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, and the ability to revive it was mainly employed by the church who at one point threatened its downfall. The church embarked on doing this upon the realization that the pagans who formed the majority of her audience during the time when these performances used to be performed in the church kept on withdrawing from the church. Compelled with the need to re-establish her lost glory, the Roman church begun reviving the theatre industry in church in order to attract more people back to the church. It is however noted worth mentioning that the European theatricals in the early times to the period of the Renaissance was fully portraying the European cultures of the moment right from the ancient Greek cultures through to the Roman cultures amidst religious practices in the Roman territories (Cardledge 1997) In conclusion, therefore, the history of theatre arts in the European continent can be said to be the mother of all the theatre performances we witness in today’s world. From Europe, theatre performances spread across the globe to engulf the whole earth. Besides, it makes a lot of sense knowing the origins of theatre arts as a form of entertainment today in lour bit to cherish and appreciate the theatre moves in the current world. Works cited Benedetti, Jean. The Art of the Actor: The Essential History of Acting from the Classical times to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1997. Print Brinton, Crane, John B Christopher and Robert Lee Wolf. Civilization in the west. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1981.Print Brockett, Oscar Gand Franklin J Hildy. History of the European theatre. Boston: Alan and Bacon, 2003.Print Cartledge, Paul. Deep Plays: Theatre as process in Greek Civic Life. Easterling: Routledge, 1997.Print Collin, Counsel. Signs of Performance: An introduction to twentieth century theatre. London: Rouledge, 1996.Print Read More