In assessment of the origins and nature of pantomime in ancient Rome, one will clearly see that the latter two factors are wide and varied. This is due to the collaborative nature of the art as a whole. With a close examination of archaeological, textual and representational evidence one will gain a precise understanding of how the origins, nature and type of audience of the pantomime are interrelated. One will additionally gain inisight into the widespread popularity of pantomime despite a general dislike towards drama in ancient Rome.
Before one can begin to consider the origins of Roman pantomime, one must have a clear understanding of the nature of pantomime. This is due to the fact that the nature of the art is in most cases, directly related to its origins. Once the nature of the art has been established, one will clearly see the connection between the latter and it’s origins.
The term pantomime, which was, introduced by the Italian Greeks referrs to the actor. The mimer of everything. The pantomime was considered a solo performer who wore a mask, and expressed himself through dance, but did not sing. Rather, a musical group or chorus accompanied the pantomime. This type of performance is usually likened to a ballet enactment with a mythical theme. The pantomime usually tended to appeal to higher tastes with its mythical themes but as Grimal implies, could also be comic and erotic.
In his discussion of pantomime, Lucian of Samosata (ca. 125 – 180) notes that the pantomime represents the orator and the composer of declamations. Lucian claims that the success of the pantomime depends upon his skillful adadptation of language to character. It is considered that the pantomime had incredible versitality to show forth human character and passion in all their varieties. These qualities of the pantomime were praised by Lesbonax of Mytilene who called pantomimes ‘manual philosophers.’ Futher evidence of the versatility of the pantomime in showing emotion and character can be seen in the words of Timocrates:
I know not what truth there may be in Plato’s analysis of the soul into the three elements of spirit, appetite and reason: but each of the three is admirably illustrated by the pantomime; he shows us the angry man, he shows us the lover, and he shows us every passion under the control of reason…
The pantomime was not only skillful in portraying human character, but additionally in embracing many other skills into a single embodiment.
Peter Pan – whether as a stage play, a book, a stage musical, a live-action film or a pantomime – has endured for more than a century as arguably the most famous, and certainly most influential, stories for children. First performed in 1904, the fairytale drama has been addressing the ever-changing boundaries between childhood and adulthood ever since. Educationalist and literary critic Peter Hollindale – in A Hundred Years of Peter Pan (Reader 2, p. 159) – asserts that “the play retains its magical elasticity and its ongoing modernity”, or rather that Peter Pan is fantastical and adaptable, and still full of lasting appeal for audiences. In exploring Hollindale’s claim, this essay will consider the original production in December 1904, the 1928 play text, Disney’s 1953 production, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s revolutionary production in 1982, the P.J. Hogan feature film of 2003, and the pantomime tradition. It will consider how Peter Pan as a whole can be regarded as modern, and which aspects of it, as well as looking at how these aspects have been adapted over the years. It will further assess how JM Barrie’s script allows flexibility in terms of constructions of childhood since its initial performance, and look at why Peter Pan is often regarded as a prime example in the genre of the pantomime.
The University Playhouse’s performance of The Dispute displayed a conglomeration of Greek, Elizabethan, and French Neoclassical staging conventions. This comedy balanced out elements of presentational theatre and non-localized sets reminiscent of Greek theatre with representational theatre and localized sets resonant of Elizabethan theatre. The presence of elements of comedy, Farce, Satire, and the use of deus ex machina within the play utilized French Neoclassical staging conventions adopted from earlier Greek, Elizabethan, and Italian Renaissance conventions. In the following sections, I will discuss the reminiscence of these conventions embraced through this production of The Dispute.
The antiquated Greek constructed outside theaters where the general population could watch the execution of Greek parody, disaster, and satyr plays they then sent out the thought provinces all through the Aegean with the goal that theaters turned into a regular element of the urban land scape in all Greek urban areas . Roman amphitheaters are extensive roundabout or oval outside settings with raised seating worked by the old romans they were utilized for occasions, for example, fighter battles ,Venationues (creature killing), and execution around 230 roman amphitheaters have been found over the zone of the roman realm .
Sophocles, one of Athens great ancient writers lived through the fifth century B. C. (496-406). In such period of time, theater was considered to be both a religious and civic event. Religious because it happened only twice a year in the honor of the god of wine and crops, Dionysus; civic because every Athenian citizen was invited to take part in the famous three days of drama. Each day, during those days, a tragic play was presented for the audience’s edification. Those plays featured some important mythical or legendary event the audience is familiar with. The main character and the overall story being acted out are also known by every spectator. With that said, the play writer had some expectations to meet and some criterias to follow. Sophocles, in Oedipus the King, had to meet the standard schematic of a tragic play. He needed the base of a traditional plague, lead with a prologue followed by a parados. Many episodes would be added to the parados, as well as many odes. He would close the play with an exodos. There are also some more meaningful details the audience is expecting to see. Those details are included in the great greek philosophe Aristotle’s concept of tragedy. In this essay I will discuss the traditional schematic of a tragic play as well as the particular facts one is expecting to encounter. With Aritstotle’s concept of tragedy, the analysis of Scodel Ruth and Michelakis Pantelis, a scholar and a cultural critique, I will draw on how Oedipus the King fits within the popular theater of the fifth century.
Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life situations, which is similar to the way a playwright such as Shakespeare interacts with his audience. Furthermore, more so than the other characters in the play he accomplishes this in a highly performative way, involving song and clever wordplay that must be decoded, and is thus particularly reflective of the mechanisms at the command of the playwright. Feste is a representation of the medieval fool figure, who is empowered by his low status and able to speak the truth of the kingdom. A playwright speaks the truth by using actors and fictional characters, who are in a parallel low status in comparison to the audience, as they lack the dimensionality of real people. Thus, the role Feste plays in the lives of the characters in the play resembles the role the play itself plays in the lives of the audience watching the performance. This essay will explore this comparison first by analyzing similarities between the way in which Feste interacts with other characters and the way the playwright interact with the audience, and then focus on the similarities between the aims and content of these interactions.
Myers, H. A. (1949). Aristotle's study of tragedy. Educational Theatre Journal, 1(2), 115. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1290192594?accountid=12085
Like any journey, it is necessary to begin with a single step – the evolution of lighting in theatre began with the resources available to the ancient Roman and Greek societies; sunlight and candles. As such, performances and events were held at the height of the day, so as to allow the most natural light to fill the stage. While this method successfully brought the stage to life and made the actors and scenery visible, it did little to create dynamics, establish mood, or manipulate the audience’s perspective and emotion. Rather than a creative tool, lighting was viewed as a solution to a problem – a product born out of necessity. Innovative uses of light were limited to grand demonstrations that often became the centerpieces of Greek and Roman theatre. For example, large burned houses graced center stage, but any other indications of lighting were strictly two-dimensional, painted on the backdrop. While this forced the audience to focus their energy and attention on the players and the action, it also limited their experience – without lighting t...
This paper will firstly define what the Chorus are and their role in Traditional Greek plays. Once that is defined we will then discuss the impact of the Chorus in each episode as well as the Choral Parodos and Stasimon’s . We will then reach an overall conclusion at the end about the effect of the Chorus’s contribution.
Thompson, Nancy L. "Roman Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 23
Theorists and scholars have often examined when the art of theatre first came into existence. There is a great amount of emphasis on the idea that the act of mimesis or an imitating impulse first came to be in a ritual setting dating way back to the beginning of mankind. However, the first civilization that shows evidence of a fully formed and functional theater is found during the ancient Greek civilization.
It is worth noting that Metatheatre has always served as a way for theater to reflect upon itself, but in modern drama, this self-reflection has developed a critical edge. Many modern dramatists turned to Plato as a source of inspiration. According to Lionel Abel, ‘metatheatre’ is an accurate term describing the form possible to the contemporary playwright who wishes to treat a subject seriously with the multiple layers of illusion. In Plato’s idiom, one might say that modern theater makers are keenly aware that they operate within a cave. Thus, they turn around the theater itself, reorienting it so that it might serve as a vehicle for truth. Abel also believes that Greek tragedy which described grief and delight is impracticable today. He confirms that tragedy was impossible in the late Renaissance and the playwrights like Calderon and Shakespeare who knew nothing about metatheatricality or dramatic self-reflexivity, wrote ‘serious’ plays which were self-reflexive
In Spain Theater was a big part of the social life. For the most part the theater design resembled that of Elizabethan theater (Brockett 200). The stage was built with many trap doors and a roof tha...
Greek and Elizabethan theatre, while similar in some respects, had a few large differences. The Greeks believed in a certain unity of theme, which was prevalent throughout the production. Greek plays were often drawn from myth or of historical significance, so it seems that only ki...
Theater is a natural outlet for our desire to hear and tell stories, and in some ways it is even more primal and powerful than the written word. At its worst, theater will merely bore; while at its best it will not only entertain but move and shape its audience. Two such genres of theater, or drama, have consistently achieved this effect. Tragedy, represented by the weeping actors’ mask, usually features the title character’s fall from greatness to ruin, guided by the gods or fate. Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, is the epitome of classic Tragedy, as defined by Aristotle (96-101). Here, Oedipus falls from kingship to blindness and exile. Drama’s other great genre, Comedy, is represented by the laughing actors’ mask. In Comedy the action is usually propelled by a problem or crisis of some sorts, but unlike tragedy it usually ends well. Lysistrata, written by Aristophanes, is a perfect example of classic Comedy. The farcical story line follows the title character, who rallies the women of Greece to withhold sex from their mates all in the good cause of ending war. At first glance these two genres would seem to have nothing in common with each other. Comedy entails laughter and good feelings while the audience will leave a Tragedy in tears. But the best of Comedy and the best of Tragedy will produce the same affect: catharsis. Catharsis is the purgation and purifying of the emotions, specifically fear or pity. (“Catharsis”) The plays that manage to produce catharsis in their audience are the ones that we return to time and time again. Although catharsis is one of the main objectives of Greek Tragedy (Jacobus 34), Comedy done well will shape and move its audience in the same way. These two classic genres use characters that are co...
The medieval age also saw some of the greatest contributions to theater. The biggest influence on later theater was the changing of the language used in the plays from Latin to the vernacular. This was crucial in spreading drama as it allowed the lower classes to understand the performances and contributed to the expansion of theater across Europe in the R...