The Impact of Technology on Theatre

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The Impact of Technology on Theatre

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The history of theatre in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries is one of the increasing commercialization of the art, accompanied by technological innovations, the introduction of serious critical review, expansion of the subject matters portrayed to include ordinary people, and an emphasis on more natural forms of acting. Theatre, which had been dominated by the church for centuries, and then by the tastes of monarchs for more than 200 years, became accessible to merchants, industrialists, and the less privileged and then the masses.

I feel that technology has a huge effect on the way people see the theatre. Technology has also had a huge effect on how people work in the theatre. When I talk of technology I mean television, computers, and the Internet. These three are great improvements to the theatre, and can also be a great hurt. Ever sense these things have come into play, the world of the theatre has not been the same. I feel there have been many other things that have impacted the theatre but not many has changed the way people get involved with the theatre like these.

Starting with the effects television has had on the theatre, they've been giant. Before television people would go out and see plays for entertainment, but now they sit at home. The theatre was the thing to do back in the day; it showed prestige and money. People would get all dressed up and go to the theatre and watch great works of art. The theatre could have been anything from plays to operas to the ballet. As the years went by starting in the late 50's to early 60's the theatre attendance started to fall do to the television. Getting a television in alm...

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... how they did it. I also remembered in high school trying to read play and learn the lines to run them in class. That was hard. I really couldn't do it very well. Well even in this class I couldn't read the plays and understand what the hell was going on.

To finalize this paper I would like to talk about my feelings on what technology has done to the theatre. I think plays back then were great and done the way the Greeks did them with hard work and dedication. Today plays are also done with hard work, I know I worked on a couple of plays here. That was work and time. I still respect all the people who work as a stage crew today but not like the workers of the past. I feel technology has evened out everything it has its good sides and its bad sides. I like the way the theatre is run today but I would like to see what a play liked like about 50 years ago.

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