The History of The Theatre

Greek Theatre, Roman Theatre and Medieval Theatre

During the second class, Dr Edwin had introduced us to the history of the theatre. Greek theatre had been originated by Aristotle (384-322 B.C). Sophocles was a greatest writer of tragedy. In his plays and those of the same genre, heroes and the ideals of life were depicted and glorified. Greek theatre in tragedy is easier to understand rather than Greek comedy. Besides Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euridipes also have become the tragedy play writers while Aristophanes had became the writer of the comedy plays.

Besides Greek theatre, there are also Roman Theatre and Medieval Theatre. Seneca had become the famous play writer for tragedy in Roman. Roman’s tragedy plays is very tragic. They use a lot of horror elements in their plays such as blood and kill act. While the Roman’s tragedy full of blood, the Roman’s comedy have a lot of emergence of Christianity.Difference with Greek’s and Roman’s theatre, Medieval theatre focus on the morality plays. The plays during Medieval’s era have a lot of messages to the audience.

From all those thing, I will sum up that every era of the theatre had brought the
difference impact to the world of theatre.

the elements/things that needed for a play

1. actor/actress
2. the text
3. props
4. costumes
5. the stage
6. the director

Those are the elements that needed to start a play. The first thing is the actor or the actress. If there is the texts but have no one to act, it is useless. The text will never contribute to a play. However, if there is the actor/actress without any text, it is also useless. Easy to say, they need each other.

Props, is also important to a play. Props include the background, stage setting, lighting, and audio. Without props, the play will be incomplete. Can you imagine how bored it is if the plays are done without any background, lighting and any audio that usually used to completed the plays?

Costumes are also important in a play. The costumes that used by the actor/actress seem to help the audience to get the idea of the background of the plays. As an example, if the play is about 18^th century, the costumes they’ve use will help the audience to get the picture of the era. Instead, the costumes also may help the actor/actress to play their role efficiently.

The plays usually performed on the stage. The space of the stage is very important. The plays that use a lot of scene will use bigger space and more setup.

Lastly, how a play will be done if there is no director? The director is very important to conduct the plays.

I think there are a lot more things that needed to start a play, but I just can’t think about it anymore. He…..

the reflection during the 1st class

When I saw the word teaching the language of drama on my schedule, the first thought that cross my mind was; oh my God…. Am I going to put some ages on my face again? The wrinkle on my face? Swollen eyes? Oh, no… but, what can I do? I’m the one who decided to take the course (literature) before. Hem….life must go on… no matter how hard it is. But yet, hey! I’ve past halfway of it. If last semester I’m able to struggle for teaching the language of short stories, why not drama? So, lets face it. But I do agree drama is much, much, much harder. It is about theatre... Learn how to act, to perform, learn the history of the theatre, what is the equipment that we need for the theatre. Those entire things will bring me to headache. But no matter how hard it is, I do really enjoy for having class with Dr Edwin. I realize it is not easy to learn literature. In fact, nothing is easy in this wold. :)