Ch.4. Greek Style
Ancient Greek plays were written in the Classical Period, but set in the Bronze Age, seven centuries earlier. They were written for the people of Athens and the surrounding region of Attica. Most of the knowledge that we have of these productions comes from the Hellenistic age, a century after they were first written.
View ResourcesCh.5. Elizabethan Style
After the Greeks, 2,000 years passed before unquestioned greatness returned to the theatre. Plague, war, and famine wiped out much of the world's population and, for a time, theatre itself. Then a mighty England emerged as ruler of the known globe. A queen of majesty and diplomacy guided this venture and the English language exploded, increasing by a fourth in less than a century. English drama is where these new words find their element.
View ResourcesCh.6. Restoration Style
While the death of Shakespeare alone did not send the English theatre into a state of mourning, his demise coincided with a downward spiral from theatrical greatness. Politics replaced art, with those for and against the monarchy struggling for power. The 1649 execution of Charles I proved that Parliament disagreed with him on the question of the divine right of kings. Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans took control, establishing the Commonwealth, and a repressive atmosphere pervaded. Theatre was officially called corrupt and eventually outlawed, in 1652.
View ResourcesCh.7 Restoration’s Relatives (Moliere)
Molière is the second most produced Western playwright and most observers' choice for second greatest. While Shakespeare was surrounded by a half dozen other brilliant writers, Molière stood alone. Like Shakespeare, he stole or borrowed plots everywhere, using them as something to which to attach his ideas, and embraces characters from the aristocracy all the way down to country bumpkins. In fact, Molière sometimes makes the play about the bumpkin.
View ResourcesCh.7 Restoration’s Relatives (Georgian)
The population of England nearly doubled between 1650 and 1800. The group that enojoyed the greatest expansion was the Middle Class; powerful citizens, who were neither upstairs nor down. They embraced some aristocratic and some lower class virtues, struggling to design their place in society.
View ResourcesCh.8. Fusion Style
To some extent, every play is displaced when it is performed outside the place or group for which it was intended. In classical drama, it is always an option to pull the play's audience back in time and to make them feel much like the original audience. But what about plays that do not reflect their own time to begin with, do not travel well, or that change radically depending on which translator, adaptor or editor gets hold of them? Displaced plays, like displaced persons, are searching for a home.
View ResourcesCh.9. Global Style
In shops, the term generic often means a low-cost, non-name brand product. In general usage, it means ‘average’ or ‘typical’. In drama, the term genre refers to a type, class, form, movement or category. The individual production within the genre may or may not end up ‘ordinary’.
View ResourcesCh.10. Personal Style
We use groups to define ourselves, but we are not just joiners of groups. Those who are forces to be reckoned with are more than their memberships. Those who possess, master, transcend, create or influence style, find a personal signature to autograph the world. Group style is shared. Characterization gives distinct inner life. But personal style is how you leave your mark.
View ResourcesExtra Resources
You will of course wish to design your own course or rehearsals according to your specific circumstances and preferences. None of what is offered on this companion site is intended to be in any way prescriptive, but rather to provide examples of how I personally have dealt with some of the issues around teaching this subject. You may wish to adopt these documents and should certainly feel free to do so, but I suspect more often they will simply provide images, ideas and alternatives for your own fluid approach to the materials.
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