Essays on Theatre

“When we are on stage, we are in the here and now.” “What is important to me is not the truth outside myself, but the truth within myself.” –Constantin Stanislavsky The System It began, over a century ago, with a man named Constantin Stanislavsky. Considered...

For the sake of the audience, a theatre production relies on a well-designed and thematically relevant setting. This is because a setting is responsible for designating the audience in a particular time and place, in addition to creating a specific social or political environment. In...

The setting of Endgame is characteristic of a Beckett play; a decor reduced to the barest minimum. A naked stage, both a poetic symbol and a parody of traditional theater, with only two dust bins, a chair, and a backward painting to look at. High...

“The normal is the good smile in a child’s eyes. It is also the dead stare in a million adults.” – Peter Schaffer As the deeply conflicted psychiatrist Dysart, Richard Griffiths delivers this line with wonderful restraint to an audience in the new Broadway revival...

Samuel Beckett, in Waiting for Godot, and Ionesco, in The Bald Prima Donna, both embody the values associated with “Theatre of the Absurd”. This is achieved through their use of language, characterisation, and stage direction in order to portray the universe as being arbitrary and...

Modern Theatre is a revolutionary period in theatrical history in which different theorists and practitioners of theatre experimented with ideas that were hitherto unexplored. One of these movements, and pivotal to the anti-realistic theatre that revolted against realism and naturalism is symbolism. Symbolism was a...

The 16th – 20th centuries represented an era marked by European colonialism. This included the forcible occupation of foreign lands and the control of these lands through various mechanisms of power. In Australia, this expansion involved the deliberate separation of the colonialists form the natives...

Based on the extraordinary historic legend of the Queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe, Trisian Bernays Boudica, portrayed by Gina McKee immerses you in a rebellion you did not know you wanted to be a part of. When King Prasutagus, the King of the...

Shakespeare uses language to dramatically create an impact on the audience. He does this through the use of lexis in order to create a tone for that scene as well as foreshadowing the mood for the remainder of the play. Again, Shakespeare varies the sentence...

In Elizabethan times, only men were allowed to perform in theatre’s because it was not a respected profession. Teenage boys who hadn’t gone through puberty yet would dress up and play the women. Because it wasn’t a highly paid or respected profession, actors were usually...

Sydney’s Old Fitzroy and its theatre operation is a cultural touchstone that uniquely links generations in a town slavishly fixated to the latest fad. A bar without posturing that holds its history and popularity. Nightlife without the Old Fitzroy’s could not be a blander proposition....

Drama is a distinctive fictitious form because it is intended to be performed out on a stage before an audience. The word ‘drama’ comes from the Greek word ‘dran’ meaning to act or to do. Drama brings a story to life before our eyes, the...

In chapters 12 and 15 of Constantin Stanislavski’s An Actor Prepares, Stanislavski indicates the importance of honing one’s inner connection to a play in order to portray a realistic and sympathetic depiction of a character. Chapter 12 talks about the, “three impelling movers in our...

In this essay I am going to talk about why Elizabeth Howe claims in, The First English Actresses: Women and drama 1660“ 1700, that the first English actresses were used as sexual objects and what she means through her chapter where she explores the different...

In the age of ever-evolving technology, it is amazing how tight of a grasp musical theater still has on the American imagination. The world is saturated with different forms of entertainment including cinema, television, and streaming services, yet musical theater has remained consistently popular. Through...

A political movement is a group of people organized for the purpose of attaining a political goal or a change in society. Throughout history, political movements have driven changes in governmental policies, ruling parties, and social norms. In recent times, the anti-war movement, the ecology...

The free artist is a madly vulnerable one. She lives between blank, white walls and a bold, red door, dancing for eternity in the daydream theatre. And when her heart yearns to stir the stars, she cranks the doorknob and flees. Sashaying out of the...

Plot Annie is a Broadway musical based on a comic strip by Harold Gray called Little Orphan Annie. Annie is an eleven year old girl who lives in an orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan, along with six other girls. After two attempts Annie...

I am very eager to study musical theatre at university with likeminded people because I have a keen interest in the subject and I am hoping to persue a full career in the performing arts. I am hoping to gain a broad understanding of the...

Theater has been apart of history for many years and has had big influences. It is obvious that American and Japanese culture are very different. Where there are differences there are also some similarities that might be surprising. The one thing about theater that is...

The supply Of theater could be traced proper again once more to 8500 BCE when custom, rites and tribal dances of passing functioned as rejoice, unique forms of interactions meant to represent, and in addition create consciousness of setting and their very own lives. Ritual...

Introduction: It’s very great to make some fun at times because there are many ways to make life easy and enjoyable no matter how you work, in this case one of the ways to catch fun is to attend some events you really love. However,...

A Man for All Seasons, written by Robert Bolt, revolves around a character named Sir Thomas More. In a world full of people who define themselves by the route society lays out for them, More stands out because of his strong morals and catholic beliefs....

The idea that “The American musical sprung from slavery and immigration” certainly has its merits when examining the main currents in the American musical prior to 1942, as influences from minstrel shows and the influx of immigration introduced new performance styles and subject matters to...

Elizabeth the 1st (1533–1603) was born of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. A woman with fiery red hair and pale skin who was just as charming if not more then her father before her. She is most recognized for her victory over the Spanish...

Children’s Theatre is a mix form of theatre that includes a mixture of styles. The form of a Children’s Theatre show is a mixture of many styles working together to generate Dramatic Meaning. A fairy tale is a traditional story written specifically for children that...

Until well into the 1960s, the terms ‘theatre studies’ and ‘theatre history’ were largely synonymous, because the first and major concern of the new subject was the theatrical past. However, today theatre history is certainly not the exclusive field of teaching and research, historical study...

On the crisp fall evening, I attended a play at the theatre. The theatre present Washington Irving’s well-known speculative fiction, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The play was directed by Janette Gaines. The character, Ichabod Crane was played by Lucas Schmidt. The setting took place...

Go back in time and fall in love all over again with the nostalgic theater adaptation of the classic Julia Roberts and Richard Gere film, Pretty Woman. Experience the whirlwind love story, similar to the Cinderella concept where a prince charming falls in love with...

Aeschylus poses two impossible tasks for his heroes Eteocles in Seven Against Thebes and Agamemnon in Agamemnon. Their decisions in these moral dilemmas rest on the split between family and politics. Aeschylus presents a vision in which politics and family cannot be separated leading to...