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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

It is clear to see that new purpose built structures were a big reason for the success of theatres, however both patronage and the rise in wealth throughout London at the time rival them for the main reason for the growing popularity of theatres.The first...

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,...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

“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...

Kooza first premiered in 2007 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada where circus conglomerate Cirque du Soleil, the largest theatrical producer on this earth round, was founded in 1983 as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cariter’s voyage to Canada. Defining “nouveau cirque” by combining...

Playwrights, unlike the authors of novels and other forms of literature, employ the use of production elements and stage designs in the development of their works. These additional aspects present within the creation of theatre grant playwrights with the opportunity to support and develop the...

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...

Writing in the Germany of the 1920s, Brecht shattered the then staple notions of dramatic theatre, with his propagation of the Epic theatre. In terms of play righting, his was a move away from the Isben model of the “well made” play; in terms of...

Within the Australian Theatre, David Williamson and Alex Buzo used provoking images and ideas to confront the cultural issues that Australia faces with the use of distinctly Australian stereotypes and issues. Using the ‘ocker’ persona of Australia as well as societies power of masculinity over...

This week, I chose to read Elizabeth Howe’s article “The Arrival of the Actress”. The portion of the article that stood out to me the most was the discussion regarding the fact that there has been great deal of confusion as to exactly what solidified...

Federico Garcia Lorca titled his “un-performable” play that “belonged to the future” El Publico. This name could mean two things: el publico, the audience, or el publico, he who is public. Both meanings are two sides of the same coin, the beating heart of Lorca’s...