The Essential Theatre

by Brockett, Oscar G.; Ball, Robert J.

• ISBN13: 9780155072299
• ISBN10: 0155072293
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-06-18
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

This introductory text acquaints students with the theatreùits artistic and social functions, its development, and how each of the theatre arts functions as a unit. In the thirty-five years since it was first published, THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE has established a reputation as one of the most comprehensive, authoritative surveys of the theatre in academia. THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE works in tandem with its companion anthology, PLAYS FOR THE THEATRE (7/e), edited by Oscar G. Brockett with Robert Ball. The scripts in PLAYS serve as the foundation for discussion of the various types of theatrical experience explored in THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
PART ONE FOUNDATIONS	2	(56)
The Nature of Theatre	4	(19)
The Basic Elements of Theatre	5	(5)
Theatre as a Form of Art	10	(7)
Special Qualities of Theatre	17	(3)
Art and Value	20	(3)
Performance, Audience, and Critic	23	(14)
Watching a Performance	24	(3)
Who Is the Audience?	27	(10)
The Audience and Critical Perspective	30	(3)
The Basic Problems of Criticism	33	(3)
Qualities Needed by the Critic	36	(1)
The Playscript	37	(21)
On Reading a Play	38	(1)
Dramatic Action	39	(1)
Methods of Organizing Dramatic Action	40	(2)
Plot	42	(3)
The Beginning	42	(2)
The Middle	44	(1)
The End	44	(1)
Character and Characterization	45	(1)
Thought	46	(1)
Diction	47	(1)
Music	47	(2)
Spectacle	49	(2)
From in Drama	51	(2)
Tragedy	51	(1)
Comedy	51	(1)
Other Forms	52	(1)
Style in Drama	53	(3)
Prologue	56	(2)
PART TWO VARIETIES OF THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE	58	(222)
Festival Theatre: Greek, Roman, and Medieval Theatre Experiences	60	(45)
The Theatre of Ancient Greece	61	(2)
The Theatre of Dionysus	63	(4)
The Performers	67	(4)
Oedipus the King and Its Performance	71	(6)
Greek Comedy	77	(2)
The Roman Theatre Experience	79	(2)
The Roman Theatrical Context	81	(3)
The Menaechmi	84	(2)
Other Roman Drama and Theatre	86	(3)
The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages	89	(2)
Trade Guilds and the Corpus Christi Festival	91	(2)
Conventions of Medieval Theatre	93	(3)
The Wakefield Cycle	96	(2)
Noah and His Sons	98	(3)
Other Medieval Theatre and Drama	101	(3)
Comparing Greek, Roman, and Medieval	104	(1)
Creating a Professional Theatre: Elizabethan England, Italian Commedia dell'Arte, and Seventeenth-Century France	105	(42)
Creating a Professional Theatre	106	(2)
Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre	108	(6)
Hamlet	114	(5)
The Theatre Experience in Renaissance Italy	119	(6)
Commedia dell'Arte	125	(7)
The Servant of Two Masters	132	(4)
The French Background	136	(3)
Moliere and Seventeenth-Century French Theatre Practice	139	(2)
Tartuffe	141	(4)
The Elizabethan, Italian, and French Traditions	145	(2)
From Melodrama to Realism	147	(31)
The Emergence of Melodrama	148	(8)
Monte Cristo	156	(6)
The Advent of Realism	162	(1)
Realism and Naturalism	163	(3)
A Doll's House	166	(3)
Zola and Naturalism	169	(1)
The Emergence of the Director	170	(4)
The Independent Theatre Movement	174	(4)
The Modernist Temperament: 1885--1940	178	(28)
Symbolism	179	(2)
Appia, Craig, and Reinhardt	181	(3)
New Artistic Movements	184	(5)
``The Hairy Ape''	189	(4)
The Postwar Era	193	(2)
The Federal Theatre and the Group Theatre	195	(2)
Epic Theatre	197	(2)
The Good Woman of Setzuan	199	(3)
Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty	202	(4)
Reevaluation, Decentralization, and Subsidization	206	(34)
Postwar American Theatre	207	(1)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	208	(4)
The Musical in Postwar America	212	(3)
Postwar Europe	215	(3)
Absurdism	218	(1)
Happy Days	218	(2)
Decentralization and Subsidization	220	(2)
The Postwar British Theatre	222	(4)
Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway	226	(4)
Regional Theatres	230	(2)
Subsidization of the Arts in the United States	232	(2)
Broadway and Musicals after Subsidization	234	(3)
American Playwrights after 1960	237	(3)
Contemporary Diversity	240	(40)
Alternative Theatre Groups	241	(2)
Poor and Environmental Theatres	243	(3)
Multimedia, Happenings, and Performance Art	246	(5)
Postmodernism	251	(2)
Trends in Directing	253	(2)
Cultural Diversity	255	(1)
African American Theatre	256	(3)
The Colored Museum	259	(2)
Latino Theatre	261	(3)
Roosters	264	(2)
Asian American Theatre	266	(1)
Yankee Dawg You Die	267	(4)
Native American Theatre	271	(2)
Women's Theatre	273	(1)
An American Daughter	274	(2)
Gay and Lesbian Theatre	276	(2)
Epilogue	278	(2)
PART THREE THEATRICAL PRODUCTION	280	(163)
Theatrical Space and Production Design	282	(21)
The Influence of Theatrical Space	283	(2)
The Proscenium-Arch Theatre	285	(1)
The Thrust Stage	285	(1)
The Arena Stage	286	(2)
Flexible Space	288	(2)
Auxiliary Spaces	290	(1)
Using the Theatrical Space	291	(1)
Production Design	292	(2)
The Elements of Visual Design	294	(2)
The Principles of Design	296	(4)
Sound in Design	300	(2)
The Integrated Production Design	302	(1)
Playwriting and Dramaturgy	303	(15)
The Playwright	304	(7)
The Dramaturg	311	(1)
Dramaturgy and Literary Management	311	(4)
Production Dramaturgy	315	(3)
Directing and Producing	318	(29)
The Producer	319	(3)
The Director	322	(12)
Analyzing and Studying the Script	323	(1)
Approaches to Directing	324	(4)
The Director and the Designers	328	(2)
Auditions and Casting	330	(4)
Working with the Actors	334	(1)
The Director's Means	334	(6)
Stage Images	335	(1)
Movement, Gesture, and Business	336	(2)
Voice and Speech	338	(2)
Rehearsing the Play	340	(5)
The Director's Assistants	345	(1)
Thinking about the Director's Work	345	(2)
Acting	347	(21)
The Actor's Training and Means	349	(17)
The Actor's Instrument	349	(3)
Observation and Imagination	352	(1)
Concentration	352	(1)
Stage Vocabulary	353	(2)
Scene Study	355	(1)
From Training to Performing	355	(2)
Creating a Role	357	(1)
Psychological and Emotional Preparation	358	(1)
Movement, Gesture, and Business	358	(3)
Vocal Characterization	361	(1)
Memorization and Line Readings	362	(1)
Refining the Role	363	(1)
Dress Rehearsals and Performance	363	(3)
Thinking about the Actor's Work	366	(2)
Scenic Design	368	(24)
The Functions of Scenic Design	369	(2)
The Scene Designer's Skills	371	(2)
Working Plans and Procedures	373	(5)
Basic Scenic Elements	378	(4)
Soft-Scenery Units	378	(1)
Framed Units	379	(1)
Three-Dimensional Units	380	(1)
Innovative Materials and Methods	380	(2)
Assembling Scenery	382	(1)
Painting Scenery	383	(2)
Shifting Scenery Onstage	385	(3)
Set Decoration and Properties	388	(1)
Technical Rehearsals, Dress Rehearsals, and Performances	389	(1)
The Scene Designer's Assistants and Coworkers	390	(1)
Thinking about the Scene Designer's Work	390	(2)
Costume Design and Makeup	392	(23)
The Functions of Costume Design	393	(3)
The Costume Designer's Skills	396	(2)
Working Plans and Procedures	398	(3)
Realizing the Designs	401	(4)
The Costume Designer and the Actor	405	(2)
Makeup	407	(5)
The Function of Makeup	407	(1)
The Makeup Plot	407	(1)
Types of Makeup	407	(2)
Makeup Materials	409	(3)
The Costume Parade, Dress Rehearsals, and Performances	412	(1)
The Costume Designer's Assistants	412	(1)
Thinking about Costume and Makeup	413	(2)
Lighting Design, Sound, and Multimedia	415	(28)
The Controllable Qualities of Light	416	(1)
The Functions of Stage Lighting	417	(2)
The Lighting Designer's Skills	419	(2)
The Lighting Designer's Working Procedures	421	(2)
Organizing the Distribution of Light	423	(3)
Lighting Instruments, Accessories, and Controlboards	426	(6)
Lighting Instruments	427	(3)
Accessories	430	(1)
Connecting Panels and Controlboards	431	(1)
Setting the Lights, Rehearsals, and Performances	432	(2)
The Lighting Designer's Employment and Assistants	434	(1)
Sound	435	(3)
Mixed-Media Productions	438	(1)
Thinking about Stage Lighting and Sound	439	(3)
Afterword	442	(1)
Appendix Opportunities to Work in the Theatre	443	(10)
Theatre as an Avocation	444	(1)
Theatre in Education	444	(3)
Theatre for Children and Youth	444	(2)
Secondary School Theatre	446	(1)
Undergraduate Colleges and Universities	446	(1)
Graduate Schools	446	(1)
University Resident Theatres	446	(1)
The Community Theatre	447	(1)
Summer Theatres	447	(1)
Not-for-Profit Professional Companies	448	(1)
For-Profit Professional Theatres	449	(2)
Directors	449	(1)
Actors	449	(1)
Stage Managers	449	(1)
Designers	450	(1)
Scenery, Costume, Lighting, and Property Crews	450	(1)
Others	450	(1)
Special Employment Opportunities	451	(2)
Glossary	453	(12)
Bibliography	465	(16)
Index	481