By 1600, international trade routes, which had been centered around the Mediterranean Sea for centuries, were almost entirely based around Northern Atlantic countries like Spain, France, and England. The economic explosion and widespread circulation of money that came with this were accompanied by ...

Previously, if asked why I wanted to be an actor, I\'d say I didn\'t know. I just loved to act. Of course, there\'s the obvious fame and fortune but that\'s not enough when choosing a career, because if you don\'t attain that fame and fortune, you have to love it enough to keep doing it. What makes ...

"That is the beauty of live theatre," said local actor Roger Principe after being disciplined by director Dan Schulz for failing to remember a specific line in the musical "Brigadoon." Schulz, however, agreed that Principe was correct. The line can only be recited once during the performance, and ...

Constantin Stanislavski was born on January 17th 1863, in Moscow. Stanislavski evolved his own system of preparing plays which resulted in remarkable ensemble acting. After he finished school, Stanislavski did not like the melodramatic style of acting which was pop...

Drama is an art, and the artists are actors. Just like any other art form, proper training in theater is essential to gain mastery in the skill of acting. There are many approaches to teaching acting. Gordon Phillips, a seasoned professional in the field, has developed a very interesting method. ...

Tonight I saw the play \"Overruled\" by George Bernard Shaw. I was so impressed by the ascents they used and the dialect they developed for each of their characters. All of the actors seemed very well-rehearsed and prepared for their roles. They all had direct actions and used the given circumstance...

Max Reinhardt can be described as one of the greatest theatrical directors in history. A great innovator and a master of spectacle, he staged gigantic productions full of pageantry and color. Reinhardt became one of the first theatrical directors to achieve widespread recognition as a major creativ...

Ballyhoo is a play about a Jewish family in the south around Christmas. The play takes place in a house, mainly in one room, the family room. There are four people who live in the house. A working man who looks to be in his early fifties, his sister who is probably in her late forties, her daughte...

Pouring of the Sun & All That Fall There are numerous techniques that can be used in a performance to help create the world of a story for the audience. Props, backdrops, and costume are just three of many tools that effectively aid actors in creating this world. All That Fall by Samuel Becke...

Standing in front of the crowd, all dressed up in their costumes, everything is just clicking. The crowd loves it, and the play comes to an end. You feel the energy building up in the theatre, an energy that you\'ve never felt. The lights go out and the curtain closes, then the actors come out to bo...

Closer, performed on November 26, 2000 at the Mark Taper Forum, was an excellent show. The play is about two men and two women who are thrown together by chance. Throughout the play, they connect, disconnect and reconnect in bewildering combinations with each other as they try to get \"closer\" All ...

COSTUMES AND MASKS IN GREEK DRAMA Greek Drama originated at the beginning of the 5th Century. It began as religious festivals and continued on to purposes such as entertainment and dealing with political, social, moral or ethical issues of the time. There were many famous Greek Playwrights such ...

A critique on Thirty Three Swoons In the play Thirty Three Swoons, which is a collection of four farces written by Anton Palovish Chekhov. The play consists of these short productions in order, Swan Song, The Bear, The Proposal, and The Wedding. Each of them their own unique plays that pokes...

To fully explain the conditions governing Classical Greek Theatre it is first necessary to go back in history to understand its origins. Greek Theatre began over 2,500 years ago – 2,000 years before Shakespeare – in its earliest form it took the form of religious rites, involving songs and danc...

Brecht was reacting against the theatre of the time; this was because traditional theatre had fantastic sets, elaborate costumes, sentimental music, and sloppy emotion. He thought this type of theatre was aesthetically wrong as he felt a good story had been taken and made sentimental. He also believ...

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Western theatre was born in Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC, the ancient Athenians created a theatre culture that has influenced theatre through history. They created plays that are still considered among the greatest works of world drama. Their achievement ...

Account of live performance: Abomination On Friday 24th, I watched a production of the book 'Abomination' in the school assembly room at Bitterne Park School. To perform the play 'abomination' I thought the actors and actresses would have to be good as I had heard from fr...

In Caryll Churchill's collaborative drama "Cloud Nine," there are some very interesting resonances between acts one and two. As readers, we have to pay close attention to the gender and ethnic background's of the actors, and the significance of who they are portraying. Throughout this play, there ...

Very early in history, the Greeks began to collect poems that had been written in honor of their brave ancestors. These poems were often recited in public and almost everyone in the city would come to listen. Many people think that Greek entertainment evolved from these poems, but actually it did ...

In the 1800s the definition of an \'ideal life\' came into question. The industrial revolutions led to an enormous amount of poverty and crime. Auguste Comte\'s philosophy of positivism was about studying the betterment of humans and sociality which is the highest form of science. Charles Darwin rei...

In 500 B.C., Greek theatre was the most popular form of entertainment. It is important to understand that drama began in the Greek world as a form of religious ritual, but it was good entertainment especially if it contained a lot of blood or gore. Greek drama was not only performed in the theatre b...

A brief look at the history of dramatic representation shows a long and tumultuous past. I am just going to briefly touch down on medieval times. Because of its pagan associations, early Christians regarded the theater as disgraceful and held it in low esteem. Actors were forbidden to become memb...

Dramatic short films are some of the most expressive and magnificent artistic forms of art. It is the telling of a story through the perceptions of its creator making it truly representative of the artist\'s outlook on life. A year ago one of my friends purchased a digital camcorder and decided to m...

A Midsummer Night\'s Dream is an excellent, humorous play written by Shakespeare. It is highly characteristic of Shakespeare, bringing several subplots into one masterful story. I have seen this play presented in a classical format and I found it thoroughly entertaining. Directed by Robin McKee, ...

How can one describe any of Beckett\'s work? It is truly difficult to even begin to convey what his productions might stand for. If there were only one word to describe Beckett\'s work, it would have to be \"unique,\" for seldom does one come across theater so innovative. To acquire a taste of ...