Course Profile

This course requires students to create and perform dramatic presentations. Students will analyse, interpret, and perform dramatic works from various cultures and time periods. Students will research various styles and conventions that could be used in their presentations, and analyse the functions of playwrights, directors, actors, designers, technicians, and audiences.

Students actively explore the development of Western theatre forms from ritual to modern, gaining insight into universal themes and historical perspectives on humankind.

Course Overview

By examining the development of Western theatre forms throughout history, students learn about the variety of ways in which theatre was used to tell stories to audiences in different eras. Students actively explore different forms of theatre through interpretation and performance and use historical and contemporary text sources from Europe and North America.

The culminating activity in the course involves the transformation of a text source through interpretation and performance to reflect one or more historical periods or forms from Western theatre history.

Scope & Sequence

Unit Descriptions

Unit I: Ritual and Greek Theatre

Students begin this unit with the origins of ritual. Early peoples used ritual to understand their world and to pass on traditions and knowledge. They also used ritual to influence events, to glorify, to entertain, to give pleasure and to worship. While some evidence may suggest that rituals were performed as far back as the Ice Age, the earliest known recording of a ritual is attributed to the ancient Egyptians called the The Triumph of Horace. Although rituals of early people may differ, common elements include: music, dance, costume, make up, mask, elaborate movement, and chant.

Students will explore the important connection between Greek religion and Greek theatre. Western theatre as we know it today, where audience members purchase a ticket and sit down to view a performance, can be attributed to ancient Greek festivals that worshipped their gods. Students will learn about City Dionysia, the spring festival honoring Dionysus the god of wine and fertility, and the elements of Greek theatre such as: chorus, mask, spectacle, diction, and plot.

An examination of this time period should also include a study of the playwrights: The Tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides; and The Comic Writers: Aristophanes and Menander. Students will present assigned scenes from Antigone, Medea, Oedipus Rex or The Birds and will learn about Thespis, regarded as the first actor; deus ex machina; the role of the chorus; the importance of myth; and the influence of the amphitheatre on today's theatres.

Unit II: Medieval Theatre in Western Europe - Writing in Ancient Style 

During the Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, there was little to no theatrical activity for nearly 400 years. The Church, which had banned theatre at the fall of Rome, began to introduce short dramatized scenes into the mass called a "trope". The trope began in France but soon spread across Europe. These short scenes gave way to small liturgical dramas enacted by the priests and the choir boys. This in turn led to whole stories being enacted. With the addition of comedy, the plays attracted large crowds and were eventually moved out of the church to the marketplace by the 13th and 14th centuries. Through direct instruction or independent learning, students will learn about the earliest known female dramatist, Hrosvitha (ca. 935 - 1001) and the difference in Miracle, Mystery and Morality plays. Students will study the impact this time period had on the development of theatre.

Students may enact scenes from Everyman (morality play), or write and perform their own short Morality plays. Students may create Mystery plays (based upon bible stories) using scenes from Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat as sources for scene building. After exploring Miracle plays and how they are based upon the lives of the saints, students will adopt the form of the Miracle play to tell the story of significant figures or heroes from their own culture.

Unit III: Commedia Dell'Arte 

This unit explores Commedia Dell'Arte from Italy, 1400-1600. Commedia dell'Arte was professional improvised comedy performed by a troupe of actors typically made up of 7 men and 3 women. Rather than written scripts, performances were agreed upon comic scenarios with plot outlines posted backstage before each performance.The troupe would ad-lib actions, songs and dances around a skeleton plot of love, intrigue, disguises and people working at cross purposes. The actors in the troupes played the same stock characters throughout most of their careers. These characters were easily recognized by audiences because of the masks and costumes they wore, as well as their actions, mannerisms, and diction. Students will explore the stock characters: Pantalone, Innamorato, Arlecchino, Pedrolino, Columbina, Strega, Il Dottore, Il Capitano, Pulchinello and Brighella. Terms such as zanni, lazzi, and straight characters, and the use of masks will also be studied. Students may be exposed to various companies such as: The Uniti, The Gelosi,The Fideli, and The Confidenti; actors such as Angelo Beolco, La Barbera, Francesco and Isabella Andreini; and playwrights: Machiavelli and Goldini.

Students will understand the influence of commedia on Western comedy through such activities as viewing the video Ta-Dah! featuring Canadian performer, Derek Scott, a modern day example of a clown (see BLM#5 D. Scott Worksheet); creating a Comedy Sketch utilizing the properties of comedy (see sample lesson plan); comparing commedia stock characters to characters from modern day sitcoms i.e. The Simpsons; or enacting scenes from Mandragola by Machiavelli or Carlo Goldini's The Servant of Two Masters. 

Unit IV: Elizabethan Theatre (1558-1603)

This unit will focus on the era of theatre named after Queen Elizabeth, daughter of Henry the VIII. Some highlights from this time period include:

  • A Repertory System: same company, same group of plays, actors might double up on their roles
  • Scripts that combine blank verse and prose
  • The first permanent theatre built in England
  • Men playing all the female roles
  • Tragedy, Comedy and History plays are all popular.

Students may study: the poets: Ovid, Shakespeare; the historians: Plutarch and Holingshed; the playwrights (often acted as the director): Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Ben Johnson, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, John Webster; the patrons: The Queen, Lord Strange; the actors: Richard Burbage,  Will Kemp, Robert Armin, Edward Alleyn, hired men, apprentices, and double casting;  the companies: The Queen's Men, The Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men); and the theatres: The Theatre, The Globe Theatre, The Blackfriars Theatre. Students will explore the development of costumes, lighting, scenery, music, acting style, and audience.

Students will enact scenes from one of Shakespeare's plays. Teachers may survey the class to see which plays students may have already studied and which school texts are available. Individual students may also act out Shakespeare's soliloquies/sonnets.

Unit V: Restoration and European Theatre

Students will explore the theatre of the Spanish Golden Age, French Neoclassical theatre, and the Restoration period in England. The Spanish golden age produced a number of important playwrights who wrote many significant plays: Lope de Vega, a contemporary of Shakespeare, wrote some 1500 plays, as well as, New Art of Writing Plays in Our Time (1609), one of the first studies in playwriting. Students will learn how Tirso de Molina's Trickster of Seville, is the source play for the Don Juan character of Moliere and George Bernard Shaw. Spanish acting troupes, unlike Elizabethan companies, included women and women were allowed to perform in religious dramas. In 1587, women were legally permitted to work as performers.

In France, we have Moliere, known for his comedies and Racine, for his tragedies. In France, Moliere is comparable to Shakespeare, as plays such as Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Miser continue to be played around the world. French influences were present in English drama and style, gossip, intrigue and plot complications became hallmarks of English comedies. Students will study Aphra Benh, the first female English playwright to earn a living by writing, and William Wycherley and his most famous play The Country Wife. Students will trace the evolution of the theatre space and the progression of women players in theatre.

Unit VI: Nineteenth Century Drama

Students will explore the period 1800 - 1875 and three major forms of drama: Romanticism, Melodrama, and the Well-Made Play. Students will explore the Romantic period and its interest in creating mood and atmosphere and its movement away form neoclassical rules. Students will be exposed to Goethe's Faust and Buchner's Woyzeck, and study Melodrama, a theatrical form popularized by the French in which plays were written to arouse strong emotions. Students will study the conventions of Melodrama such as stock characters, clearly delineated heroes and heroines, strong moral tone, and exaggerated delivery of speech and motion. Comparisons to modern day Melodramas such as soap operas and films by Alfred Hitchcock will be made. Students will study the Well-Made Play structure and understand its emphasis on cause and effect development with action revolving around a secret known to the audience but not to its characters. Scenes of Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest will be performed by students. Students will also explore the development of the proscenium theatre, the box set, gas lighting and the duke of Saxe-Meiningen as one of the first modern directors.

Unit VII: Modern Theatre 

This unit will begin with a focus on The Moscow Arts Theatre formed in Russia by director Constantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938). Under his leadership, the actors in his company studied their characters in great detail. This led Stanislavsky to develop a system for acting that can be found in his books: An Actor Prepares and Building a Character. Hallmarks of this system include emotion memory and moment-to-moment acting to bring as much reality as possible to the scene. Playwright Anton Chekhov provided the Moscow Arts with many plays in which all the characters aspire to a better life.

In America, a group of actors, highly influenced by the Moscow Arts Theatre, formed their own company called, The Group Theatre, in 1931. The founding members included: Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford. Other members included Stella Adler and Elia Kazan. Their most famous playwright was Clifford Odets. When the group disbanded in 1941, several of the members went on to teach and direct, popularizing the Stanislavsky method.

Students will study the realists: Ibsen, Strindberg, Shaw, Chekhov, the Moscow Arts Theatre and the Group Theatre; and anti-realists, symbolists, expressionists, futurists, dadaists, surrealists, absurdists such as: Meyerhold, Artaud, Brecht, and Grotowski. Students will present scenes from a variety of plays. Students may watch Stella Adler's video, Awake and Dream (see BLM#6 S. Adler Worksheet).

Culminating Activity

Transforming the Old to the Now

Students will explore a period of theatre history and create a presentation that will inform, involve and engage the class. Some of the periods may include: Theatre in France (1500-1700), The Theatre of China (1300-1700), The Theatre of Japan (Noh, Kabuki), Realistic Drama (1875-1915),  Epic Theatre, Absurdism, The Anti- Realistic Theatre (1864-1950), Musical Theatre, Canadian Theatre
(Suggested topics come from Brockett's book History of Theatre - see Resources)

To extend the scope of the course, encourage students to explore: The Theatre of China (1300-1700), The Theatre of Japan (Noh, Kabuki), Drama of India (Sanskrit, Kathakali), Korean Theatre (mask dance, puppet plays), etc.

Inform: present the research

Involve: provide class with a hands on activity during the presentation such as brainstorming a list, quick quiz, survey, call for volunteers, a short scene to explore, etc. 

Engage: select a scene from the era and perform it. Or, present an interview with a director/playwright of the time period.

Resources

Websites:

Commedia Dell'Arte- https://isebastiani.com/Scenarios.html

Audio/Video Resources:

http://www.derekscott.ca/dvdsvideos.html, Ta-Dah! featuring Derek Scott

Stella Adler, Awake and Dream, 1992, American Masters VHS

The Spirit of the Mask, 1992, VHS

Instructional Strategies

Direct Instruction: 
Lecture, use of choice boards, warm up activities, exploration activities
Indirect Instruction:

Reflective discussions, probing questions

Independent Study:

Reflective journals, writing in role,  use of graphic organizers, research questions

Interactive Instruction:
Brainstorming, peer partnering, whole group discussion, think-pair-share,  scene study

Instructional Skills:
Explaining, demonstrating, questioning
Use of interviewing, hot seating and improvisation:
Requires students to be in role for exploration and discovery purposes

Glossary of Terms Specific to Course

Greek Theatre

Ritual- an action or activity that is repeated in the same way each time it is performed, based upon beliefs and traditions
Dionysus- god of wine, harvest and fertility whose festival is celebrated in March
Dithyramb- religious chants that were written down, considered to be the first scripts
Playwright- in Greek theatre the playwright wrote the script and often played the main part himself
Choregus- sponsor of the playwrights/productions
Eccyclema- a wheeled device that could be rolled out to portray a tableau
Deus ex machina- literally means god of the machine,  a device that would lower actors onto the stage like gods and became a convention used by some playwrights to wrap up lose ends in a plot
Chorus- group of people who move and speak in unison
Thespis - considered the first actor as he stepped away from the chorus and spoke alone

Medieval Theatre

Hrosvitha- a nun who wrote plays
Miracle play- based upon bible stories
Mystery play- based upon the live of the saints
Morality play-based upon right verses wrong
Pageant wagons-audience remains stationary and the actors move en route to the audience
Mansions- actors remain stationary and audience members move from mansion to mansion
Trade guild sponsorship- trade guilds sponsor the productions ex: carpenters build the mansions, bakers provides special effect of "Hell's Mouth", a burning inferno

Commedia Dell'Arte

Stock characters- various roles in the company, easily identified by the audience, made up of straight characters and clowns, often the actors played the same role for their whole life
Zanni- the clowns and servants of the commedia, always masked (the word zaney is derived from this)
Lazzi- comic stage business of the clowns, meant to extend the commedia performance and entertain the audience, often not connected to the plot
Masks- worn only by the zanni
Slapstick- a stick worn at the side of Arlecchino

Elizabethan Theatre

The Theatre- built outside the city limits of London to avoid town council ban on theatre, built by James Burbage
The Globe Theatre- built by the Chamberlain's Men with original wood from The Theatre,
The Blackfriars Theatre- covered theatre with seating, possible footlights, allowed for quieter and more subtle work by the actors
Plutarch-historian, born 100AD, wrote book about Greek/Roman heroes
Holingshed- historian, wrote book about the Kings and Queens of England, 1587
Christopher Marlowe- playwright, same age as Shakespeare, wrote "Tamberlaine"
Thomas Kyd- playwright, wrote "The Spanish Tragedy"
Richard Burbage- son of James, top actor of his day, Shakespeare wrote for him
Edward Alleyn- top actor of his day, Marlowe wrote for him
Ben Jonson- playwright, major influence on Shakespeare

Restoration and European Theatre

Restoration drama - English drama after the restoration of the monarchy, from 1660 to 1700 
Neoclassical theatre - theatre that draws upon Western classical culture (typically from the ancient Greeks and Romans)
Sentimental comedy - Comedies that reaffirmed middle class morality where the virtuous were rewarded and the wicked punished

Nineteenth Century Theatre

Romanticism - Movement that developed as a reaction to neoclassicism. Romantics sought to free the writer from all rules; they emphasized mood and atmosphere rather than content.
 
Well made play - a play with a workable plot, shallow characters and trivial ideas. Today this term is used in a derogatory way

Modern Theatre

Stanislavsky- founder and director of the Moscow Arts Theatre
The Group Theatre- American acting company with several founding members, influenced by the Moscow Arts Theatre
Harold Clurman- founding member of The Group Theatre, author of The Fervent Years 
Stella Adler- founding member of The Group Theatre, went on to establish her own acting school
Lee Strasberg- founding member of The Group Theatre, went on to establish his own acting school: The Actor's Studio
Realism - an attempt to portray real life people and events onstage

Examples of Activities

Unit I: Ritual and Greek Theatre

During the Ritual unit, the teacher and students may wish to examine the rituals of Aboriginal peoples, including the importance of dancing and drumming, and mask. The documentary, The Spirit of the Mask (1992), gives a rare view into the powerful, unusual masks of the Pacific Northwest coast native peoples and is hosted Wade Davis. The video makes strong connections between the power of the mask in rituals of the Pacific Northwest coast native peoples and the significance of modern day rituals for non Aboriginal peoples.
The teacher and students may also wish to explore environmental issues through this unit. For example, students may select an issue such as global warming, loss of rain forests, etc. and determine what key message they would like the viewer to explore. Students will then design a ritual to convey the message. 
Likewise, the teacher and students may wish to explore the use of ritual through social justice issues such as the need for clean water, food and shelter, disparity between rich and poor and those with access and those without. Students may select a country on which to focus or a social justice issue from their own community that speaks to them. Students will create a ritual to convey their learning or intended message.

Unit VII: Modern Theatre

Students can view the Stella Adler video Awake and Dream, 1992 (see BLM#6 for viewing questions). Students may explore acting exercises made famous by Strasberg and others such as: The Convincing Exercise where students convince their classmates that they feel passionately about something that is of importance to them; or Animal Exercises where students observe an animal and then imitate their behaviour through movement and gesture.

Assessment and Evaluation Strategies

Journals
Classroom observation
Character sketches
Unit tests and quizzes
Scene studies
Student-Teacher Conferences
Use of rubrics, checklists, anecdotal comments
Assessment for Learning: clear learning goal,  teacher- student conference, feedback
Assessment as Learning: self assessment, peer assessment, checklist, feedback, sidecoaching
Assessment of Learning: use of rubric, journals, unit test, scene studies