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History of Theatre
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| closet drama | a play intended to be read rather than performed |
| Passion Play | a play that presents the last week of the life of Christ |
| satirist | the term for an author who mocks human vices and follies by using wit and humor |
| amphitheater | a circular arena surrounded by tiers of seats |
| mansions | a series of acting stations that represented biblical settings; used in Saint and Mystery plays |
| pathos | an element in drama that evokes sorrow and compassion |
| cycle | a series of short plays that depict religious history from creation through doomsday |
| Mystery play | a play based on biblical history |
| Moral Interlude | a type of play that evolved from the Morality plays; these plays were shorter and included humorous incidents |
| deux ex machina | an artificial plot device that an author introduces late in a play to resolve difficulties |
| folk drama | secular drama that took place during planting time, harvest time, and Christmas; developed simultaneously with liturgical drama |
| Aeschylus | the Greek tragedian responsible for increasing the number of actors; he wrote the Oresteia, the only surviving Greek trilogy |
| chorus | a group of characters that explain the situation and comment on the action of the play |
| Aristophanes | the Greek satirist whose first nine plays represent Old Comedy |
| Dionysus | the Greek god who was honored by the dramatic contests that began in the sixth century B.C. |
| Saint play | a play based on the legends of saints |
| trilogy | a series of three plays related by theme, myth, or character |
| Andronicus | he received a commission to write the first work of Roman drama |
| Seneca | an ancient Roman writer of bombastic tragedies; his plays were closet dramas |
| Euripides | the Greek tragedian who was a master of pathos; he wrote Medea |
| pageant wagon | a stage on wheels that was used by the medieval guilds of the fourteenth century |
| Morality play | a play primarily concerned with teaching right and wrong |
| Sophocles | the Greek tragedian who wrote Oedipus Rex and Antigone |
| thespian | a term often used to refer to an actor |
| Menander | the author responsible for New Comedy |
| soliloquy | a speech delivered by an actor alone onstage that revels the character's innermost thoughts |
| tarras | the balcony on the second floor of an Elizabethan playhouse |
| William Shakespeare | the Elizabethan playwright who is often considered the greatest dramatist of all time; he wrote Romeo and Juliet |
| Eugene O'Neill | American dramatist known for such works as Long Day's Journey into Night and The Hairy Ape |
| Goethe | the German dramatist who wrote Faust |
| commedia dell'arte | professional improvised comedy that used stock characters |
| opera | an attempt by Italian playwrights during the Renaissance to revive the music of ancient Greek drama |
| No (Noh) | created by Zeami Morokiyo, this type of Japanese drama combines words, dance, and music that are rhythmically coordinated to the events in the story |
| Globe Theatre | the Elizabethan playhouse with which Shakespeare was associated |
| Restoration | the time period following the Puritan Rebellion; theater was decreed legal once again |
| lazzi | humorous bits of stage business set apart from the main action; used in the commedia dell'arte |
| raked stage | an acting area that is slanted upward away from the audience |
| innamorati and innamoratae | upper-class young lovers of the commedia dell'arte |
| Bunraku | a type of Japanese theater that features four-foot-tall marionettes; also called doll theater |
| Stanislavski | Russian author whose works are used as the basis for defining method acting |
| the humors | a combination of elements and body fluids that the Elizabethans believed to have an effect on personality |
| Renaissance | term meaning "rebirth" ; the time between the medieval and modern ages in western Europe |
| scenarios | plot outlines that were posted backstage before each performance of the commedia dell'arte troupes |
| groundlings | the lower-class playgoers of the Elizabethan era who stood in the pit to watch the performances |
| Kabuki | a type of Japanese theater that developed as entertainment for the general public; it borrows aspects of No and Bunraku |
| Christopher Marlowe | the Elizabethan dramatist who introduced the first important use of blank verse; he wrote Tamburlaine the Great |
| the Barrymores | the family of actors that links the early American stage with the modern |
| Ben Jonson | the Elizabethan author who is known as a master of English comedy; he wrote Volpone |
| Peking Opera | Chinese drama that incorporates historical, spoken, dance, and song drama and ballet |
| "Thinking Person's Society" | Shaw's theory that states, "Of every 1,000 people, 700 do not think, 299 are idealists, and 1 thinks." |
Created by:
okarr
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