Greek Theatre History

Theatre is an art many underestimate, but all enjoy. Whether you realize it or not, theatre is incorporated into everyone’s daily lives. Every person who has watched a tv show, movie, play, or musical has witnessed the wonders of this art. Those who were featured in these performances get to experience the wonders of such. However, theatre isn’t an easy task to carry out. In order to be a good performer, one must understand the necessities of being on stage, develop a connection with the character they seek to present, and give themselves an advantage by learning the background knowledge of performing as a whole.

Back in the time of Athens, theatre was simply singing dithyrambs.These dithyrambs were ancient hymns whose purpose was to worship

On April 23rd, 1564, William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. At the age of eighteen, he was wed to Anne Hathaway, who was “a woman seven of eight years his senior,” as stated in the article “William Shakespeare” posted on poets.org. They birthed three children, two of which were daughters by the names of Susanna and Judith. Their third child was a son who unfortunately died in his early ages, and there is little record covering his existence. Most of Shakespeare’s whereabouts and lifestyle were kept at a mystery, so it’s hard to justify exactly who he was as a person. There is more accurate rumors that around 1585, he ran off to London in order to start his life as an actor. From there, he began to write poems of his choice. His writings were viewed as scandalous and went against society’s standards. Unlike most writers of his time, he put his focus into sensuality, murderous acts, manipulation, jealousy, and other factors that live in reality in which people choose to, for say, “keep under the table.” Throughout his plays and poems, thousands of words were of his own creation. He wrote over thirty plays, many of which are still popular to this day in the year of 2014. His writings had a wide-range of classification; histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. As stated on poets.org, “His earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as Henry VI and The Comedy

In the 20th century, television was invented and quickly became a must-have item for nearly every American household. Though many arguments state television and theatre are in competition with each other, there is much evidence to support they have a connection. Thus allows an advantage to theatre; nearly every household has their own personal theatre sitting amongst them. According to Jonathan Mandell, who interviewed multiple actors/actresses to prove his point of television influencing theatre, there are select main concepts that provide television to have a strong connection with theatre. One concept claims that there is a “shared cultural experience” between television shows and the connection in which Elizabethan actors made with their audience. Elizabethan actors retold stories that many people were already familiar with, which is seen in multiple TV series when recreating an episode such as “A Christmas Story.” This allowed the focus to be completely on the character, and less of the story itself. Another claim made by Mandell is that television provides “direct source material” for theatre. He states, “Sometimes a TV show is directly adapted for the stage.” This provides a theatre the advantage to recreate a particular well-known story and bring it to life right in front of the audience’s eyes. Having the fifth century state the beginning