Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of
performing art that uses live performers, usually
actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of
gesture, speech, song,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an a ...
, and
dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and
stagecraft such as
lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The s ...
θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe").
Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the
theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into
genres, and many of its
themes,
stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist
Patrice Pavis defines theatricality,
theatrical language, stage writing and the
specificity of theatre as synonymous expressions that differentiate theatre from the other
performing arts,
literature and the arts in general.
Modern theatre includes performances of
plays and
musical theatre. The art forms of
ballet and
opera are also theatre and use many conventions such as
acting, costumes and staging. They were influential to the development of
musical theatre; see those articles for more information.
History of theatre
Classical and Hellenistic Greece

The
city-state of
Athens is where Western theatre originated. It was part of a broader
culture of theatricality and performance in
classical Greece that included
festivals,
religious rituals,
politics,
law, athletics and gymnastics,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an a ...
,
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke mean ...
, weddings, funerals, and ''
symposia''.
Participation in the city-state's many festivals—and mandatory attendance at the
City Dionysia as an audience member (or even as a participant in the theatrical productions) in particular—was an important part of
citizenship. Civic participation also involved the evaluation of the
rhetoric of
orators evidenced in performances in the
law-court or
political assembly, both of which were understood as analogous to the theatre and increasingly came to absorb its dramatic vocabulary. The Greeks also developed the concepts of
dramatic criticism and theatre architecture. Actors were either amateur or at best semi-professional. The
theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of
drama:
tragedy,
comedy, and the
satyr play.
The origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to
Aristotle (384–322 BCE), the first theoretician of theatre, are to be found in the festivals that honored Dionysus. The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10,000–20,000 people. The stage consisted of a dancing floor (orchestra), dressing room and scene-building area (skene). Since the words were the most important part, good acoustics and clear delivery were paramount. The actors (always men) wore masks appropriate to the characters they represented, and each might play several parts.
Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of
dance-drama that formed an important part of the theatrical culture of the city-state. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE (from the end of which it began to spread throughout the Greek world), and continued to be popular until the beginning of the
Hellenistic period.
No tragedies from the 6th century BCE and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in during the 5th century BCE have survived. We have complete texts
extant by
Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and
Euripides. The origins of tragedy remain obscure, though by the 5th century BCE it was
institutionalised in competitions (''
agon'') held as part of festivities celebrating
Dionysus (the
god of
wine and
fertility). As contestants in the City Dionysia's competition (the most prestigious of the festivals to stage drama) playwrights were required to present a
tetralogy of plays (though the individual works were not necessarily connected by story or theme), which usually consisted of three tragedies and one satyr play. The performance of tragedies at the City Dionysia may have begun as early as 534 BCE; official records (''didaskaliai'') begin from 501 BCE, when the satyr play was introduced.
Most Athenian tragedies dramatise events from
Greek mythology, though ''
The Persians''—which stages the
Persian response to news of their military defeat at the
Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE—is the notable exception in the surviving drama. When Aeschylus won first prize for it at the City Dionysia in 472 BCE, he had been writing tragedies for more than 25 years, yet its tragic treatment of recent history is the earliest example of
drama to survive. More than 130 years later, the philosopher
Aristotle analysed 5th-century Athenian tragedy in the oldest surviving work of
dramatic theory—his ''
Poetics'' (c. 335 BCE).
Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, "Old Comedy", "Middle Comedy", and "New Comedy". Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the eleven surviving plays of
Aristophanes, while Middle Comedy is largely lost (preserved only in relatively short fragments in authors such as
Athenaeus of Naucratis). New Comedy is known primarily from the substantial papyrus fragments of
Menander. Aristotle defined comedy as a representation of laughable people that involves some kind of blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain or disaster.
In addition to the categories of comedy and tragedy at the City Dionysia, the festival also included the
Satyr Play. Finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus, the satyr play eventually found its way to Athens in its most well-known form. Satyr's themselves were tied to the god Dionysus as his loyal woodland companions, often engaging in drunken revelry and mischief at his side. The satyr play itself was classified as tragicomedy, erring on the side of the more modern burlesque traditions of the early twentieth century. The plotlines of the plays were typically concerned with the dealings of the pantheon of Gods and their involvement in human affairs, backed by the chorus of
Satyrs. However, according to
Webster, satyr actors did not always perform typical satyr actions and would break from the acting traditions assigned to the character type of a mythical forest creature.
Roman theatre

Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the
Romans. The Roman historian
Livy wrote that the Romans first experienced theatre in the 4th century BCE, with a performance by
Etruscan actors. Beacham argues that they had been familiar with "pre-theatrical practices" for some time before that recorded contact. The
theatre of ancient Rome was a thriving and diverse art form, ranging from
festival performances of
street theatre, nude dancing, and
acrobatics, to the staging of
Plautus's broadly appealing situation
comedies, to the
high-style, verbally elaborate
tragedies of
Seneca. Although Rome had a native tradition of performance, the
Hellenization of
Roman culture in the 3rd century BCE had a profound and energizing effect on Roman theatre and encouraged the development of
Latin literature of the highest quality for the stage. The only surviving plays from the Roman Empire are ten dramas attributed to
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE), the Corduba-born Stoic philosopher and tutor of Nero.
Indian theatre

The first form of
Indian theatre was the
Sanskrit theatre, earliest-surviving fragments of which date from the 1st century CE. It began after the development of
Greek and
Roman theatre and before the development of theatre in other parts of Asia. It emerged sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE and flourished between the 1st century CE and the 10th, which was a period of relative peace in the
history of India during which hundreds of plays were written. The wealth of archeological evidence from earlier periods offers no indication of the existence of a tradition of theatre. The ancient ''
Vedas'' (
hymns from between 1500 and 1000 BCE that are among the earliest examples of
literature in the world) contain no hint of it (although a small number are composed in a form of
dialogue) and the
rituals of the
Vedic period do not appear to have developed into theatre. The ''
Mahābhāṣya'' by
Patañjali contains the earliest reference to what may have been the seeds of Sanskrit drama. This treatise on
grammar from 140 BCE provides a feasible date for the beginnings of
theatre in India.
The major source of evidence for Sanskrit theatre is ''
A Treatise on Theatre'' (''Nātyaśāstra''), a compendium whose date of composition is uncertain (estimates range from 200 BCE to 200 CE) and whose authorship is attributed to
Bharata Muni. The ''Treatise'' is the most complete work of dramaturgy in the ancient world. It addresses
acting,
dance,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an a ...
,
dramatic construction,
architecture,
costuming,
make-up,
props, the organisation of companies, the audience, competitions, and offers a
mythological account of the origin of theatre. In doing so, it provides indications about the nature of actual theatrical practices. Sanskrit theatre was performed on sacred ground by priests who had been trained in the necessary skills (dance, music, and recitation) in a
ereditary process Its aim was both to educate and to entertain.
Under the patronage of royal courts, performers belonged to professional companies that were directed by a stage manager (''sutradhara''), who may also have acted. This task was thought of as being analogous to that of a
puppeteer—the literal meaning of "''sutradhara''" is "holder of the strings or threads". The performers were trained rigorously in vocal and physical technique. There were no prohibitions against female performers; companies were all-male, all-female, and of mixed gender. Certain sentiments were considered inappropriate for men to enact, however, and were thought better suited to women. Some performers played characters their own age, while others played ages different from their own (whether younger or older). Of all the elements of theatre, the ''Treatise'' gives most attention to acting (''abhinaya''), which consists of two styles: realistic (''lokadharmi'') and conventional (''natyadharmi''), though the major focus is on the latter.
Its drama is regarded as the highest achievement of
Sanskrit literature. It utilised
stock characters, such as the hero (''nayaka''), heroine (''nayika''), or clown (''vidusaka''). Actors may have specialized in a particular type.
Kālidāsa in the 1st century BCE, is arguably considered to be ancient
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on th ...
's greatest Sanskrit dramatist. Three famous romantic plays written by Kālidāsa are the ''
Mālavikāgnimitram'' (''Mālavikā and Agnimitra''), ''
Vikramuurvashiiya'' (''Pertaining to Vikrama and Urvashi''), and ''
Abhijñānaśākuntala'' (''The Recognition of Shakuntala''). The last was inspired by a story in the ''Mahabharata'' and is the most famous. It was the first to be translated into
English and
German. ''
Śakuntalā'' (in English translation) influenced
Goethe's ''
Faust'' (1808–1832).
The next great Indian dramatist was
Bhavabhuti (c. 7th century CE). He is said to have written the following three plays: ''Malati-Madhava'', ''Mahaviracharita'' and ''Uttar Ramacharita''. Among these three, the last two cover between them the entire epic of ''Ramayana''. The powerful Indian emperor
Harsha (606–648) is credited with having written three plays: the comedy ''
Ratnavali'', ''
Priyadarsika'', and the
Buddhist drama ''
Nagananda''.
East Asian theatre

The
Tang dynasty is sometimes known as "The Age of 1000 Entertainments". During this era, Ming Huang formed an acting school known as The
Pear Garden to produce a form of drama that was primarily musical. That is why actors are commonly called "Children of the Pear Garden." During the dynasty of Empress Ling,
shadow puppetry first emerged as a recognized form of theatre in China. There were two distinct forms of shadow puppetry, Pekingese (northern) and Cantonese (southern). The two styles were differentiated by the method of making the puppets and the positioning of the rods on the
puppets, as opposed to the type of
play performed by the puppets. Both styles generally performed plays depicting great adventure and fantasy, rarely was this very stylized form of theatre used for political propaganda.
Japanese forms of
Kabuki,
Nō, and
Kyōgen developed in the 17th century CE.
Cantonese shadow puppets were the larger of the two. They were built using thick leather which created more substantial shadows. Symbolic color was also very prevalent; a black face represented honesty, a red one bravery. The rods used to control Cantonese puppets were attached perpendicular to the puppets' heads. Thus, they were not seen by the audience when the shadow was created. Pekingese puppets were more delicate and smaller. They were created out of thin, translucent leather (usually taken from the belly of a donkey). They were painted with vibrant paints, thus they cast a very colorful shadow. The thin rods which controlled their movements were attached to a leather collar at the neck of the puppet. The rods ran parallel to the bodies of the puppet and then turned at a ninety degree angle to connect to the neck. While these rods were visible when the shadow was cast, they laid outside the shadow of the puppet; thus they did not interfere with the appearance of the figure. The rods are attached at the necks to facilitate the use of multiple heads with one body. When the heads were not being used, they were stored in a muslin book or fabric-lined box. The heads were always removed at night. This was in keeping with the old superstition that if left intact, the puppets would come to life at night. Some puppeteers went so far as to store the heads in one book and the bodies in another, to further reduce the possibility of reanimating puppets. Shadow puppetry is said to have reached its highest point of artistic development in the eleventh century before becoming a tool of the government.
In the
Song dynasty, there were many popular plays involving acrobatics and music. These developed in the
Yuan dynasty into a more sophisticated form known as ''
zaju'', with a four- or five-act structure. Yuan drama spread across China and diversified into numerous regional forms, one of the best known of which is
Peking Opera which is still popular today.
Xiangsheng is a certain traditional Chinese comedic performance in the forms of monologue or dialogue.
Indonesian theatre

In
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gu ...
, theatre performances have become an important part of local culture, theatre performances in Indonesia have been developed for thousands of years. Most of
Indonesia's oldest theatre forms are linked directly to local literary traditions (oral and written). The prominent
puppet theatres —
wayang golek (wooden rod-puppet play) of the
Sundanese and
wayang kulit (leather shadow-puppet play) of the
Javanese and
Balinese—draw much of their repertoire from indigenized versions of the
Ramayana and
Mahabharata. These tales also provide source material for the wayang wong (human theatre) of
Java and
Bali, which uses actors. Some wayang golek performances, however, also present Muslim stories, called ''menak''.
Wayang is an ancient form of storytelling that renowned for its elaborate puppet/human and complex musical styles.
The earliest evidence is from the late 1st millennium CE, in medieval-era texts and archeological sites.
The oldest known record that concerns wayang is from the 9th century. Around 840 AD an Old Javanese (Kawi) inscriptions called Jaha Inscriptions issued by Maharaja Sri Lokapalaform
Medang Kingdom in
Central Java mentions three sorts of performers: atapukan, aringgit, and abanol. Aringgit means Wayang puppet show, Atapukan means Mask dance show, and abanwal means joke art. Ringgit is described in an 11th-century Javanese poem as a leather shadow figure.
Medieval Islamic traditions
Theatre in the
medieval Islamic world included
puppet theatre (which included hand puppets,
shadow plays and
marionette productions) and live passion plays known as ''ta'ziya'', where actors re-enact episodes from
Muslim history. In particular,
Shia Islam
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, ...
ic plays revolved around the ''
shaheed'' (martyrdom) of
Ali's sons
Hasan ibn Ali and
Husayn ibn Ali. Secular plays were known as ''akhraja'', recorded in medieval ''
adab'' literature, though they were less common than puppetry and ''ta'ziya'' theatre.
Early modern and modern theatre in the West
Theatre took on many alternative forms in the West between the 15th and 19th centuries, including ''
commedia dell'arte'' from
Italian theatre, and
melodrama. The general trend was away from the poetic drama of the Greeks and the
Renaissance and toward a more naturalistic prose style of dialogue, especially following the
Industrial Revolution.
Theatre took a big pause during 1642 and 1660 in England because of the
Puritan Interregnum.
The rising anti-theatrical sentiment among Puritans saw
William Prynne write ''
Histriomastix'' (1633), the most notorious attack on theatre prior to the ban.
Viewing theatre as sinful, the Puritans ordered the
closure of London theatres in 1642. On 24 January 1643, the actors protested against the ban by writing a pamphlet titled ''The Actors remonstrance or complaint for the silencing of their profession, and banishment from their severall play-houses''. This stagnant period ended once Charles II came back to the throne in 1660 in the
Restoration. Theatre (among other arts) exploded, with influence from French culture, since Charles had been exiled in France in the years previous to his reign.

In 1660, two companies were licensed to perform, the
Duke's Company and the
King's Company. Performances were held in converted buildings, such as
Lisle's Tennis Court. The first
West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in
Covent Garden, London, was designed by
Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
One of the big changes was the new theatre house. Instead of the type of the Elizabethan era, such as the
Globe Theatre, round with no place for the actors to prepare for the next act and with no "theatre manners", the theatre house became transformed into a place of refinement, with a stage in front and stadium seating facing it. Since seating was no longer all the way around the stage, it became prioritized—some seats were obviously better than others. The king would have the best seat in the house: the very middle of the theatre, which got the widest view of the stage as well as the best way to see the point of view and vanishing point that the stage was constructed around.
Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg was one of the most influential set designers of the time because of his use of floor space and scenery.
Because of the turmoil before this time, there was still some controversy about what should and should not be put on the stage.
Jeremy Collier, a preacher, was one of the heads in this movement through his piece ''A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage''. The beliefs in this paper were mainly held by non-theatre goers and the remainder of the Puritans and very religious of the time. The main question was if seeing something immoral on stage affects behavior in the lives of those who watch it, a controversy that is still playing out today.
The seventeenth century had also introduced women to the stage, which was considered inappropriate earlier. These women were regarded as celebrities (also a newer concept, thanks to ideas on individualism that arose in the wake of
Renaissance Humanism), but on the other hand, it was still very new and revolutionary that they were on the stage, and some said they were unladylike, and looked down on them. Charles II did not like young men playing the parts of young women, so he asked that women play their own parts. Because women were allowed on the stage, playwrights had more leeway with plot twists, like women dressing as men, and having narrow escapes from morally sticky situations as forms of comedy.

Comedies were full of the young and very much in vogue, with the storyline following their love lives: commonly a young roguish hero professing his love to the chaste and free minded heroine near the end of the play, much like
Sheridan's ''
The School for Scandal''. Many of the comedies were fashioned after the French tradition, mainly Molière, again hailing back to the French influence brought back by the King and the Royals after their exile.
Molière was one of the top comedic playwrights of the time, revolutionizing the way comedy was written and performed by combining Italian
commedia dell'arte and
neoclassical French comedy to create some of the longest lasting and most influential satiric comedies. Tragedies were similarly victorious in their sense of righting political power, especially poignant because of the recent Restoration of the Crown. They were also imitations of French tragedy, although the French had a larger distinction between comedy and tragedy, whereas the English fudged the lines occasionally and put some comedic parts in their tragedies. Common forms of non-comedic plays were sentimental comedies as well as something that would later be called ''tragédie bourgeoise'', or
domestic tragedy—that is, the tragedy of common life—were more popular in England because they appealed more to English sensibilities.
While
theatre troupes were formerly often travelling, the idea of the national theatre gained support in the 18th century, inspired by
Ludvig Holberg. The major promoter of the idea of the national theatre in Germany, and also of the ''
Sturm und Drang'' poets, was
Abel Seyler, the owner of the
Hamburgische Entreprise and the
Seyler Theatre Company.
[ Wilhelm Kosch, "Seyler, Abel", in ''Dictionary of German Biography'', eds. Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus, Vol. 9, Walter de Gruyter editor, 2005, , .]

Through the
19th century, the popular theatrical forms of
Romanticism,
melodrama,
Victorian burlesque and the
well-made plays of
Scribe and
Sardou gave way to the
problem plays of
Naturalism and
Realism; the
farces of
Feydeau;
Wagner's operatic ''
Gesamtkunstwerk'';
musical theatre (including
Gilbert and Sullivan's operas);
F. C. Burnand's,
W. S. Gilbert's and
Oscar Wilde's drawing-room comedies;
Symbolism; proto-
Expressionism in the late works of
August Strindberg and
Henrik Ibsen; and
Edwardian musical comedy.
These trends continued through the
20th century in the
realism of
Stanislavski and
Lee Strasberg, the political theatre of
Erwin Piscator and
Bertolt Brecht, the so-called
Theatre of the Absurd of
Samuel Beckett and
Eugène Ionesco, American and British musicals, the collective creations of companies of actors and directors such as
Joan Littlewood's
Theatre Workshop, experimental and
postmodern theatre of
Robert Wilson and
Robert Lepage, the
postcolonial theatre of
August Wilson or
Tomson Highway, and
Augusto Boal's
Theatre of the Oppressed.
Types
Drama
Drama is the specific
mode of
fiction represented in
performance. The term comes from a
Greek word meaning "
action", which is derived from the verb δράω, ''dráō'', "to do" or "to act". The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by
actors on a
stage before an
audience, presupposes
collaborative modes of production and a
collective form of reception. The
structure of dramatic texts, unlike other forms of
literature, is directly influenced by this collaborative production and collective reception. The
early modern tragedy ''
Hamlet'' (1601) by
Shakespeare and the
classical Athenian tragedy ''
Oedipus Rex'' (c. 429 BCE) by
Sophocles are among the masterpieces of the art of drama. A modern example is ''
Long Day's Journey into Night'' by
Eugene O'Neill (1956).
Considered as a genre of
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke mean ...
in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the
epic and the
lyrical modes ever since
Aristotle's ''
Poetics'' (c. 335 BCE); the earliest work of
dramatic theory. The use of "drama" in the narrow sense to designate a specific ''type'' of
play dates from the
19th century. Drama in this sense refers to a play that is ''neither'' a comedy nor a tragedy—for example,
Zola's ''
Thérèse Raquin'' (1873) or
Chekhov's ''
Ivanov'' (1887). In Ancient Greece however, the word ''drama'' encompassed all theatrical plays, tragic, comic, or anything in between.
Drama is often combined with
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an a ...
and
dance: the drama in
opera is generally sung throughout;
musicals generally include both spoken
dialogue and
songs; and some forms of drama have
incidental music or musical accompaniment underscoring the dialogue (
melodrama and Japanese
Nō, for example). In certain periods of history (the ancient
Roman and modern
Romantic) some dramas have been written to be
read rather than performed. In
improvisation, the drama does not pre-exist the moment of performance; performers devise a dramatic script spontaneously before an audience.
Musical theatre
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an a ...
and theatre have had a close relationship since ancient times—
Athenian
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
tragedy, for example, was a form of
dance-
drama that employed a
chorus whose parts were sung (to the accompaniment of an ''
aulos''—an instrument comparable to the modern
oboe), as were some of the actors' responses and their 'solo songs' (
monodies). Modern
musical theatre is a form of theatre that also combines music, spoken dialogue, and dance. It emerged from
comic opera (especially
Gilbert and Sullivan),
variety,
vaudeville, and
music hall genres of the late
19th and early
20th century. After the
Edwardian musical comedy that began in the 1890s, the
Princess Theatre musicals of the early 20th century, and comedies in the 1920s and 1930s (such as the works of
Rodgers and Hammerstein), with ''
Oklahoma!'' (1943), musicals moved in a more dramatic direction. Famous musicals over the subsequent decades included ''
My Fair Lady'' (1956), ''
West Side Story'' (1957), ''
The Fantasticks'' (1960), ''
Hair
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal an ...
'' (1967), ''
A Chorus Line'' (1975), ''
Les Misérables'' (1980), ''
Cats'' (1981), ''
Into the Woods'' (1986), and ''
The Phantom of the Opera'' (1986), as well as more contemporary hits including ''
Rent'' (1994), ''
The Lion King'' (1997), ''
Wicked'' (2003), ''
Hamilton'' (2015) and ''
Frozen'' (2018).
Musical theatre may be produced on an intimate scale
Off-Broadway, in
regional theatres, and elsewhere, but it often includes spectacle. For instance,
Broadway and
West End musicals often include lavish costumes and sets supported by multimillion-dollar budgets.
Comedy
Theatre productions that use
humour as a vehicle to tell a story qualify as comedies. This may include a modern
farce such as ''
Boeing Boeing'' or a classical play such as ''
As You Like It''. Theatre expressing bleak, controversial or taboo subject matter in a deliberately humorous way is referred to as
black comedy. Black Comedy can have several genres like slapstick humour, dark and sarcastic comedy.
Tragedy
Aristotle's phrase "several kinds being found in separate parts of the play" is a reference to the structural origins of drama. In it the spoken parts were written in the
Attic dialect whereas the choral (recited or sung) ones in the
Doric dialect, these discrepancies reflecting the differing religious origins and
poetic metres of the parts that were fused into a new entity, the theatrical ''drama''.
Tragedy refers to a specific
tradition of
drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of
Western civilisation. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of
cultural identity and historical continuity—"the
Greeks and the
Elizabethans, in one cultural form;
Hellenes and
Christians, in a common activity," as
Raymond Williams puts it. From its obscure origins in the
theatres of Athens 2,500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction of the work of
Aeschylus,
Sophocles and
Euripides, through its singular articulations in the works of
Shakespeare,
Lope de Vega,
Racine, and
Schiller, to the more recent
naturalistic tragedy of
Strindberg,
Beckett's modernist meditations on death, loss and suffering, and
Müller's postmodernist reworkings of the tragic canon, tragedy has remained an important site of cultural experimentation, negotiation, struggle, and change. In the wake of Aristotle's ''
Poetics'' (335 BCE), tragedy has been used to make
genre distinctions, whether at the scale of
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke mean ...
in general (where the tragic divides against
epic and
lyric) or at the scale of the drama (where tragedy is opposed to
comedy). In the
modern era, tragedy has also been defined against drama,
melodrama,
the tragicomic, and
epic theatre.
Improvisation
Improvisation has been a consistent feature of theatre, with the Commedia dell'arte in the sixteenth century being recognised as the first improvisation form. Popularized by Nobel Prize Winner
Dario Fo and troupes such as the
Upright Citizens Brigade improvisational theatre continues to evolve with many different streams and philosophies.
Keith Johnstone and
Viola Spolin are recognized as the first teachers of improvisation in modern times, with Johnstone exploring improvisation as an alternative to scripted theatre and Spolin and her successors exploring improvisation principally as a tool for developing dramatic work or skills or as a form for situational comedy. Spolin also became interested in how the process of learning improvisation was applicable to the development of human potential. Spolin's son,
Paul Sills popularized improvisational theatre as a theatrical art form when he founded, as its first director,
The Second City in Chicago.
Theories

Having been an important part of human culture for more than 2,500 years, theatre has evolved a wide range of different
theories and practices. Some are related to political or spiritual ideologies, while others are based purely on "artistic" concerns. Some processes focus on a story, some on theatre as event, and some on theatre as catalyst for social change. The
classical Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his seminal treatise, ''
Poetics'' (c. 335 BCE) is the earliest-surviving example and its arguments have influenced theories of theatre ever since. In it, he offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes
drama—
comedy,
tragedy, and the
satyr play—as well as
lyric poetry,
epic poetry, and the
dithyramb). He examines its "first principles" and identifies its
genres and basic elements; his analysis of
tragedy constitutes the core of the discussion.
Aristotle argues that tragedy consists of six qualitative parts, which are (in order of importance) ''
mythos'' or "plot", ''
ethos'' or "character", ''
dianoia'' or "thought", ''
lexis'' or "diction", ''
melos'' or "song", and ''
opsis'' or "spectacle". "Although Aristotle's ''Poetics'' is universally acknowledged in the
Western critical tradition",
Marvin Carlson explains, "almost every detail about his seminal work has aroused divergent opinions." Important
theatre practitioners of the
20th century include
Konstantin Stanislavski,
Vsevolod Meyerhold,
Jacques Copeau,
Edward Gordon Craig,
Bertolt Brecht,
Antonin Artaud,
Joan Littlewood,
Peter Brook,
Jerzy Grotowski,
Augusto Boal,
Eugenio Barba,
Dario Fo,
Viola Spolin,
Keith Johnstone and
Robert Wilson (director).
Stanislavski treated the theatre as an
art-form that is
autonomous from
literature and one in which the
playwright's contribution should be respected as that of only one of an ensemble of creative artists. His innovative contribution to modern acting theory has remained at the core of mainstream
western performance training for much of the last century. That many of the precepts of his
system of actor training seem to be common sense and self-evident testifies to its hegemonic success. Actors frequently employ his basic concepts without knowing they do so. Thanks to its promotion and elaboration by acting teachers who were former students and the many translations of his theoretical writings, Stanislavski's 'system' acquired an unprecedented ability to cross cultural boundaries and developed an international reach, dominating debates about acting in Europe and the United States. Many actors routinely equate his 'system' with the North American
Method, although the latter's exclusively psychological techniques contrast sharply with Stanislavski's multivariant, holistic and
psychophysical approach, which explores character and action both from the 'inside out' and the 'outside in' and treats the actor's mind and body as parts of a continuum.
Technical aspects

Theatre presupposes
collaborative modes of production and a
collective form of reception. The
structure of dramatic texts, unlike other forms of
literature, is directly influenced by this collaborative production and collective reception. The production of
plays usually involves contributions from a
playwright,
director, a
cast of
actors, and a technical
production team that includes a
scenic or set designer,
lighting designer,
costume designer,
sound designer,
stage manager,
production manager and technical director. Depending on the production, this team may also include a
composer,
dramaturg,
video designer or
fight director.

Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and recording and mixing of sound. Stagecraft is distinct from the wider umbrella term of scenography. Considered a technical rather than an artistic field, it relates primarily to the practical implementation of a designer's artistic vision.
In its most basic form, stagecraft is managed by a single person (often the stage manager of a smaller production) who arranges all scenery, costumes, lighting, and sound, and organizes the cast. At a more professional level, for example in modern Broadway houses, stagecraft is managed by hundreds of skilled carpenters, painters, electricians, stagehands, stitchers, wigmakers, and the like. This modern form of stagecraft is highly technical and specialized: it comprises many sub-disciplines and a vast trove of history and tradition. The majority of stagecraft lies between these two extremes. Regional theatres and larger community theatres will generally have a technical director and a complement of designers, each of whom has a direct hand in their respective designs.
Sub-categories and organization
There are many modern theatre movements which go about producing theatre in a variety of ways. Theatrical enterprises vary enormously in sophistication and purpose. People who are involved vary from novices and hobbyists (in community theatre) to professionals (in Broadway and similar productions). Theatre can be performed with a shoestring budget or on a grand scale with multimillion-dollar budgets. This diversity manifests in the abundance of theatre sub-categories, which include:
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Broadway theatre and
West End theatre
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Street theatre
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Community theatre
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Playback theatre
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Dinner theater
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Fringe theatre
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Off-Broadway and
Off West End
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Off-Off-Broadway
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Regional theatre in the United States
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Touring theatre
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Summer stock theatre
Repertory companies

While most modern theatre companies rehearse one piece of theatre at a time, perform that piece for a set "run", retire the piece, and begin rehearsing a new show,
repertory companies rehearse multiple shows at one time. These companies are able to perform these various pieces upon request and often perform works for years before retiring them. Most dance companies operate on this repertory system. The
Royal National Theatre in London performs on a repertory system.
Repertory theatre generally involves a group of similarly accomplished actors, and relies more on the reputation of the group than on an individual star actor. It also typically relies less on strict control by a director and less on adherence to theatrical conventions, since actors who have worked together in multiple productions can respond to each other without relying as much on convention or external direction.
Producing vs. presenting

In order to put on a piece of theatre, both a theatre company and a
theatre venue are needed. When a theatre company is the sole company in residence at a theatre venue, this theatre (and its corresponding theatre company) are called a resident theatre or a producing theatre, because the venue produces its own work. Other theatre companies, as well as dance companies, who do not have their own theatre venue, perform at rental theatres or at presenting theatres. Both rental and presenting theatres have no full-time resident companies. They do, however, sometimes have one or more part-time resident companies, in addition to other independent partner companies who arrange to use the space when available. A rental theatre allows the independent companies to seek out the space, while a presenting theatre seeks out the independent companies to support their work by presenting them on their stage.
Some performance groups perform in non-theatrical spaces. Such performances can take place outside or inside, in a non-traditional performance space, and include
street theatre, and
site-specific theatre. Non-traditional venues can be used to create more immersive or meaningful environments for audiences. They can sometimes be modified more heavily than traditional theatre venues, or can accommodate different kinds of equipment, lighting and sets.
A
touring company is an independent theatre or dance company that travels, often internationally, being presented at a different theatre in each city.
Unions
There are many theatre unions including:
Actors' Equity Association (AEA, for actors and stage managers), the
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and the
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE, for designers and technicians).
Many theatres require that their staff be members of these organizations.
See also
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Acting
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Antitheatricality
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Black light theatre
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Culinary theatre
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Illusionistic tradition
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List of awards in theatre
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List of playwrights
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List of theatre personnel
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List of theatre festivals
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List of theatre directors
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Lists of theatres
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Performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
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Puppetry
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Reader's theatre
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Site-specific theatre
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Theatre consultant
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Theatre for development
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Theater (structure)
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Theatre technique
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Theatrical style
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Theatrical troupe
*
World Theatre Day
Explanatory notes
Citations
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Further reading
* Aston, Elaine, and George Savona. 1991. ''Theatre as Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text and Performance''. London and New York: Routledge. .
*
Benjamin, Walter. 1928. ''The Origin of German Tragic Drama.'' Trans. John Osborne. London and New York: Verso, 1998. .
* Brown, John Russell. 1997. ''What is Theatre?: An Introduction and Exploration.'' Boston and Oxford: Focal P. .
* Bryant, Jye (2018). Writing & Staging A New Musical: A Handbook. Kindle Direct Publishing. .
* Carnicke, Sharon Marie. 2000. "Stanislavsky's System: Pathways for the Actor". In Hodge (2000, 11–36).
* Dacre, Kathy, and Paul Fryer, eds. 2008. ''Stanislavski on Stage.'' Sidcup, Kent: Stanislavski Centre Rose Bruford College. .
*
Deleuze, Gilles and
Félix Guattari. 1972. ''
Anti-Œdipus''. Trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem and Helen R. Lane. London and New York: Continuum, 2004. Vol. 1. New Accents Ser. London and New York: Methuen. .
*
Felski, Rita, ed. 2008. ''Rethinking Tragedy.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP. .
* Harrison, Martin. 1998. ''The Language of Theatre''. London: Routledge. .
*
Hartnoll, Phyllis, ed. 1983. ''The Oxford Companion to the Theatre''. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP. .
* Hodge, Alison, ed. 2000. ''Twentieth-Century Actor Training''. London and New York: Routledge. .
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* Leach, Robert, and Victor Borovsky, eds. 1999. ''A History of Russian Theatre.'' Cambridge: Cambridge UP. .
* Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Daniel. 2001. ''Approaches to Acting: Past and Present.'' London and New York: Continuum. .
*
Meyerhold, Vsevolod. 1991. ''Meyerhold on Theatre''. Ed. and trans. Edward Braun. Revised edition. London: Methuen. .
* Mitter, Shomit. 1992. ''Systems of Rehearsal: Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski and Brook.'' London and NY: Routledge. .
* O'Brien, Nick. 2010. ''Stanislavski In Practise''. London: Routledge. .
* Rayner, Alice. 1994. ''To Act, To Do, To Perform: Drama and the Phenomenology of Action.'' Theater: Theory/Text/Performance Ser. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. .
* Roach, Joseph R. 1985. ''The Player's Passion: Studies in the Science of Acting''. Theater:Theory/Text/Performance Ser. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P. .
* Speirs, Ronald, trans. 1999. ''The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings.'' By
Friedrich Nietzsche. Ed. Raymond Geuss and Ronald Speirs. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy ser. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. .
External links
Theatre Archive Project (UK)British Library & University of Sheffield.
University of Bristol Theatre CollectionMusic Hall and Theatre History of Britain and Ireland
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Stage terminology
Performing arts