WESTERN

CLASSICAL
PLAYS / OPERA
Theater Arts of the western
countries produced and
performed in different periods
and that have had a great
influenced from the Ancient
Greek and Roman Theater arts
Some of the famous play wrights and
composers of western Theater Arts/
opera were, William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe, Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe, Victor Hugo,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 HISTORY OF THE
THEATRICAL
FORMS AND THEIR
EVOLUTION
Theater began from myth, ritual and
ceremony, early society perceive
connections between actions performed by
groups of people of leaders to a certain
society and these actions moved from habit
to tradition, to ritual and to ceremony due
to human desire and need for
entertainment.
 Theater means “place of seeing”
➢ it is more than the building where performance
takes place.
➢ To produce a theater;
- a playwright writes the script ,
- the director rehearses the performers,
- the designer and technical crew produce props
to create the scenes.
- actors and actresses performs on stage
 Different Western
Classical Plays and Opera
A. Greek Theater:
▪ European theater began in ancient Greece.
▪ It began around 7– B.C with festivals honoring their
Gods.
▪ Dionysus the god of wine and fertility, has a religious
festival called “ The Cult of Dionysus” to honor him.
The theater of ancient Greece consisted of
three types of drama: Tragedy, Comedy, and
the Satyr play.
Tragedy- the most admired type of play. It dealt with
tragic events and have unhapppy ending, especially
one concerning the downfall of the main character.
Comedy- plays were derived from imitation; there
were no traces of their origin, great example was
Cyclops play.
Satyr play- contain comic elements to lighten the
overall mood or serious play with a happy ending.
In Greece:
• Tragedy was the most admired type of play.
• Thespis was the first actor and introduced
the use of mask.
• Father of tragedy
In Greece:
• Comedy- Aristophanes wrote most of the
comedy plays.
• Lysistrata- a humorous tale about a strong
women who led a female coalition to end war.
• Cyclops – an adventurous comedy by
Euripides
In Greece:
• Satyr Play
• Short lighthearted tailpiece after each trilogy
of tragedies
• Ancient Greek form of tragic comedy
• Based on mythology, tricks and sight jokes
 Ancient Theater Terms
Theater buildings were called theatron. The theaters
were large , open-air structures constructed on the
slopes of hill. They consisted of three main elements:
the orchestra, the skene and the audience.
B. Roman Theater- Ancient Rome started in the
3rd century BC. It had varied interesting art forms
such as festival performances of street theater,
acrobatics, and staging of comedies of Plautus,
and high verbally elaborate tragedies of Seneca.
Hellenization ( historical spread of ancient Greek culture)
has an energizing effect on Roman theater and
encourage the development of Latin Literature.
 Triumvir
Pompey- the
first permanent
( non wooden)
theater in Rome
The usual themes:
- Chariots Races
- Gladiators
- Public execution
- The romans love to watch combat and
admired blood sports and gladiators
competition.
- The more realistic the violence, the more it
pleased the roman audiences.
C. Medieval Theater- performances were
not allowed throughout Europe. To keep
the theater alive, minstrels, though
denounced by the church, performed in
markets , public places, and festivals.
They travelled from one town to another
as puppeteers, jugglers, story tellers,
dancers and singers.
- Churches in Europe started staging their
own theater performances during the Easter
Sunday with biblical stories and events.
- “The Mystery of Adam”
- Over the centuries the plays revolve about
biblical themes from “The Creation” to the
“Last Judgement”
D. Renaissance theater- (1400-1600)
- Characterized by a return od classical
Greek and roman arts and culture.
- Public theaters were developed like
the Commedia dell’arte and elaborate
masques that were usually presented
in court. An dramatic entertainment consisting:
pantomime, dancing, dialogue, song and
sometimes players who wore mask.
• The companies of players were organized by
aristocrats and performed seasonally in many places.
• They were professional players/ actors that performed
on Elizabethan stage.
• Goborduc (authors were Thomas Norton and Thomas
Sackville) , also known as Ferrex and Porrex was an
English play that was performed at the Christmas
celebration in 1561 and was performed before queen
Elizabeth I.
E. Baroque Theater – 1600-1750
- Was marked by the use of technology
in current Broadways or commercial
plays.
- The crew uses machine for special
effects and scene changes which may
be change in a matter of seconds with
the use of ropes and pulleys.
• As a result the theater was richly decorated,
the multiplicity of plot turns and a variety
of situations characteristics of Mannerism
were succeeded by opera.
F. Neoclassical Theater – 1800-1900
• A movement where the styles of
Greek and Roman societies influence
the theater arts.
• The theater was characterized by its
grandiosity.
• Costumes and sceneries were highly
elaborate.
• The main concepts of the play is to entertain and
to teach lessons.
• Lightning and sound effects intensified the mood
and message of each scene, enhancing the
dramatic experienced.
• The concept of decorum was applied in this
period which means classical concepts and
appropriate social behavior must be observe.
• Has only two types of plays- tragedy and comedy.
 Playwrights and composers

Romantic:
- Melodrama and opera became the most popular
theatrical forms.
- Melos ( Greek word) – meaning music; Dran ( Greek
word) – to perform.
- Acting Scenery, costume and dance were the most
important elements of this theater.
Victor Marie Hugo
Born: February 26, 1802
Died May 22, 1885
- He is considered as one of the
greatest and best known French
writers.
- He was a poet, novelist, and
dramatist.
- Famous Works:
- Les Contemplations, Les Miserable
 Playwrights and composers

Greek
• Sophocles – An ancient Greek
- Wrote 123 plays, but only seven
have survived in a complete form:
Ex. Antigone
The woman of Trachis
Oedipus
 Playwrights and composers
Renaissance
William Shakespeare:
• Born : April 26 1564
• Died: April 23 1616
• Was born and brought up in
Stratford- avon,
• He married Anne Hathaway at the
age of 18,
• With twins Hamnet and Judith
- He was an English poet and Playwright, widely knows
as the greatest writer in the English Language and
world’s pre-eminent dramatist
- He was also known as the “ Bard of Avon”
- His famous tragedy theater was Romeo and Juliet.
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Merchant of Venice
• Much Ado about nothing
• As You like It.
An age-old vendetta between two powerful
families erupts into bloodshed. A group of
masked Montagues risk further conflict by
gatecrashing a Capulet party. A young lovesick
Romeo Montague falls instantly in love with
Juliet Capulet, who is due to marry her father’s
choice, the County Paris. With the help of
Juliet’s nurse, the women arrange for the
couple to marry the next day, but Romeo’s
attempt to halt a street fight leads to the death
of Juliet’s own cousin, Tybalt, for which Romeo is
banished. In a desperate attempt to be
reunited with Romeo, Juliet follows the Friar’s
plot and fakes her own death. The message fails
to reach Romeo, and believing Juliet dead, he
takes his life in her tomb. Juliet wakes to find
Romeo’s corpse beside her and kills herself. The
grieving family agree to end their feud.
 Playwrights and composers

Romantic Period
George Bizet- Born on October
25, 1838 in Paris France and died
on June 3 1875.
- He was a French composer and
pianist of the Romantic Era
- He is best know for his opera CARMEN.
 Famous Filipino Playwrights
Francisco Balagtas Y De La Cruz
- Born on April 2, 1788 in Bulacan and
died on Feb. 20 1862
- He is also known as Francisco
Baltazar.
- His best known work is the Florante
and Laura.
- Balagtas is greatly revered in the
Philippines that the term for filipino
debate in extemporaneous verse is
named after him- Balatasan.
During his stay in Albania, Florante was
invited to the king's palace. There, he
was stunned by the sight of Laura, the
daughter of King Linseo, ruler of
Albania. Coming to the aid of Crotone,
Florante fought with the Persian
general, Osmalik for 5 hours, finally
slaying him in the end.
 Famous Filipino Playwrights
Severino R. Reyes
- Father of Tagalog Zarzuela
- He was born on February 11, 1861
- He studied at San Juan de Letran
college and University of Sto.
Thomas.
- He is a Filipino dramatist.
- One of his work was “ Mga Kwento
ni Lola Basyang”, and “Walang Sugat”
 Famous Filipino Playwrights
Dr. Ricardo G. Abad
- Born in Manila on August 10, 1946, parents
from Cavite and Camiguin.
- He graduated at Ateneo de Manila
- He has been involve as actor and director in
over 120 productions while at the same time
doing sociological work as teacher,
researcher, and editor.
- He has also directed and acted for
professional companies like theatro Pilipino,
and tanghalang Pilipino of cultural center of
the Philippines
 Famous Filipino Playwrights
Salvador F. Bernal
- Father of Theater Design in the
Philippines
- He was the first to develop theater
design as a profession and elevate it to
an art form.
- Taught briefly at Ateneo de Manila and
University of the Philippines.
- He had designed more than 250
productions in Ballet, theater and film
- He was a national artist Awardee.