PrimitiveTheatre

Literary Drama worksheet-blanks **Origins of Theatre** **Theories** ** No clear evidence, so all theories are conjecture. ** **[|Theatre History 101 Chapter 1: Origins of Theatre] ** Aristotle suggested that mimesis (imitation) is innate in humans; theatre probably came from the dithyramb, a hymn sung or chanted before religious rituals in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine, rebirth, and fertility. The word "tragedy' seems to have come from the Greek words for "goat" and "song"--so tragedy was a goat-song (whether sung to, by, or for the goat is anyone's guess).  **Possible origins also include: **
 * **Judicial System** -- necessity to speak in court required expansion, desire to perform and see performances.
 * Supreme act of **an unidentified artist** (Perhaps Thespis, perhaps Aeschylus) -- a revolutionary discovery -- to synthesize many other already existing elements.

However there were probably dramatic performances before Greek theater. For the primitive times of prehistory, there are obviously no written records of performances that might have taken place.

Today a play is performed on a stage in a theatre, but in primitive times the performances were probably often around a campfire. Rituals occurred about events in their daily lives: A Great Hunt, The Harvest, Feats of Heroism and Bravery, and maybe even some love stories. Music and dancing were probably involved. There are several theories how primitive drama developed from the practices.

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 * **Ritual Theory -- **religious ceremonies that were performed is the most pervasive and accepted
 * **Storytelling** -- pleasurable and natural, a narrator elaborates by impersonating characters.
 * **Movement / Dance** -- imitating physical behavior of animals and humans, donning skins as garments -- eventually talking was added.


 * It is much questioned. Here are some of the ideas:**
 * Primitive religious rituals were usually connected with spring and the seasonal cycle; drama evolved as part of the celebrations
 * Sir James Frazer's theory (late 19th century)that early drama is almost exclusively centered around myths that were performed as rituals to win the favor of natural forces, then it is formalized.
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: left;">People were impersonating gods, beings, or forces-- and there resulted a developing dramatic sense
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: left;">Stories and myths grew out of the rituals to explain natural phenomonia and the storytelling becames more animated.
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: left;">Aesthetic and enjoyment gradually overtakes the religious or utilitarian aims of ritual.
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: left;">As it turned more secular --theatrical elements increased.
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: left;">Eventually, rituals were abandoned or modified, but myths / stories remain as oral tradition and are acted out in simple drama.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/origins.htm **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: left;">//Theatre and Ritual// ** **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">both employ: **
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">Functions of Ritual: **
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">a form of knowledge
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">didactic (to teach - primarily "religious")
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">to influence or control
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">to glorify the gods
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">to entertain and give pleasure
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: left;">**similar means:** music, dance, spectacle, masks, costumes, speech, performers, audience, stage, makeup, etc.
 * **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">similar themes: **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;"> ( <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">Joseph Campbell <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">, <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">Victor Turner <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;"> on ritual): pleasure, power, duty.
 * **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">similar production methods: **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;"> a technical director to make sure things run smoothly.

Source: Eric Csapo and Margaret C. Miller, “General Introduction,” The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond: From Ritual to Drama, edited by Eric SourceCsapo and Margaret C. Miller, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 4. adapted for this site.
 * **<span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">Ritual ** || **<span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">Drama ** ||
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">religious || <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">secular ||
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">performers and spectators are all participants || <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">separation of actors and audience ||
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">has a fixed text || <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">has a variable text ||
 * <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">purpose is to produce a desired effect || <span style="color: #17375e; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">purpose is to entertain ||

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">**Classical Drama and Society** __<span style="color: #2a6496; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|From Ritual Drama to Ancient Theater – Crete, Mycenae and Greece] __
 * =  ||= **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">Chapters ** ||= **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">Slides ** ||
 * =  ||= **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|1: Theatre and History,] **
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|Some Definitions] ** ||= **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|Theatre and History,] **
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|Some Definitions] ** ||
 * =  ||= **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|2: The Origins of] **
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|Theatre and Drama] ** ||= **<span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|The Origins of] **
 * <span style="color: #17375e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px;">[|Theatre and Drama] ** ||

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">__ [|Primitive Quizlet] __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">__ [|Ritual, Dance and Theater Quizlet] __

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">Egyptian Passion Play [|Egyptian Theater]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">[|History of Theater]slideplayer <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">[|Early Theater] [|Early Man] [|Mesopotamia Theater] Outline of Primitive Theater [|Origins - Nova on Line]

**Western vs. Eastern Theatre**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 25px;">[|Origin of Chinese Drama] - An analysis of the development of Chinese drama. [|The Origin of the Hindu Drama] - An examination of the mythical and historical origins of the Hindu drama. [|Solar Myths, Tree Spirits, and Totems] - An examination of the importance of solar myths, tree spirits, and totemism in the development of tragic drama. Save