Theater History

We explain the origin and history of theater in different parts of the world, from Antiquity to today.

What is the origin and history of theater?

The theater It is one of the ways of artistic expression most remote of humanity and its origin in the West dates back to classical antiquity. Almost all ancient cultures had some form of spectacle with which they transmitted values, educated, initiated their young people, worshiped their gods or commemorated their founding myths.

However, the first to understand theater as an art form in itself, that is, to consider stage performance as “dramatic art”, were the ancient Greeks.

Between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. C., were celebrated in Greece rituals religious in honor of Dionysus the god of wine and fertility. In these representations, which were later known as bacchanalsdances were performed until states of trance or ecstasy were reached, with which a deep spiritual connection with the deity was sought. These rituals which involved music, narrative and staging of myths, were what gave rise to theater as we know it

See also: Greek culture

ancient theater

Greek theater

In early Dionysian rituals, the choir danced and sang in unison. In the 6th century BC. C., the playwright Thespis, considered the first actor of Western theater, introduced an important innovation: the dialogue. He proposed that one of the members of the choir separate from the group to interact with the rest, which gave rise to a more complex form of representation, with conflicts and dramatic actions. Thus, the foundations were laid for the birth of drama, which had an enormous and dizzying development in Greece.

Based on these innovations, theatrical competitions at festivals in honor of Dionysus became frequent. The competitions lasted several days and the performances took place on platforms (orchestra), behind which there were wooden structures that served for the entry and exit of the actors. (skené). The public was located in stands arranged in a semicircular shape around the orchestra, called koilon either theater.

Throughout the 5th and 4th centuries BC. C., Greek theater flourished and became independent of worship to the god so that it continued to develop as an artistic, philosophical and social form. Thus, it became a way to learn about the human condition, transmit citizen values ​​and spread beliefs.

The three great representatives of Greek tragedy were Aeschylus (525-456 BC), considered the father of the genre for the introduction of the second actor; Sophocles (496-406 BC), who delved into the tragic character, and Euripides (484-406 BC), who made innovations in conventional forms and introduced greater psychological intensity in his characters.

Along with tragedy, comedy emerged, with a satirical and critical nature towards politicians, philosophers and various social situations in Athens at the time. Aristophanes (444-385 BC) and Menander (342-292 BC) were the greatest Greek comedians.

Roman theater

Greek theater greatly influenced Roman culture, which took it as a model and inspiration to develop its own dramatic forms between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. C. Theatrical performances in Ancient Rome were part of a great event: the Roman Games, which were held in honor of the gods. This is how authors such as Plautus (254-184 BC) and Terence (185-159 BC) emerged.

In addition, the Romans also incorporated the legacy of Greek works into their culture, allowing them to be preserved in Latin for posterity.

Indian theater

In the East there were also rich theatrical traditions during Antiquity. Indian theater is an ancient dramatic form and It has its origin in the religious and ceremonial dances of the ancestral culture of India.

Very stereotyped figures appeared in Indian drama, such as the hero (nayaka)heroin (nayika) or the clown (vidusaka)in the midst of mythological and religious stories that emphasized the origin of the gods. The performance consisted of dance and dialogue by costumed and made-up actors, without a stage or decorations.

Indian theater was practiced without interruptions or significant changes for a long time, and had its heyday between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. C. Two of the great playwrights of this tradition were King Sudraka (3rd century AD) and the poet Kalidasa (4th-5th century AD), whose works are considered jewels of Sanskrit literature.

Chinese theater

Theater in China originated in the 6th century BC. c and it was especially composed of dances, acrobatics, mimes and ritual acts. The actors were all men and could play different stereotypical roles, whether male (sheng)feminine (so)comedians (chou) or warriors (ching). In many cases, masks and makeup were used.

Chinese tradition inspired similar expressions in Japan and other Southeast Asian nations, which flourished in later centuries and were not known in the West until almost the 19th century.

medieval theater

After the fall of the Roman Empire, theater in the West lost relevance as an artistic form, both in the popular and religious spheres. This was because Christianity rejected the pagan legacy of Europe and sought to distinguish itself from that tradition.

Later, however, the Church began to view dramatic representation as a powerful tool of evangelization. Thus, around the 10th century, A liturgical theater emerged that reproduced the most important scenes of the Christian imagination (among them, the visit of Mary Magdalene to the tomb of Jesus Christ, Genesis or the Apocalypse), with the aim of spreading the doctrine. This gave rise to a rich tradition of later Christian dramaturgy.

Towards the 11th and 12th centuries, many French monasteries began to stage biblical stories outside the religious temples, in squares where simple platforms were placed that served to focus attention on the actors. Furthermore, educated Latin was progressively abandoned in representations to give way to the use of vernacular languages, which were more familiar to common people.

As these theatrical acts became more complex, they began to be exhibited on floats or mobile stages to bring the Christian faith to all towns. This was particularly popular in Spain, where they were known by the name sacramental cars. In England, especially during the Corpus Christithese acts became popular forms of theater, and soon became common throughout Europe.

To liven up the religious tone and bring the stories closer to the public, the performances began to include comic characters and satires of social vices, which over time became more and more frequent and daring. Thus, starting in the 16th century, the main detractors emerged: on the one hand, the Protestant puritans condemned his satirical and eschatological humor, and on the other, the Renaissance humanists frowned upon his frivolity and his link with a certain medieval tradition, of the which they sought to separate.

Consequently, many of these works were banned in Paris and Protestant countries, while they flourished in nations where the Catholic Church still retained its influence, such as Spain.

Japanese theater

While the auto sacramental flourished in the medieval West, In 14th century Japan, a performing culture crystallized from Shinto dances and Buddhist rituals. This heritage belonged both to Japan itself and to the influence of China and other Asian nations, and gave Japanese theater its main characteristics.

Noh theater emerged in Kyoto around 1374 under the tutelage of shogun Yoshimitsu, who began an important tradition of theatrical patronage (that is, financial financing for the production of works) by Japanese feudal lords.

Most of the works in this style, performed by male actors accompanied by a small chorus, were written in the following decades by Kiyotsugu Kanami (1333-1384), his son Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443) and later the latter's son-in-law , Komparu Zenchiku (1404-1470). Few new plays have been written for Noh theater since the 15th century.

Renaissance and baroque theater

He Renaissance marked a turning point in theater and dramaturgy as happened with many other arts and knowledge. He shed his religious burden and rescued the myths and symbols of classical antiquity as well as the theoretical legacy of the Poetics by Aristotle (384-322 BC). This was the first treatise on dramatic art in history and defined the “units” or literary rules, which proposed that the work should take place based on a single story, on the same day and in a single place.

The triumph of the bourgeoisie as the new dominant social class determined a change in artistic sensibilities and favored the emergence of new genres and styles. Great movements appeared such as Spanish baroque theater, whose greatest exponent was Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), and English Elizabethan theater, in which William Shakespeare (1565-1616) stood out.

But the most significant novelty was the Italian comedy del arte which appeared in the mid-16th century in the squares of Venice and Rome as a form of street theater, popular and spontaneous, but with professional actors. Many of the theatrical entourages were itinerant and moved from town to town, setting up improvised stages.

In the comedy of art, comedy pieces were represented with physical actions (such as falls, gestures and blows), theatrical improvisations and plays with easily recognizable characters, since they always used the same masks. For example, Pantaleone was a pompous and moody old man who was played with jokes and tricks; Arlecchino was the joking and daring servant, and Pulcinelli was the potbellied and hunchbacked specialist in beatings.

From then on, new forms of theatrical spectacle began to expand in a Europe that increasingly valued dramaturgy. Tragicomedy, an intermediate form between comedy and tragedy, became a very popular genre.

In the 17th century, the period has already entered Baroque the opera appeared and the so-called “Italian style” of theater spread throughout Europe. For its part, Spanish baroque theater was determined by the counter-reformation line (that is, the reaction of the Catholic Church to the Protestant advance), which encouraged the appearance of great authors of sacramental autos such as Lope de Vega (1562-1635), Tirso de Molina (1579-1648) and Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681).

In that same context, French theater had an important boom through renowned playwrights such as Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) and Jean Racine (1639-1699), who were great authors of tragedies. Another great exponent was Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673), actor and author of comedies, farces, tragicomedies and some of the most celebrated works in the French language.

modern theater

German Romanticism, especially with its artistic movement Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Impetus”), had a great impact on the theatrical tradition of the second half of the 18th century in the West.

As in the rest of the arts, Romanticism in the theater emphasized sentimentalism and drama, against the rationalism promoted by the French Enlightenment. He preferred dark and mysterious themes, particularly those coming from popular culture and folklore.

The legacy of authors such as Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) and Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), with great dramatic works such as Splendor either William Tell respectively, inspired At the beginning of the 19th century the birth of a new genre: melodrama, which incorporated music to emphasize the characters' emotions.

Hand in hand with nationalism, this new style was consolidated in almost all European countries, with renowned authors such as Georg Büchner (1813-1837), Victor Hugo (1802-1885), José Zorrilla (1817-1893) and many others.

In the middle of the 19th century, realistic theater appeared in France which determined the triumph of rationalism over romantic postulates. With realism, the need arose for a naturalistic theater, with everyday sets and credible performances, stripped of grandiloquence.

Beyond being born in France, realism reached its expressive peak in the pen of Nordic authors, such as the Swedish August Strindberg (1849-1912), the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) and the also prominent Russian short story writer Anton Chekhov ( 1860-1904).

contemporary theater

The arrival of the 20th century brought with it the avant-garde an important source of innovation formal and aesthetic which gave rise to many and very diverse theater schools in Europe and America.

In general, the avant-garde sought greater intensity and psychological depth in their characters, abandoned the three classic Aristotelian unities and often embraced denunciation and political militancy. Furthermore, the freedom of experimentation and the drive to innovate in staging gave the theater director a fundamental role, comparable to that of the film director.

Among the numerous theatrical movements of the avant-garde, expressionism, the epic theater of Bertoldt Brecht (1898-1956) and the theater of the absurd stood out. This last form was linked to the philosophy of existentialism, and its main representatives were Antonin Artaud (1896-1948), Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994) and Samuel Beckett (1906-1989).

Likewise, other important movements emerged, such as that of the Angry Young Mena group of British writers deeply critical of the post-war bourgeois society of the 1950s. Among them were Harold Pinter (1930-2008), John Osborne (1929-1994) and Arnold Wesker (1932-2016).

Other great names of contemporary theater were Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936), Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), Arthur Miller (1915-2005), Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) and Ramón del Valle Inclán (1866-1936).

Since 1960, contemporary theater has tried to reconnect with the spectator's emotions and move away from epic theater or political message. Many theatrical aspects, in addition, seek to break with the conventional form of the stage and take theater to the street or incorporate the public. He happeningimprovisation in public spaces and even performance are great examples of this intention.

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References

• Chaillet, N., Guthrie, T., & Davis, T. (2024). Theatre. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
• Koss, MN (Comp.). (2021). Theater History. Editorial of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires. http://publicaciones.filo.uba.ar/
• Gómez García, M. (2007). Akal Theater Dictionary. Akal.
• Oliva, C and Torres Monreal, F. (2002). Basic history of performing arts. Chair.