Theatre: Culture and Travel Context

Theatre is one of the oldest forms of performance art and most major civilizations had a tradition of storytelling through role playing. A story being told dramatically is referred to as a play. Individuals who perform in a play are actors and the group of actors in a particular performance are referred to as the cast. The place where a performance takes place is the theatre and the performers act out their stories in a controlled area called the stage.

Western theatre got its start in the theatre of ancient Greece, which dates as far back as 800 BC. In the 4th century BC, Aristotle wrote about the history of Greek theatre, surmising that many of the earliest plays were celebrations of the god, Dionysus. This seems to have given rise to what were called satyr plays that mostly involved half-man half-goat creatures drinking too much and engaging in crude sexual situations.

Tragedy as a genre blossomed in the 5th century BC when many plays were produced including works by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Tragedy wasn't just "something bad happens" but would be more like "how far the mighty fall". Commoners were not the subject of tragedies: kings could be or gods and their children could be, but not farmers or coal miners. Many of the Greek tragedies draw inspiration from mythology.

Comedy consisted of laughable people who commit some kind of blunder or display some kind of character defect that results in a ridiculous unforeseen event. The blunders do not cause pain or disaster. The Greeks would not have thought it was comedy when Wile E. Coyote blows himself up after he mistakenly crosses the wires on his Acme detonator.

Roman theatre largely derived from Greek theatre. The Romans tweaked some of the precepts of dramatical stagecraft, but largely stuck to the rules established by the Greeks. They continued to focus on two primary genres: comedy and tragedy. Fewer Roman plays than Greek plays survive (and are staged in the modern era). Surviving comedies are largely those written by Titus Maccius Plautus around 200 BC. Surviving tragedies are largely those written by Seneca in the first century AD.

The Dark Ages (roughly the 5th through 15th century) saw a decline in all the arts, including drama. Few significant plays emerged in this period. Theatre would re-emerge in the 16th century with the Elizabethan theatre in England and Renaissance works in Italy and other countries. The scope of dramatic works increased with works that go beyond the limits of comedy and tragedy. William Shakespeare penned a series of "History" plays about monarchs and wars in England that didn't necessarily have anything tragic or comic about them. Later works by other playwrights would incorporate more secular or vernacular themes, and musical theatre began to grow roots in the 19th century with "musical operas" by Gilbert and Sullivan.

The modern era of theatre began in the 19th century as playwrights began exploring social issues and creating works that were more realistic or more intricately explored human emotions. Early modern playwrights in Europe included Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg. In the 20th century, a number of playwrights from the United States gained international attention as they brought American themes and characteristics to the stage. Thornton Wilder, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams were some of the best known. August Wilson created theatre that reflected the black experience in America.

Given that this Wikivoyage article is in English, it's perhaps natural that it focuses mostly on English plays and theatres, but theatre is a worldwide art form that transcends national borders and linguistic preferences. Many European countries that spoke languages other than English had rich theatrical histories with great playwrights and spectacular venues. Spain, France, Germany and Italy all have rich theatrical histories. Václav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic was a playwright. Russia had a great number of playwrights during the age of the Russian Empire, and then more during the Soviet era. Some, like Anton Chekhov, are well-known to English theatre patrons while others remain obscure because their plays are seldom performed in English-speaking countries even though they enjoyed success and fame in Russia. Alexander Ostrovsky, for example, is rarely performed on U.S. stages despite having penned 47 plays.

While western Europe was sinking into an abyss of ignorance and decay known as the Dark Ages, theatre was developing quite nicely in Asia, particularly in India and China. (See also Chinese performing arts.)

The roots of dramatic tradition in India appear around the 2nd century BC, but the oldest known work of Indian drama is Mahābhāṣya by Patañjali, dating from 140 AD. Sanskrit theatre were dramatic stagings of religious tales performed by priests. A treatise on these works provides several complete works dating from the period 200 BC to 200 AD.

This cultural overview is an excerpt of a community travel guide. Confirm current access, schedules and prices with the venue before planning a visit.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Theatre by Wikivoyage contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.