Portal:Theatre

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Theatre is that branch of the performing arts concerned with the creation of stories or narratives for (or with) an audience using combinations of acting, speech, gesture, music, dance, object manipulation, sound and spectacle — indeed, any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as opera, musicals, ballet, mime, kabuki, classical Indian dance, Chinese opera, mummers' plays, improvisation, story theater and pantomime.

The term theatre (from the Greek theatron) enjoys the distinction of two spellings: "theatre" in British English and "theater" in American English. There is no technical distinction between the meanings of the two spellings, however most theatre artists prefer the English spelling because it creates a historical nod to the ancient Greek term. Some also use the American spelling to designate a theatre building and the English term to reference the art itself, as in the "art of theatre".

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The inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre were held in 80 AD, on the orders of the Roman Emperor Titus, to celebrate the completion of the Colosseum, then known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. Vespasian began construction of the amphitheatre around 70 AD, and it was completed by Titus soon after Vespasian's death in 79 AD. After Titus' reign began with months of disasters, including the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a fire in Rome, and an outbreak of plague, he inaugurated the building with lavish games which lasted for more than a hundred days, perhaps partially in an attempt to appease the Roman public and the gods. Little documentary evidence of the nature of the games remains. They appear to have followed the standard format of the Roman games: animal entertainments in the morning session, followed by the executions of criminals around midday, with the afternoon session reserved for gladiatorial combats and recreations of famous battles. Only three contemporary or near-contemporary accounts of the games survive. The works of Suetonius and Cassius Dio focus on major events, while Martial provides some fragments of information on individual entertainments and the only detailed record of a gladiatorial combat in the arena to survive to the present day: the fight between Verus and Priscus.

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Credit: Carol Highsmith/Diliff

One of Hollywood, California's most famous tourist attractions, Grauman's Chinese Theatre is steeped in Hollywood history, having been home to numerous premieres and two Academy Awards ceremonies. Among the theatre's most famous traits are the autographed cement blocks that reside in the forecourt, which bear the signatures and markings of many of Hollywood's most noted stars and starlets. Built in 1927, the exterior of the movie theater supposedly resembles a giant, red Chinese pagoda. The architecture features a huge Chinese dragon across the front, two stone Fu dogs guarding the main entrance, and the silhouettes of tiny dragons up and down the sides of the copper roof.

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In this month

October 1971 – Michael Billington, Britain's longest-serving theatre critic, joined The Guardian
1 October 1684 – Death of Pierre Corneille, often called the "founder of French tragedy"
10 October 1881 – Opening of the Savoy Theatre in London, built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte
17 October 1896 – First performance of Anton Chekhov's (pictured) The Seagull was booed by the audience and Chekhov decided that he was finished writing plays
23 October 1969 – Announcement that Samuel Beckett won the Nobel Prize in Literature

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Judy Garland (1922–1969) was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in films, Grammy Awards and a Tony Award. After appearing in vaudeville with her sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney, and the film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz (1939). After 15 years, Garland was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall concert, a well-regarded but short-lived television series and a return to film acting beginning with A Star Is Born (1954). Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life, and attempted suicide on a number of occasions. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of forty-seven, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.

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Did you know...

...that when the English actress Lucia Elizabeth Vestris (pictured) took over the Olympic Theatre in 1830, she became the first ever female actor-manager in the history of London theatre?
...that Ichikawa Danjūrō V, one of the most famous and successful Kabuki actors, was briefly forced out of the theater after being accused of misappropriating funds?
...that the 2005 docudrama The Burnt Theatre is set in Cambodia's Suramet National Theatre, which was destroyed by a fire in 1994?

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Theatre

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Selected quote

All the world's a stage / And all the men and women merely players / They have their exits and their entrances / And one man in his time plays many parts ...

— William Shakespeare, "All the world's a stage", As You Like It

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