What is Theatre?

What is Theatre?

by John Brown
Released February 2013
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136083891

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Book description

This major introductory textbook is from one of the leading educators working in theatre today. What Is Theatre? will make its reader a better playgoer, responding more fully to performance, with a keener appreciation of all the resources of theatre-acting, design, direction, organization, theatre buildings, and audiences. By focusing on the best professional practice and the most helpful learning processes, Dr. Brown shows how to read a play-text and to see and hear its potential for performance. Throughout this book, suggestions are given for student essays and class discussions, to help both instructor and reader to clarify their thoughts on all aspects of theatre-going.

While the main focus is on present-day theatre in North America, history is used to illuminate current practice. Theatres in Europe and Asia also feature in the discussion. A view is given of all contributors to performance, with special emphasis placed on actors and the plays they perform. This textbook is not tied to a few specific play-texts, but designed to be effective regardless of which play a student sees or reads. In Part Two, leading practitioners of different generations and cultural backgrounds describe their own work, providing a variety of perspectives on the contemporary theatre. All this is supplemented by nearly 100 black and white and color illustrations from productions, working drawings, and plans. This new text engages its readers in the realities of the theatre; it is up-to-date, comprehensive, and packed with practical advice for understanding how theatre works and how plays come alive in performance.

John Russell Brown is professor of Theatre at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has taught at a variety of colleges including New York and Stanford Universities. For 15 years he was an associate director of the National Theatre in London, and he has directed plays in many other theatres including Cincinnati Playhouse, the Empty Space in Seattle, and the Clurman Theatre in New York. Professor Brown has written extensively about theatre, especially about Shakespeare and contemporary theatre. He is editor of The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Half Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Table of Contents
  6. Figures
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Introduction
  9. I What Is Theatre?
    1. 1 The Power of the Theatre
      1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion
      2. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature
      3. Theatre Provides a Progressive Experience
      4. Theatre Can Make Use of Words
      5. Theatre Is Fantastic
    2. 2 Plays
      1. What Is a Play?
      2. Varieties of Plays
        1. Tragedy
        2. Comedy
        3. Other Forms of Drama
      3. Defining Drama by Type
        1. Old (Greek) Comedy
        2. New or (Later) Roman Comedy
        3. Comedy of Manners
        4. Romantic Comedy
        5. Farce
        6. Tragicomedy
      4. Defining Elements of Plays
      5. New Genres
        1. Expressionist Plays
        2. Epic Plays
        3. Absurdist Plays
      6. The Making of Plays: Recent Developments
      7. The Quality of Play: A Question of Style
        1. Diction
        2. Spectacle
        3. Music
    3. 3 Theatres
      1. Different Kinds of Theatres
        1. Picture-frame Theatres
        2. Open-stage Theatres
        3. Thrust-stage Theatres
        4. Arena-stage Theatres
        5. Traverse-stage Theatres
        6. Other Types of Theatres
        7. Variable Theatres
      2. Spaces for Plays
      3. Size
      4. Equipment
      5. Front of House
      6. Backstage
    4. 4 Audiences
      1. Who Is in an Audience?
      2. Attracting Audiences
      3. Public Relations
      4. Serving the Public
    5. 5 Actors and Acting
      1. What Is an Actor?
      2. The Actor as Instrument
        1. Voice and Speech
        2. Physical Demands of Acting
        3. The Actor as an Individual
      3. Different Styles of Acting
        1. Classical Acting
        2. Demonstrative or Epic Acting
        3. Expressive Acting
        4. Ensemble Acting
    6. 6 Stage Design
      1. What Is Stage Design?
      2. Varieties of Stage Design
        1. Minimalist
        2. Pictorial
        3. Illusionistic Realism
        4. Fluid
        5. Presentational (or Eclectic)
      3. Processes of Stage Design
    7. 7 Production
      1. Producers and Artistic Directors
      2. The Production Team
      3. Directors at Work
        1. Unity
        2. Individual Talents
        3. The Script
      4. Two Styles of Directing
      5. The Director as “Author” of a Production
      6. Rehearsals
    8. 8 Thinking about Theatre
      1. Criticism and Study
        1. Reviews
        2. The Means of Production
      2. Film and Television
      3. Training for Theatre
      4. Theatre and the Future
    9. Suggestions for Further Reading
      1. 1 The Power of the Theatre
      2. 2 Plays
      3. 3 and 4 Theatres and Audiences
      4. 5 Actors
      5. 6 Stage Design
      6. 7 Production
      7. 8 Thinking about Theatre
  10. II Theatre Making
    1. 1 Dramatists and Plays
      1. The Making of a Play
        1. Roberta Uno
      2. Fine-tuning a Play
        1. James Earl Jones
    2. 2 Actors and Performances
      1. Toward Performance: Konstantin Stanislavsky, Bertolt Brecht, Otis Skinner, Ralph Richardson, and Alan Schneider
        1. Konstantin Stanislavsky
        2. Bertolt Brecht
        3. Otis Skinner
        4. Ralph Richardson
        5. Alan Schneider
      2. Acting
        1. David Mamet
    3. 3 Directors and Production
      1. Exploratory Direction: Brecht at Rehearsal
        1. Carl Weber
      2. Director as Innovator and Author: Grotowski's Laboratory Theatre
        1. Eugenio Barba
      3. From “Terror, Disorientation and Difficulty”
        1. Anne Bogart
      4. A Director and a Text
        1. Simi Horwitz
    4. 4 Scenography: Stages and Audiences
      1. The Magic of Theatre Design
        1. Richard Pilbrow
      2. The Ideas of Adolphe Appia
        1. Lee Simonson
          1. The Plastic Elements
      3. Scenery that “Is in Many Places at Once”
        1. Richard Foreman
      4. Sound Design: “American Theatre Gets Wired”
        1. John Istel
    5. 5 Administrators and Administrators
      1. Ill Winds
        1. Peter Zeisler
        2. Background: Seattle Repertory Theatre
      2. Education and Outreach and Special Events Programs at Seattle Repertory Theatre, 1992-1993
    6. 6 The Public: An Audience Survey for Studio Arena Theatre, Buffalo
      1. Management Summary
      2. Summary Observations and Conclusions
  11. Glossary
  12. Index

Product information

  • Title: What is Theatre?
  • Author(s): John Brown
  • Release date: February 2013
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136083891