tecnologias
3. Ensino híbrido e uso de tecnologias para o alcance da ODS 4
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist who lived from 384-322 B.C., identifies and describes the elements of tragic drama in the Poetics. In this brief book, he makes use of the tragedies of Sophocles as models to draw out and define its elements, which consequently have also been applied to all drama and art in general.
There are six elements in a tragedy --- and by extension, all drama.
The first three, the basic subjects of drama are Plot, Character and Thought. The last three elements deal with language and performance.
They are Diction, Song and Spectacle. Hence, the organization of the Western Classical Drama may be approached through the parts of the dramatic action.
Plot
It is the most important element of the drama. Aristotle calls it the “soul of tragedy.” It refers to the arrangement of the incidents, which has a Beginning, Middle and End. The parts of the plot are unified such that if any of its parts is displaced or removed, the whole play will be disjointed or disturbed. This also means that this “single” action should take place in one day. During the Renaissance, dramatists derived the
“unities” of action, time and place, which come from their translation or interpretation of the Poetics.
Character
The character is the principal material from which plots are developed.
Characterization delineates a person from other persons. It operates on physical, or biological, societal, psychological and moral levels. The
physical or biological level defines gender, age, size, coloration, and general appearance. The societal level includes factors that place a character in a particular societal environment. It defines the economic status, profession, religious belief, and family relationships, among others.
The third level is psychological and reveals the character’s inner workings of the mind and includes his habitual responses, desires, motivations, likes and dislikes. The fourth level reveals what characters usually do when he makes a difficult choice. These decisions differentiate his character more fully as such leads to scrutiny of his values and motives that reveal the true nature of his character.
Thought
It refers to the main idea or abstract concept that characters make concrete in the dramatic action. The meaning in drama is usually implied rather than expressed directly. Meaning is suggested or revealed through a variety of ways --- through the relationships among characters, by the ideas of the characters, by the conflicts and their resolutions, and by devices such as spectacle, music and song.
Sometimes, meaning is stated clearly in the script. To convey the Plot, the Character and Thought, playwrights utilize two means, which are sound and spectacle. Sound includes language or diction, music and aural effects whereas spectacle refers to the visual elements of a production, such as the physical appearance and movement of performers or actors, the costumes, scenery, props and lighting.
Diction
It refers to language or the “expression of meaning in words.” It is the primary tool of a playwright’s expression. Language or diction is not only used to impart information but also to characterize, focus on important elements in the plot, convey meaning, establish a mood, tempo and rhythm and internal logic. In a play, language is always abstract and more formal than that of a normal conversation as the dramatist arranges, selects and heightens language. Diction must be appropriate to characters, situations, internal logic, and type of play.
Song or Music
This originally refers to the singing and dancing of the chorus, which is an integral part of drama during Aristotle’s time. Music in drama extends to all patterned sounds and may include the sound of actors’
voices, incidental songs and background music, and instrumental accompaniment. Music may serve to establish variety, convey a mood, characterize or suggest ideas.
Spectacle
This last element refers to all the visual elements of a production. It includes the character’s movement and spatial relations, lighting, settings, costumes, and properties or props. They serve as aid to visualize the action in a play and convey the play’s full power. All visual aspects of a production are composed of basic elements such as line, shape, space, color, texture and ornament. In applying these elements, certain principles are used such as harmony, variety, balance, proportion, emphasis and rhythm.
Adolphe Apphia, one of the 20th century’s major theoreticians of Theater, in Action, Space, Light, Painting, not only comments on the relative importance of these elements in staging but also forwards the idea of hierarchy in production design. In this hierarchy, he points to the first three important elements --- the actor, space and light. He places the actor on the first rung of the ladder as he carries out the action, and hence the drama. All other elements are subordinated to or put in the service of the actor.
Space for instance, must conform to the plastic feature of the actor, and must work to serve the actor’s moving, alive and three-dimensional character. Light, the third important element in the hierarchy must also become active to bring out the drama established by the actor. In this order, the Actor presents the drama in a three-dimensional Space, while Light gives life to both. Moreover, the ultimate integration of all the elements of a play takes place in the spectator’s mind. He is the final individual who brings the parts together to complete the theater event.
Theatrical Elements in Ritual Performances
Rituals are solemn ceremonies consisting of a series of actions performed according to certain prescribed order. As special occasions, they intend to achieve a certain result --- to heal, to protect, to harm, to propitiate an ancestor spirit or god, or to mark a major transition in one’s status, such as birth, puberty, a new relationship or death.
Within the ritual process, there are also elements that provide pleasure or entertainment. To achieve these ends, masking, costuming, impersonation, dance, music, narrative, humor are used or performed in rituals. The demonstration of skills or expertise by the ritualist in the
execution of an action or a series of action and recitation of chants always significantly counts in the performance of rituals.
Guide questions in analyzing the aesthetic qualities of the theater arts
The Form
1. What are the dominant theatrical elements?
2. How are these employed in the performance?
3. How do the dominant elements affect you?
4. How do these elements effectively convey the main theme of the art work?
The Subject Matter
1. What is the theme of the art work?
2. What are the other subthemes that affect the central theme?
3. What is the significance of the central theme/s to you in terms of personal, historical, social or political value?
The Style
1. What particular characteristics does this performance have that are also present in other works within similar genre?
2. Describe the use of elements, principles and conventions that identify the performance with other performances of similar genre.
The Aesthetic Qualities of Selected Performances Spatial Convention in Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King by Sophocles is considered to be the epitome or perfect example of a Greek tragedy. Most historians assume that it was first staged in 427 B.C. in Athens. The play begins with King Oedipus learning that his predecessor, King Laius, had been murdered years ago, and that the incident has caused the plague in the ancient city of Thebes and the suffering of its people.
Oedipus vows to bring back prosperity to the kingdom and to avenge the King’s death. He pronounces a curse on the murderer without knowing that he actually puts a curse on himself. The excerpts shows part of the first episode of the play, when Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind prophet, to ask what he knows about the murder. It is shown here that Tiresias refuses to tell Oedipus what he knows, so Oedipus curses and insults him up to the point of accusing him of the murder.
This Tiresias into revealing that Oedipus himself is the murderer.
Oedipus refuses to believe his accusation and turns the table by accusing Tiresias of conspiring with his brother-in-law, Creon, against his wife Jocasta, and by discrediting him for forsaking the city of Thebes when it was previously held captive by the Sphinx. At that time, the Sphinx refuses to free the city until his riddle is solved.
Tiresias vindicates himself by saying that Oedipus’ parents believes him. Oedipus, who grew up in Corinth ask how Tiresias knew his parents but the latter rather puzzles him and puts forth another riddle before leaving the stage.
He says that the murderer of the former King is both father and brother to his children, and the son of his own wife. The major theme of the play conveys the precariousness of man’s destiny. In the Greek period, theater plays are first performed when springtime begins during the 5-day religious festival held in honor of Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine-making. On the first day of this Greek festival, the major officials of Athens and its citizens together with theater actors parade in procession within the city, and dance and sing for various ceremonies at altars along the procession route until they reach the main alter where a bull is sacrificed. Just like other Greek festivals such as the pan-Greek Olympic games held I honor of Zeus which is held after every four years following the summer solstice, this festival includes competitions.
Dithyramb (hymn songs and dance by a group of fifty men or boys) competitions are probably held on the second day, comedies on the third day, while tragedies on the 4th and 5th days of the Great festival.
On the last day, prizes are awarded to the best plays. Oedipus Rex is first staged within this bigger festival framework. Though evidences are not conclusive, experts assume that just like other several Greek plays, the action in Oedipus Rex took place around an altar (thymele) dedicated to Dionysus that is set on the center of an open playing area called the orchestra (dancing place) set at the base of a curving hillside.
The orchestra could be either circular or trapezoidal. A low wooden grandstand or theatron, which seats about 15,000 or so spectators surrounds it. Some records suggest that spectators from the theatron while looking downhill would respond with stomping of feet, whistling, prolonged noises, as well as heavy applause. Opposite the audience is a wooden building called the skene, which serves as an offstage are for
changes and entrances and as setting of the play. At the further back of the skene is a temple of Dionysus and a sacrificial altar where the slaughtering and roasting of bulls took place.
Actors are given the chance to explore not only the interior but also the central and peripheral playing spaces (through the orchestra and the skene) in this kind of physical set-up. Greek actors also rely on large simple gestures or movements and their ability to declaim the script since facial expressions and vocal inflections could not be depended on with the theater‘s physical expanse. The actors would wear masks made of lightweight wood, cork or linen to help portray their character and other roles including female characters. Some experts say that masks also work as a megaphone to help project the actors’ voices.
Using some guide questions, let us analyze the aesthetic qualities of Oedipus Rex
Form
1. What are the dominant theatrical elements?
2. How are these employed in the performance?
3. How do the dominant elements affect you?
4. How do these elements effectively convey the main theme of the art work?
Analysis
1. Space is a dominant element in the play.
2. Space is employed not only to facilitate the movement of the actors in the performance arena but also to accommodate a huge religious community in the conduct to appease god.
3. As a part of a religious festival, the element of space in this play actually extend beyond the orchestra.
4. It reminds me of man as part of the vast cosmos.
5. The expanse of the performance area reinforces the idea that man is a part of a vast universe with which he has very little control of.
The Subject Matter
1. What is the theme of the art work?
2. What are the other sub-themes that affect the central themes
3. What is the significance of the central theme/s to you in terms of personal, historical, social or political value?
Analysis
1. The play speaks of the uncertainty of human destiny.
2. The other subtheme points to the incapacity of man to control his fate. As a Christian, it reminds me God's divine plan for man.
The Style
1. What particular characteristics does this performance have that are also present in other works with similar genre?
2. Describe the use of elements, principles and conventions that identify the performance of similar genre?
Analysis
1. This play follows the staging conventions of drama during the Greek Period.
2. Some of the elements or conventions in this play include the use of space, dramatic plot, limitation of talking characters into 3 male actors, performance of the chorus between episodes, performance of female roles by male actors, use of embroidered tunic or ample length native dress or chiton as costume, among others.
The Conventions of Movement and Space in the Japanese Noh Play, Dōjō-ji, attributed to Kanze Kojiro Nobumitsu
Kanze Kojiro (?1435 or 1450-July 7, 1516)
He was a Japanese noh playwright and secondary actor during the Muromach Era, from the house of Kanze. He was the grandson of Noh playwright Zeami Motokiyo, and is considered one of the last important playwrights of the golden age of Noh.
The Japanese Noh Play, Dōjō-ji
This play starts off with the waki, a male Buddhist Abbot of the Dojo Temple or Dōjō-ji announcing that a new bell would be dedicated in the Temple, which has had none for years. He leaves the temple with warning, forbidding the priests to admit women. The shite, an elegant woman dancer then appears who declares that she should be allowed to perform the shirabyoshi dance in the dedication. The priests allows her to enter. The shite starts to dance in triangular patterns, which later
become disarrayed and chaotic. The dancer finally knocks the hat she's wearing, stamps her feet and looks at the bell.
The Dōjō-ji Bell
Then she swings her fan back and forth and then leaps up causing the giant bell to crash to the ground around her. The bells become fiery hot.
The Abbot (waki) then returns and tells why women are forbidden in the temple by telling a story about a girl who was told to marry a priest. The girl asked the priest to marry her but the latter fled in terror. The girl transformed into a serpent because of fury, and chased the priest until the temple of Dōjō-ji.
In the Temple, the priest hid in an unraised bell to which the serpent coiled itself around. It set a fire because of the latter's intense passion, and burned the priest alive. In the play, the girl's ghost comes back through the shite and reveals herself as a snake-demon when the bell is finally raised in the dedication. The priests attempt to defeat her but to no avail, so she is simply chased away in the end.
One of the highlights of this play is the ranbyōshi, which is performed by the shite or the principal character and the small-drum player. In this part, the shite dances according to the playing of the drummer and vice versa as if they are locked into each other's world for about fifteen minutes. Here, only breathing cues each other's performance. The shite dances and moves in a very stylized manner according to the convention of Noh, to express strong emotion and a kind of suppressed tension that come from her profound misery and internal anguish.
It requires the shite's perfect timing because he can be injured or even killed as the bell is very heavy. This scene also focuses attention on
the verticality of the theater space, which is not so common in Noh. As a convention, the movement in a Noh stage generally maintains or follows a horizontal progression, but with the bell as a prop, the vertical dimension of the theater space is also explored. The highest point of this drama is the scene where the shite jumps underneath the falling bell.
Using some guide questions, let us analyze the aesthetic qualities of the Dōjō-ji Noh play.
Form
1. What are the dominant theatrical elements?
2. How are these employed in the performance?
3. How do the dominant elements affect you?
4. How do the conventions of Noh apply to the dominant elements to effectively convey the main theme of the art work?
Analysis
1. The dominant elements in the play are the movement, gesture and music.
2. The actions or movements and music are controlled or performed in a highly stylized or conventionalized manner.
3. They lead me to think about those who are gripped with indignation, and to the ways with which they cope such experience.
4. The controlled or stylized movement and gesture conveys restrained tension and certain deep and mysterious sense of uncertainty, which is the principal theme of the play.
Subject Matter
1. What is the theme of the art work?
2. What are other sub-themes that affect the central theme?
3. What is the significance of the central theme/s to you in terms of personal, historical, social or political value?
Analysis
1. The play speaks of unseen or uncertain future as the bell hides unseen forces of evil that might break off any moment.
2. The other sub-themes are indignation and requital.
3. It alludes to some difficult transformations that people and society go through.
The Style
1. What particular characteristics does this performance have that are also present in other works within similar genre?
2. Describe the use of elements, principles and conventions that identify the performance with other performances of similar genre.
Analysis
1. All the conventions of Noh theater that apply to stage, movement, props, costume and language are present in almost all theater works of this genre.
2. The use of the elements is unvarying in all Noh plays especially during the Tokugawa period.
3. They are utilized according to the theatrical prescriptions' or conventions of Noh theater.
Diction and Central Ideas in William Shakespeare's Hamlet
This play concerns Hamlet who is tasked to punish the murderer of a king who happens to be his father. Hamlet finds out that his father was murdered by Claudius, his uncle; that his mother, Gertrude, has been unfaithful to his father; that his mother agreed to his uncle's usurpation of the throne which was supposed to be his; And that his supposed
This play concerns Hamlet who is tasked to punish the murderer of a king who happens to be his father. Hamlet finds out that his father was murdered by Claudius, his uncle; that his mother, Gertrude, has been unfaithful to his father; that his mother agreed to his uncle's usurpation of the throne which was supposed to be his; And that his supposed