Dance / Drama: Theatre Studies 1 & 2

Production Year: 2010    Duration: 30 mins

Take a comprehensive look at the history of theatre and drama, taking students from the ancient Greeks to the medieval Mystery plays, from the Renaissance to the Restoration, finishing up with Modern Theatre, exploring different play styles, staging and acting.

This short film explores the defining aspects of Greek tragedy and why the plays resonate with audiences today. Featured in this film are experts Edith Hall, professor of Classics at Kings College, London, Laura Swift from the Open University and Dr Sean McElvoy from Varndean College, Brighton.

Duration: 6:32

• BBC Radio 4: Comedy in Ancient Greek Theatre
  • A podcast episode from the BBC all about theatre comedy in Ancient Greece, including Aristophanes and Menander and their lasting legacy. Duration: 45 min
• Explore The Tragic Structure
  • This webpage from The Kennedy Center looks at the structure of typical ancient Greek tragedies.

Greek Theatre: Comedy

This is a short film about Greek Comedy and Satyr Drama, discussing the festival of Dionysus, the original performance conditions and how the style of these shows differ from Greek Tragedy.

Duration: 5:12

Elizabethan Theatre

• Shakespearean Comedy
  • A basic overview of common features in Shakespeare's comedic plays.
• Exploring the Nature of Shakespearean Comedy
  • Features a discussion of comic characters and comic action.
• Elizabethan Theatre
  • A 2001 lecture on various elements of Elizabethan theatrical productions, including acting styles.
• Royal Shakespeare Company: 'As You Like It' Education Activities Pack
  • An educational resource pack from the Royal Shakespeare Company discussing their 2013 production of As You Like It. Be aware that the document contains several dead hyperlinks.
• Costumes and Cosmetics
  • A fact sheet about stage make up and costuming during Shakespeare's time.
• Special Effects
  • A fact sheet about various special effects used in plays, including Shakespearean plays, during the Elizabethan era.

Epic Theatre

• The Drama Teacher: Epic Theatre Conventions
  • A fantastic article which covers the style, form, stagecraft etc. of epic theatre.
• The Drama Teacher: Brecht's Epic Theatre Conventions, Part 1.
  • A quick question-and-answer piece about epic theatre.

Production Year: 2011      Duration: 20:28 mins

Not long after the start of the 20th Century, playwrights, influenced by the horrors of war, began to experiment with theatre in a way which depicted many of the long held historical, social and cultural beliefs and practices as meaningless and chaotic.

Click on the image above

Duration: 1:54 mins

Learn that musical theatre originated in Ancient Greece, but in the late 19th century the art form took America by storm.

Poor Theatre

• Drama Online: Poor Theatre
  • A brief article about poor theatre's playwrights and their rationale & inspiration. It is an extract from from: Terry Hodgson, The Continuum Companion to Twentieth-Century Theatre, ed. Colin Chambers (London, 2002).
• The Drama Teacher: Poor Theatre Conventions
  • An overview of this theatre convention, including Grotowski's version of the actor-audience relationship.