Theater(from the Greek theatron - places for a spectacle, spectacle) - the main kind of spectacular art, a form of performing art.

Theater is a synthesis of all arts, it includes music, architecture, painting, cinematography, photography, etc. The main means of expression is an actor who, through action, using various theatrical techniques and forms of existence, conveys to the viewer the essence of what is happening on stage .

In this case, the actor does not have to be a living person. It can be a doll or some object controlled by a person.

The theater is considered the most powerful means of influencing people, because, seeing what is happening on the stage, the viewer associates himself with one or another character. Through catharsis (purification through suffering), changes occur within him.

Theater, like no other form of art, has the greatest "capacity". He absorbs the ability of literature to recreate life in a word in its external and internal manifestations, but this word is not narrative, but lively-sounding, directly effective. At the same time, unlike literature, the theater recreates reality not in the mind of the reader, but as objectively existing pictures of life (performance) located in space. And in this respect, the theater is close to painting. But the theatrical action is in constant motion, it develops in time - and this is close to music. Immersion in the world of the viewer's experiences is akin to the state that a music listener experiences, immersed in his own world of subjective perception of sounds.

In the theatrical sphere, theory is called a variety of things - extracts from history, problematic, mixtures of aesthetic concepts and technological recommendations created by theater practitioners, methodological studies, and sometimes just texts saturated with scientific words. Meanwhile, it seems obvious that "Brecht's theory" is undoubtedly a theory, but of Brecht's theater, and not of theater. And it is even more obvious that theatrical methodology deals with the ways in which knowledge about the theater is obtained, including theoretical knowledge, and theater theory is a part of this knowledge itself.

At the same time, the theory of the theater is not a philosophy of the theater, not a general art history adapted to theatrical needs; on the other hand, the theory and not the technology of the theatre; it describes not the ways of doing it, but what is being done. But in order to become itself, the theory must know where and how it is connected both with the philosophy of the theater and with general art history; in what relations does it have with the theories of other arts, with the history of thought about the theatre. And, of course, first of all, and in the most natural way, with the science of the history of the theater.

Of course, theater is by no means a substitute for other art forms. The specificity of the theater is that it carries the “properties” of literature, painting and music through image of a living person. This direct human material for other forms of art is only the starting point of creativity. For the theatre, "nature" serves not only as material, but is also preserved in its immediate vivacity. As the philosopher G. G. Shpet noted: “The actor creates from himself in a twofold sense: 1) like any artist, from his creative imagination; and 2) specifically having in its own person the material from which the artistic image is created.

The art of the theater has an amazing ability to merge with life. The stage performance, although it takes place on the other side of the ramp, at moments of high tension blurs the line between art and life and is perceived by the audience as reality itself. The attractive power of the theater lies in the fact that "life on the stage" freely asserts itself in the imagination of the viewer.

Such a psychological turn occurs because the theater is not only endowed with the features of reality, but in itself is an artistically created reality. Theatrical reality, creating the impression of reality, has its own special laws. The truth of the theater cannot be measured by the criteria of life's plausibility.

The origin of the theatre. The ritual and magical component of culture and its role in the formation theatrical art.

The theater was born from the most ancient hunting, agricultural and other ritual festivals, which reproduced natural phenomena or labor processes in allegorical form. However, ritual performances in themselves were not yet a theater: according to art historians, the theater begins where the viewer appears - it involves not only collective efforts in the process of creating a work, but also collective perception, and the theater achieves its aesthetic goal only if , If stage action resonates with the audience.

The origins of theatrical art lie in primitive pagan rituals and rituals associated with the fundamental moments of the life of the then society. The personification of natural phenomena in one or another deity necessitated a kind of dialogue with the gods - in rites and rituals, key moments were played out (i.e. presented in theatrical form), vital important events. In ritual actions, it would seem, there were no spectators as such, all their participants, no matter how many there were - whether there were many, during a mass rite, or only priests, during a secret rite, were directly included in the action itself. Nevertheless, the spectator was, more precisely, implied: these theatrical performances, primitive mysteries, were addressed to the deities, the participants of the rite entered into a dialogue with them. This was how the sacredness of the action was set, the highest note, preserved in the best works of the theater to this day.

The first realization of the necessary professionalization of the future theater arose: the more skillfully the dialogue with the gods is carried out, the more likely it is to achieve their favor. Thus, the first professionals of archaic theatrical forms were priests and shamans; later - mourners, singers, dancers, glorifying the ancient gods - Dionysus, Saturn, Osiris, Baal, Kolyada, Astarte.

Here, for the first time, one of the most important social functions of the future theater was formed and realized - ideological. Proximity to the gods gives the priests power; in order to support it, it is necessary to form the necessary public opinion and mood, an ideological doctrine. A high degree of emotional involvement of participants in ritual actions (and later theater spectators), i.e. collective experience makes them the most suggestible. Hence comes the widespread and quite objective assertion that the theater is a public platform from which the system of political, legal, religious and other views of society is promoted and instilled.

The second, no less important social function of theatrical art is commercial and entertainment, it is rather a derivative of the ideological one as a distraction from the most pressing problems. Let us recall the slogan of the Roman mob of the era of imperial power: "Bread and circuses" (lat. Panem et circenses). And like any entertainment industry, the commercial entertainment theater is capable of generating serious profits, which in turn is attractive to ideological and power structures. Thus, both social functions of the theater throughout its history exist in an interdependent unity, sometimes intertwining in the most whimsical way.

In the early stages of the development of the theater - in folk festivals, singing, dance, music and dramatic action existed in an inseparable unity; in the process of further development and professionalization, the theater lost its original synthesism, three main types were formed: drama theater, opera and ballet, as well as puppet theater and pantomime.

Antique theater in the system of the ancient type of culture. Mythological foundations of the ancient theater.

Antique theater - theatrical art Dr. Greece, Dr. Rome, as well as a number of countries Bl. East (V BC - V century AD). Other Greek theater arose from rural festivities in honor of the god Dionysus. The theater occupied a special place in people's lives, it was a platform for the wide dissemination of new ideas, highlighting the problems that most worried the minds of contemporaries. His social and educational role was great.

The theater was a public institution supported by the state. The most wealthy and respectable citizens paid for the training of the choir and its maintenance (they were called choregs). The professions of playwright and actor were considered honorary. Actors could only be men - they also played female roles. The show went on open sky, on a round platform - an orchestra. Benches for spectators were carved into the rocky slopes of the hill, at the foot of which the orchestra was arranged. The actors performed in masks (denoting either the stage type of the character, or state of mind or character), bright chitons and on high wooden sandals on their feet (cothurns). The theater had almost no scenery.

The theater was not an everyday affair. The performances were only three times a year during the festivals of Dionysus, at which praises (songs of praise) were sung. They necessarily gave three tragedies and one satyr drama, i.e. comedy. Three playwrights participated in each performance, and the audience had to determine the best production, the best actor, and the best choreographer (organizer of the performance). On the final day of the holiday, the winners received awards.

The main genres were: tragedy (literally, “the song of the goats”) arose from a choral song, from a dithyramb sung by satyrs dressed in goat skins and depicting cheerful companions of the Greek god of winemaking Dionysus. Tragedians were: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. The structure of the tragedy: 1. parod - the first song of the choir; 2. stasim - the song of the choir on the orchestra (consists of stanzas and antistrophes); 3. episody - dialogical part. Then came the alternation of stasims and episodies. The episody ended with a komos - a joint song of the hero and the choir. The whole tragedy ends with an exode (departure) - a song for everyone in general.), Comedy (Aristophanes).

Soil other Greek. art consider mythology. In the course of the development of Greek tragedy, the circle of its plots, in addition to the myths about Dionysus, included stories about the fate of the heroes of antiquity - Oedipus, Agamemnon, Hercules and Theseus and others. Gr. tragedy is based entirely on mythology. But through the mythological shell, the playwright reflected contemporary social life in tragedy, expressed his political, philosophical and ethical views. The use of mythology made the tragedy unusually intelligible. In each play, the viewer met faces and events already familiar to him and could more freely follow how these myths were processed by the creative imagination of the playwright.

The main task of the theater is catharsis (purification). Cleansing from man's consuming passions. He was supposed to crown the tragedy. The death of a hero should not have been meaningless. The highest meaning is the collision of subjective circumstances and objective laws. The first is the heroes, the third is the highest law of the Olympic gods, fate. Fate always wins, although the hero is noble. The Greeks believed that there should have been harmony everywhere, and the performance of the hero violates harmony, the retribution for this is life. The hero most often dies, and the audience sympathizes with him. Live always remain calm, passive.

Origin of Greek tragedy. The main features of Greek tragedy. Characteristics of the work of one of the tragic playwrights (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides)

The question of the origin of ancient Greek tragedy is one of the most difficult in history. ancient literature. One of the reasons for this is that the writings of ancient scholars who lived in the 5th century. BC e. and, probably, having some even more ancient documents, in particular, the works of the first tragic poets, have not reached us. The earliest evidence belongs to Aristotle and is contained in chapter IV of his Poetics. Later ancient sources do not agree with him in everything and often give such versions (for example, Horace in Poetics), the very origin of which needs additional research.

“Having originally arisen from improvisations ... from the founders of dithyrambs, tragedy grew little by little ... and, having undergone many changes, stopped, reaching what lay in its nature,” we read in “Poetics” (ch. IV). “The speech turned from a jocular late into a serious one, since the tragedy arose from the presentation of satyrs.”

Greek tragedy comes from the ritual performances in honor of Dionysus. The participants in these actions put on masks with goat beards and horns, depicting the satellites of Dionysus - satyrs. Ritual performances took place during the Great and Lesser Dionysias (festivals in honor of Dionysus).

Songs in honor of Dionysus were called dithyrambs in Greece. The dithyramb, as Aristotle points out, is the basis of Greek tragedy, which retained at first all the features of the myth of Dionysus. The latter was gradually supplanted by other myths about gods and heroes - powerful people, rulers - as the cultural growth of the ancient Greek and his social consciousness.

Antique tragedy calls Athens Euripides its first poet and points to 534 BC. as on the date of the first staging of the tragedy during the "Great Dionysius".

This tragedy was distinguished by two significant features: 1) in addition to the chorus, an actor, a cat, performed. made messages to the choir, exchanged remarks with the choir or with its leader (luminary). This actor recited choreic or iambic verses; 2) the choir took part in the game, depicting a group of persons put in a plot connection with those who were represented by the actor.

Plots were taken from the world, but in some cases, tragedies were composed on modern topics. The works of the first tragedians have not been preserved and the nature of the development of plots in the early tragedy is unknown, but the main content of the tragedy was the image of "suffering".

Euripides (c. 484 - 406 BC) was born and often lived on the island of Salamis. Wrote 92 dramas; Only 17 tragedies have come down to us, the satyr drama Cyclops and many fragments pointing to the enormous popularity of Euripides in the Hellenistic era. All surviving tragedies (Medea, Orestes, Helena, Iphigenia in Aulis, Hecuba, Bacchae, etc.), except for Alcestis, were written during the Peloponnesian War, which is reflected in many of them. His tragedies are full of political statements and allusions to modernity. Euripides brought his heroes closer to reality, he denounced tyranny, believed that nobility lies in personal virtues and virtues. Depicts people as they are, without obscuring their negative traits. Reduces the images of mythological heroes. In his ideology, he is close to the sophists, deepens towards psychological analysis. human personality. In mythological images, he shows spiritual discord, the splitting of people in the era of the crisis of the polis ideology (“Medea”).

The dramaturgy of Euripides is last step on the age-old path of ancient Greek tragedy, marking the rejection of the monumental images of Aeschylus and the heroic normativity of Sophocles. New for Greek tragedy in Euripides is the image of a person who enters into action not with an already established decision, but experiencing in his soul the confrontation of ethical norms and inclinations; undeserved suffering often becomes the cause of death, the victim of which - physically or morally - is the avenger himself. In this sense, Aristotle called Euripides "the most tragic of poets."

Euripides significantly enriched the means of depicting characters by introducing monodies that serve to express the highest tension of feelings, and monologues with dialogues (agons), in which the hero's assessment of his position and the rationale for the decision being made are subjected to logical analysis. Euripides already has three actors, the chorus becomes more detached, that is, not so closely connected with the action, unlike Sophocles. Separating tragedy from music, songs and dances, he turns the round dance tragedy of the classical era into its opposite - literary tragedy. He refers to the word as the main means of influencing the masses. Dialogue reflects the depths of a person's soul, and the language approaches conversational

General characteristics of theatrical and entertainment culture ancient rome. The difference between the Roman theater and the Greek.

In ancient Rome, the germ of dramatic performances were rural festivities with festoons performed at them. But they cannot be considered a direct source of artistic drama, since already from the beginning of the 3rd century BC. there is an intense influence on Rome of Greek culture. There is also no doubt that further development the rudiments of the drama, which were available in the fescennins, is associated with the influence of Etruria. The next stage in the development of theatrical art of Ancient Rome was special kind primitive dramatic performances, which were called "atellani".

In Campania was the city of Atella. It was probably by the name of this town that the Romans began to call Atellana the farce that came to them from the Oscans, which soon completely acclimatized in Rome. A characteristic feature of atellana was the presence of permanent types - masks. They were Mack, Bukkon, Papp and Dorsen. Each of them had its own characteristic. Makk, for example, was a fool who was beaten and deceived by everyone. He was a glutton and extremely amorous. He was depicted as bald, with a hooked nose, donkey ears, and in short clothes. Dorsen was a cunning hunchback. Bukkon's lips were drooping from a love of chatter. Papp is a rich old man who has no luck in family life.

The beginning of the atellan was simple, the action developed quickly, and the denouement was often unexpected. Atellani are a further step in the development of early drama, as they already had regular roles. Further. The Atellani joined with the Saturs and began to be given at the end of the play as entertainment for the public after a long and tiring tragedy.

The influence of the Greeks on Roman culture was associated with the conquest by the Romans of Campania and the southern Italian cities, which possessed all the treasures of Greek culture. Acquaintance with the Greek language begins to spread more widely among the Roman nobility. Greek cultural influence intensifies during the First and Second Punic Wars. By the end of the III century BC. Greek and Oriental cults penetrate the very thickness of the population. But, although the Roman theater developed on the basis of Greek theatrical culture and adopted its best achievements, on the whole it is a completely original phenomenon and cannot be considered as a theater taken by the Romans from the Greeks and only slightly adapted to Roman conditions.

Quintus Ennius (239 - 169 BC) - Roman playwright who wrote comedies and tragedies, reworking or translating Greek plays. His tragedies were distinguished by their national Roman content (“The Sabine Women”, “Ambracia”) and enjoyed great success, thanks to their artistic processing of real dramatic pathos. Thirty titles of his plays and a large number of excerpts have come down to us.

The activity of Ennius as a tragic poet was continued by his nephew Pacuvius (c. 220 - c. 130 BC). He reworked Greek tragedies and also wrote pretexts. In search of spectacular and pathetic material, Pacuvius turns not only to Euripides, but also to Aeschylus, Sophocles, and to the post-Euripian tragedians. Cicero recognizes Pacuvius as the greatest tragic poet of Rome.

Another of the great playwrights of Rome was Actius (170 - c. 85 BC), who became famous as the author of tragedies. More than 45 of their names are known, but only minor fragments have survived. Action used the plots of Greek tragedies, reworking them on his own, but also wrote two tragedies of pretexts: "Brutus" (about the overthrow of Tarquinius the Proud) and "Aenead", where the hero who sacrificed himself in the battle with the Gauls and summits was glorified. In the tragedies of Actius, contemporaries felt responses to the political life of Rome, thanks to which his works remained on the Roman stage for a long time. Actions also wrote essays on the history of drama and theatrical art.

According to the general opinion of the Romans, Ennius and the subsequent tragedians - Pacuvius and Actius - represent in Rome the same triumvirate in the field of tragedy, which Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides constituted in Greece.

Along with the official, there was also an ancient folk theater, in which itinerant comedians - fliacs and mimes - performed. They played primitive plays of everyday, entertaining, satirical, often obscene content on the streets and squares, the actors were without masks, women could participate in the performance.

In Rome, as in Greece, dramatic performances were associated with cult. They were one of the types of "games" arranged during various festivities. Along with stage games, circus and gladiatorial games were given. The annual “state games” had a regular character, the number of which increased significantly at the end of the 3rd century. Almost all of them included dramatic performances.

After the presentation of the tragedies, a short "final play" was usually given - atellana, or mime; archaic tradition demanded that the festive day receive a cheerful conclusion.

At the "Roman" games, "plebeian", "Apollo", "Megalesian" (in honor of the Great Mother of the Gods, in April), tragedies and comedies were staged; at Flora's games, mimic performances were given, which, however, were allowed at other games.

The performances were from early morning until evening. However, extraordinary games, public or private, joined the regular games. Settled for any occasion. Attending the games was free and public (in Greece, too, at first, then for a fee, but the poor were given money to watch. In Greece, they were arranged only 3 times a year).

State. the games were administered by magistrates. The Roman stage games, at least in the time of Plautus and Terentius, did not have the nature of poetic competitions, but the distinguished troupe received a certain bonus from the magistrate.

Only in 55 BC. e. Rome received its first stone theater, built by the famous commander Gnaeus Pompey. Roman theaters were built on the model of Greek ones, but with some deviations. Seats for spectators rose in rows above the orchestra, which formed a regular semicircle; however, the orchestra was also part of auditorium: it was separated for senators. That is, the audience was divided into classes.

As in the Greek theater of the Hellenistic period, the actors played on a high stage, but the Roman stage was lower and wider than the Greek one and was connected to the orchestra by side stairs. In the second half of the II century. in the Roman theater, a curtain was introduced according to the Hellenistic model.

The theater still remained without a roof, but in the 1st century. they began to spread a purple cloth to protect them from the sun.

The Roman theater established its own traditions. Thus, the performance of arias (“kants”) was divided between the actor, who limited himself to pantomime, and a special “singer”, who owned the entire vocal part to the accompaniment of flutes. Roman actors at first limited themselves to make-up, and only at the end of the 2nd century. began to resort to a mask of the Greek type.

The female roles of tragedies and comedies were performed, as among the Greeks, by men; actresses performed only in mimes.

In Greece, the profession of an actor was considered prestigious, and in Rome it was shameful; for a Roman citizen, acting was considered "disgrace".

Organization of performances in the Greek theater. Actor in the theater. The system of symbols in the ancient theater. The main genres of theatrical art.

The organization of theatrical performances in Greece was undertaken by the state in the person of the highest officials - the archons. The expenses for the maintenance and training of the choir fell as an honorable public duty on wealthy citizens, who in this case received the name of choregs. The duties of playwright and actor were honorary in Greek society. Some of the actors and playwrights in the 5th and 4th c. BC. held important public positions and took an active part in the political life of the country.

Performances were given at three festivities in honor of Dionysus - Small, or Rural Dionysia (in December-January according to our calendar; Lenaea (in January-February); Great or City Dionysia (in March-April) - and were in the nature of a competition: at first playwrights and choreges, and from the 2nd half of the 5th century BC - also the actors who played the first roles (protagonists) 3 playwrights were allowed to compete, each of whom the archon appointed a choreg and between whom he distributed the protagonists. were recorded in special records - didascalia, kept in the state archive of Athens.

In ancient Greek theater, women's roles were always performed by men. The same actor played several roles throughout the play. With the musical element highly developed in the ancient performance, the actors were required to be able not only to read the verses of the play well, but also to sing and dance. Greek actors wore masks on their faces, which changed in different roles and even during the performance of one role, if there were drastic changes in the state of the character being portrayed. The need to preserve the mask (which at first had a cult significance) was due to the performance of female roles by men and the huge size of the Greek theater, as a result of which the facial expressions of the actor's face would completely disappear for the audience. In order to increase their height, the actors of the tragedy used koturny - special shoes with high soles. The clothes of tragic actors, richly decorated with multi-colored embroideries, looked like a magnificent costume worn by the priests of Dionysus during religious ceremonies. A cloak was worn over a long tunic. The female characters in the comedy wore what appeared to be regular costumes; male characters- a short, coarse jacket, often a raincoat.

Melpomene and Thalia - are symbols of theatrics.

Melpomene was at first considered the muse of tragedy, but then she expanded her “possessions”, her sphere of interests and became the muse and patroness of the dramatic theater in general. The theater began to be called the temple of Melpomene.

She was depicted adorned with grape leaves, with a wreath of ivy on her head, on cothurns, with a tragic theatrical mask in one hand and a sword or club in the other.

The name Thalia comes from the Greek words “bloom”, “grow”. In mythology, she became the patroness of comedy and light cheerful poetry. Usually depicted with a comic mask in her hand, with an ivy wreath on her head, sometimes with a shepherd's staff or a tambourine.

Three genres were formed in the ancient Greek theater: tragedy, comedy, satyr drama, which served as the final part of the tragedy - tetralogy.

Main features medieval culture. Model of the Middle Ages. The role of Christianity in the formation medieval painting peace.

The Middle Ages was one of the most difficult and dark periods in history. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th c. ancient ancient civilization was practically wiped off the face of the earth. The young Christian religion, like any ideology at its early stage, gave birth to fanatics who fought against the ancient pagan culture. Philosophy, literature, art, politics fell into decay. Religion took the place of culture.

"Epic Theater" - the theatrical theory of the playwright and director Bertolt Brecht, which had a significant impact on the development of world drama theater.

Many of my statements about the theater are misunderstood. Approving reviews convince me of this most of all. Reading them, I feel like a mathematician who is told: “I fully agree with you that two times two is five!”

Bertolt Brecht

The theory of "epic theater", the subject of which, according to the definition of the author himself, was "the relationship between the stage and auditorium”, Brecht finalized and refined until the end of his life, however, the basic principles formulated in the second half of the 30s remained unchanged.

Orientation to a reasonable, critical perception of what is happening on the stage - the desire to change the relationship between the stage and the auditorium has become cornerstone Brecht's theory, all the other principles of the "epic theater" logically followed from this attitude.

The “alienation effect” (Verfremdungseffekt) in Brecht had the same meaning and the same purpose as the “estrangement effect” in Viktor Shklovsky: to present a well-known phenomenon from an unexpected side - to overcome the automatism and stereotypical perception in this way, or, as Brecht himself said , "simply to deprive an event or character of everything that goes without saying, familiar, obvious, and to arouse surprise and curiosity about this event." Introducing this term in 1914, Shklovsky designated a phenomenon that already existed in literature and art, and Brecht himself wrote in 1940: “The effect of alienation is an old theatrical technique found in comedies, in some branches folk art, as well as on the stage of the Asian theater,” Brecht did not invent it, but only with Brecht this effect turned into a theoretically developed method for constructing plays and performances.

Actor in the "epic theater"

The Alienation Technique proved especially challenging for the actors. In theory, Brecht did not avoid polemical exaggerations, which he himself later admitted in his main theoretical work - “The Small Organon for the Theater”; in many articles he denied the need for the actor to get used to the role, and in other cases he even considered it harmful: identification with the image inevitably turns the actor either into a simple mouthpiece of the character, or into his lawyer. But in Brecht's own plays, conflicts arose not so much between the characters as between the author and his characters; the actor of his theater had to present the author's - or his own, if it did not fundamentally contradict the author's - attitude towards the character.

Stanislavsky system

Stanislavsky system- the theory of stage art, the method of acting technique. It was developed by the Russian director, actor, teacher and theatrical figure Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky in the period from 1900 to 1910. For the first time in the system, the problem of conscious comprehension of the creative process of creating a role is solved, the ways of transforming an actor into an image are determined. The goal is to achieve the full psychological credibility of acting.

The system is based on the division of acting into three technologies: craft, performance and experience.

• Craft according to Stanislavsky is based on the use of ready-made stamps, by which the viewer can clearly understand what emotions the actor has in mind.
• The Art of Presentation is based on the fact that in the process of lengthy rehearsals the actor experiences genuine experiences that automatically create a form of manifestation of these experiences, but at the performance itself the actor does not experience these feelings, but only reproduces the form, the finished external drawing of the role.
• The Art of Experience- the actor in the course of the game experiences genuine experiences, and this gives rise to the life of the image on stage.

The system is fully described in the book by K. S. Stanislavsky "The work of an actor on himself", which was published in 1938.

Basic principles of the system

True experiences

The main principle of the actor's game is the truth of experiences. The actor must experience what happens to the character. The emotions experienced by the actor must be genuine. An actor must believe in the "truth" of what he is doing, must not portray something, but must live something on the stage. If an actor can live something, believing in it as much as possible, he will be able to play the role as correctly as possible. His game will be as close to reality as possible, and the audience will believe him.K. S. Stanislavsky wrote about this: "Each moment of your stay on the stage must be sanctioned by faith in the truth of the feeling experienced and in the truth of the actions performed."

Thinking through the proposed circumstances

An actor's feelings are his own feelings, the source of which is inner world. It is multifaceted, so the actor, first of all, explores himself and tries to find the experience he needs in himself, he turns to own experience or tries to fantasize in order to find something in himself that he never experienced in real life. In order for a character to feel and act in the most correct way, it is necessary to understand and think through the circumstances in which he exists. Circumstances determine his thoughts, feelings and behavior. The actor must understand internal logic character, the reasons for his actions, must “justify” for himself every word and every action of the character, that is, understand the reasons and goals. As K. S. Stanislavsky wrote, “the stage action must be internally justified, logical, consistent and possible in reality.” The actor must know (if it is not indicated in the play - invent) all the circumstances in which his character is. This knowledge of the causes, rather than the emotional manifestations themselves, allows the actor to experience the character's feelings in a new way each time, but with the same degree of accuracy and "truthfulness".

The birth of the text and actions "here and now"

A very important feature of acting is the experience of "here and now". Any emotion, any action must be born on stage. The actor, despite knowing what he must do as this or that character, must give himself the opportunity to want to do this or that action. The action thus performed will be natural and justified. If the same action from performance to performance is performed every time “here and now”, then it will not become a kind of “stamp” for the actor. The actor will perform it in a new way each time. And for the actor himself, performing this action each time will provide the sense of novelty necessary to enjoy his work.

The work of an actor on his own qualities

In order to be able to invent the circumstances of the role, the actor must have developed fantasy. In order for the role to turn out to be as “live” and interesting for the viewer as possible, the actor must use his powers of observation (to notice some interesting situations in life, interesting, “bright” people, etc.) and memory, including emotional memory (the actor must be able to remember this or that feeling in order to be able to experience it again).

Another important aspect of the profession of an actor is the ability to manage your attention. The actor needs, on the one hand, not to pay attention to the audience, on the other hand, to concentrate his attention as much as possible on his partners, on what is happening on the stage. In addition, there are technical issues. The actor must be able to stand in the light, be able to "not fall into the orchestra pit", etc. He should not concentrate his attention on this, but should avoid technical overlays. Thus, the actor must be able to manage his emotions, attention, memory. The actor must be able to control the life of the subconscious through conscious acts (“the subconscious” in this case is the term used by K. S. Stanislavsky, and the meaning of which lies in the fact that the “subconscious” is a system of involuntary regulation), which, in turn, , determines the possibility of emotionally filled living "here and now". “Each of our movements on the stage, each word must be the result of faithful life imagination,” writes K. S. Stanislavsky. An important aspect of acting is working with your body.

Interaction with partners

Creativity in the theater is most often of a collective nature: the actor works on stage together with partners. Interaction with partners is a very important aspect of the acting profession. Partners must trust each other, help and promote each other. Feeling a partner, interacting with him is one of the main elements of acting, which allows you to maintain involvement in the process of playing on stage.

Monodrama N. N. Evreinov

Monodrama- principle theater theory N. N. Evreinova, the unfolding of stage events, as if projected through the consciousness of the protagonist or one of actors. Implies a dramatic performance that presents the world the way he is perceived by the protagonist "at any moment of his stage existence", and makes each of the spectators become in the position of this person, "to live his life"

3. Theater and theatrical performances V Ancient Greece.

4. Tragedies and comedies in the ancient Greek theater.

5. Creators of the theater.

6. Conclusion.

The emergence of the theatre.
Theater originated in ancient Greece about two and a half thousand years ago.
The very word "theater" Greek origin and means "a place for spectacles".
Theatrical performances were the favorite spectacle of the ancient Greeks.
The origin of the theater was associated with the religion of the ancient Greeks, namely with
festivities in honor of the god Dionysus - the patron saint of winemakers. In one of
myths tells that Dionysus wanders all over the earth with a crowd
their satellites. These are satyrs - forest gods, half-humans, half-goats. Satyrs
long tails, pointed ears and hooves. When to the sounds of flutes and pipes
Dionysus comes to Greece, then spring begins in this country, warmer
the sun warms, flowers bloom, all life is reborn.
At the end of March, Greece celebrated the main holiday of the god of winemaking - the Great
Dionysia. Depicting satyrs, the Greeks put on goat skins, tied
long beard out oak leaves painted their faces or covered them
goat masks. A merry procession of mummers moved through the streets of the city and
stopped somewhere in the square. First came out singing. He singsong
told about the wanderings of Dionysus, about his meeting with pirates and other
adventures, and the rest of the mummers sang along with him in unison. The lead singer portrayed
then one of the heroes of myth, then Dionysus himself, then one of the satyrs. scenes,
played by the participants of the holiday, and were the first theatrical
spectacles: the singer and the mummers were the actors, and the spectators were all
city ​​population.

Theater and theatrical performances in Ancient Greece.
In Greek cities from the end of the 6th century. BC e. built for theatrical performances
special buildings. In almost every Greek city, including the colonies on
shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, had its own theater, and sometimes several (for example,
there were more than ten theaters in Attica). Each of the ancient theaters accommodated
several thousand spectators. For example, the theater of Dionysus in Athens had about 17
thousand places.
The theater was a favorite spectacle in ancient Greece, all residents aspired to
get to the feast of Dionysus, but these festivities (of which they were part
theatrical performances) were not held daily, but only twice a year.
There were no evening performances in Ancient Greece. Performances in theaters in Greece
started at seven in the morning and continued until sunset: they put in a row
several performances.
"Ancient Greek theater tickets»: a small fee was charged for entering the theater
(in Athens, power belonged to common people, demos, so
the state, taking care of the poorest citizens, gave them money to buy
tickets). The ticket was made of lead or fired clay. The letters are visible on the ticket
"beta" (B) and "epsilon" (E). The letter indicated one of the "wedges" on which
the theater shared stairs, diverging beams. In the indicated on the ticket
"Wedge" could take any place, starting from the second row. Not to
sit at the very top, the Greeks went to the theater until dawn. They took with them a bundle with
pies and a flask of wine, a warm raincoat, a pillow that was placed under
yourself on a stone bench. The theater was rarely half empty.
Most of the spectators were men - citizens and visiting Greeks.
Women, constantly busy with household chores, attended the theater significantly

less often than men. Slaves entered the theater only as servants accompanying

their masters.
Seats in the first row were not only marble, but also free, allotted
they are for honorary spectators (priests of Dionysus, winners at the Olympic Games,
strategists).
The sound was excellent in the theatre. If you throw a coin in the center of the orchestra,
its ringing will be heard on the backmost benches. The theater building was
a huge thicket, which, like a mouthpiece, amplified all the sounds of speech and music.
There was no curtain in the Greek theater. The action unfolded without intermissions,
those. without breaks.
Theaters were located in the open air on the slopes and accommodated thousands of
spectators. The theater building consisted of three parts.
One part of the theater is seats for spectators. They were divided by passages into sections,
wedge-like.
Another part of the theater - the orchestra - is a round or semi-circular platform on which
actors and choir performed. Not a single one passed without songs and dances
performance. Members of the choir depending on the content of the performance
depicted either friends of the main character, or townspeople, or warriors, and
sometimes animals - birds, frogs and even clouds.
The third part of the theater was called skene. It was adjoining the orchestra
building. Painted boards or panels were attached to its wall,
depicting either the entrance to the palace, or the portico of the temple, or the seashore. Inside the skene
the costumes and masks of the actors were kept.
The participants in the performances were only men. They performed in men's or
women's masks, in special shoes with thick soles to appear taller

growth. Since the facial features of the actors were poorly visible from the last rows

theater, the actors put on large painted masks that covered not only
face, but also head. When looking at the actors, it became clear who they were.
depict. Old men have white hair, thin sunken cheeks. If the hero
younger, hair and beard became half-gray, young men were portrayed
beardless. The slave could be recognized immediately - his features betray a non-Greek
origin. Usually no more than three people participated in each performance.
actors. There could be many characters in the play, and then each actor
played several roles.
Tragedies and comedies in the ancient Greek theater.
In ancient Greece, there were two main types of performances - tragedy and comedy.
Serious plays were called tragedies. Tragedies usually
the heroes of myths acted, their exploits, sufferings and often death were depicted.
Tragedy in Greek means "song of the goats". From the Greek tragedians to the world
three luminaries of ancient drama gained fame: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides.
Comedies were called funny plays or songs of cheerful villagers.
The actors of comedies - funny and mocking performances -
along with the heroes of myths were contemporaries of the audience. In democratic
Athens, with its widely developed political life, is the richest material for
she gave comedies political life. unsurpassed master
political comedy was considered Aristophanes (450-388 BC), a native of Athens,
the only writer of political comedy whose 11 plays have survived to
our days. Distinctive properties of the work of Aristophanes are:
artistic beauty of form, inexhaustible wit, combination
dramatic, comic and lyrical moods. in their comedies

Aristophanes expresses the interests of the Attic peasantry and middle strata

urban democracy.

Theatrical performances along with Olympic Games were loved
spectacles of the Hellenes.

Sophocles (b. c. 497-d. 406 BC) - great ancient Greek playwright. Created
in the era of the highest flowering of the Athenian slave-owning democracy and its
culture. Together with Pericles, Sophocles was elected a strategist (440-439 BC), i.e.
military leaders. Along with Aeschylus and Euripides, Sophocles created and developed
classical ancient tragedy; he increased the number of plays
actors from 2 to 3, reduced choral parts compared to dialogue and action,
introduced scenery, improved the masks. Of those written by Sophocles, more than 120
plays, 7 tragedies and more than 90 fragments have been preserved, among them - a fragment
satyr drama Pathfinders. Sophocles' popularity in Athens
is confirmed by the fact that in drama competitions he received the first prize 18 times
award and neverdid not take third place. The theme of the tragedies of Sophocles, closely
Related mythological subjects. The dramas of Sophocles are characterized
compositional harmony, proportionality of parts, strict subordination of private
general - artistic idea. Sophocles psychologically truthfully reveals
the inner world of their characters. The work of Sophocles had a great influence on
world literature since the Renaissance.
Conclusion.
The most important stage in the development of the theater was the theatrical culture of antiquity,
In ancient Greece, a theater was created based on folk traditions and new
humanist ideology. Theater occupied an important place in public life
ancient Greek democratic city-states. Its development was
is inextricably linked with the heyday of Greek drama. Greek theater performances
which were part of the national festivities organized by the state,
reflected critical issues public life.

THEATER OF PLEASURE OR THE THEATER OF LEARNING?

Page 65. Jouvet Louis (1887-1935) - French director, head of the theater "Athenay". Jouvet was a theatrical innovator who sought new ways of directing.
Cochran is an English director and actor.
"Habima" is a Jewish theatre, in which E. B. Vakhtangov staged the play "Gadibuk" ("Possessed") in 1921, which had a great resonance in Europe.
Page 66. ...according to Aristotle. - See: Aristotle, The Art of Poetry, M., Goslitizdat, 1967, p. S3.
Page 72. Psychoanalysis - a theory of psychology created by the Austrian scientist 3. Freud, according to which the spiritual life of a person is explained by the subconscious and mainly by the sexual instinct.
Behaviorism is a trend in modern American psychology that considers human behavior as a set of reactions to external influences.
...According to Friedrich Schiller... - Brecht is referring to Schiller's teaching about the theater as a school of morality, put forward by him in a number of aesthetic articles and treatises: "The Theater Considered as a Moral Institution", "On the Tragic Art", "On the Pathetic" , in "Letters on aesthetic education person".
Page 73. Nietzsche attacked Schiller, calling him the Seckingen trumpeter of morality. - Nietzsche, who had a dislike for Schiller, ironically called him that, using the title of the famous lyric-epic story in verse by Joseph Viktor Scheffel "The Seckingen Trumpeter" (1854).

GERMAN THEATER 1920s

Page 75. "Business is business" - an anti-bourgeois play by the French writer Octave Mirbeau (1903).
Miss Julia is a naturalistic drama by the Swedish writer August Strindberg (1888).
"chalk circle"- a sensational modernist play by the German writer Klabund (1924), an adaptation of an old oriental drama,
Page 76. The Good Soldier Schweik was staged by Piscator at the Nollendorfplatz theater in Berlin (premiere 23 January 1928) based on a novel by Hasek, edited for the stage by Brecht.
"The Merchant of Berlin" is a satirical play by Walter Mehring (b. 1896), staged by Piscator at the theater on Nollendorfplatz (premiere September 6, 1928).
Gross Georg (1893-1959) - German graphic artist who collaborated in 1928-1929. with Piscator, in whose theater he designed The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik. See about him in the book. E. Piskator "Political Theatre", M., 1934.
Page 77. "Flight of the Lindberghs" - an educational play by Brecht (1929), later renamed "Flight over the Ocean".
Hindemith Paul (b. 1895) - German composer, one of the leaders of musical modernism.

REALISTIC THEATER AND ILLUSION

ABOUT THE EXPERIMENTAL THEATER

Report read on May 4, 1939 to the participants of the Student Theater in Stockholm. In November 1940, Brecht reworked the text for the re-reading of the report before the ensemble of the Student Theater in Helsinki in November 1940. First published in "Studien", No. 12, Supplement to "Theater der Zeit", l959, No. 4.

Page 84. Antoine André (1858-1943) - French director, theater theorist and innovator.
Bram Otto (1856-(1912) - German theatrical figure, founder of German stage naturalism, follower of Antoine.
Craig Gordon (b. 1872) is an English director, artist and theater theorist, a supporter of the director's autocracy in the theater, who saw in the actor only a "super-puppet".
Reinhardt Max (1873-1943) - German director, tireless experimenter, innovative use of all components modern performance(music, light, dance, painting).
...natural sites. - Reinhardt performed staging in circus arenas, etc. in the form of mass folk spectacles. "Dream in midsummer night"was staged in 1905 - this performance enjoyed particular success.
"Every person" (or "Everyone") - a drama by the Austrian playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1924) "Every person, a game about the death of a rich man" (1911); is an adaptation of a medieval mystery.
Page 85. Trendelenburg operation on the heart. - Trendelenburg Friedrich (1844-1924) - surgeon, creator of new methods of operations on the lungs and heart.
Page 86. Grig Nordal (1902-1943) - Norwegian playwright, author of the epic drama "Our Honor, Our Power" (1935), which attracted Brecht with the image of the masses, and "Defeat" (1937), a drama that Brecht remade into his play " Days of the Commune.
Lagerkvist Per (b. 1891) is a Swedish writer, a follower of the dramaturgy of A. Strindberg, who later created works of high philosophical and social significance.
Auden Wistan Hugh (b. 1907) is an English writer and poet.
Abell Kjell (1901-1961) Danish playwright. See note. to p. 181 of the 1st semi-volume.
Page 93. ... Institute of physicist Niels Bohr. - Niels Bohr (1885-1964) - Danish physicist, who since 1920 headed the Institute of Theoretical Physics. Under the impression of the message mentioned in the text, Brecht wrote the play "The Life of Galileo" (see about this vol. 2 present, ed., p. 437).
Page 95. Mimesis. - In his "Poetics" Aristotle, following Plato, calls all types of poetry imitative arts or imitation. The term "mimesis" (μιμησις) means "imitation".
Hegel, who created... the last great aesthetic. - This refers to the "Course of Lectures on Aesthetics", read by Hegel in 1817-1819. in Heidelberg and in 1820-1821. in Berlin. The thought cited by Brecht is in the "Introduction" (see: Hegel, Collected Works, Moscow, 1938, vol. XII).
Page 101. Brueghel. - Dutch painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder, nicknamed Muzhitsky (1525-1569).

NEW PRINCIPLES OF ACTOR'S ART

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF A NEW ACTING TECHNIQUE THAT CAUSES SO

CALLED "ALIENATION EFFECT"

Page 108. "The Life of Edward II of England" (1923) - a play by B. Brecht and L. Feuchtwanger, a reworking of the drama by Christopher Marlo, the English Renaissance playwright, Shakespeare's predecessor.
"Pioneers from Ingolstadt" - a play by Mariluise Fleisser.
Page 110. I. Rapoport's book "The Work of the Actor" made a great impression on Brecht and was repeatedly discussed by him. See special note in "Schriften zum Theatre", B. Ill, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1963, S. 212-213.

DIALECTICS AND ALIENATION

These notes were not published during Brecht's lifetime.

IMAGE BUILDING

It was not published during Brecht's lifetime. The sections "Historicization" and "The Uniqueness of the Image" are included in this series of notes by the compiler of the German edition W. Hecht.

Page 125. ... your little play ... - that is, Brecht's one-act play "The Rifles of Teresa Carrar".
Page 125-126. ... the most outstanding actress - Elena Weigel.

IMAGE DEVELOPMENT

This and the following notes were written mainly in 1951-1953. Some of them were created before and after the conference organized by the German Academy of Arts in Berlin on the topic: "How can we learn Stanislavsky?" Others arose in the summer of 1953 in connection with reading a handwritten translation of N. Gorchakov's book "Director's Lessons by K. S. Stanislavsky", 2nd ed., M., "Art", 1951, written by a famous Soviet director on the basis of rehearsals and conversations with Stanislavsky.

IS IT TRUE

Written by Brecht in connection with the production of E. Strittmatter's play Katzgraben (1953) - see approx. to page 479.

Page 141. "The Trial of Joan of Arc" - a play written by B. Brecht in collaboration with Benno Besson based on the radio play of the same name by Anna Zegers (1952).
Dufour is a character in this play.
pars pro toto (Latin) - a part instead of a whole.

IMPLEMENTATION

Refers to notes written in connection with the production of "Katzgraben".

Page 142. Danegger Matilda - actress of the Berlin Ensemble.

ARTIST AND COMPOSER IN EPIC THEATER

ON STAGE DECORATION IN A NON-ARISTOTEL THEATER

An excerpt from a large work that remained unfinished.

Page 150. "Running run" - a play by V. P. Stavsky (1931), staged by N. P. Okhlopkov at the Moscow Realistic Theater.
Knutson Per is a Danish director who staged Brecht's play Roundheads and Pointyheads at the Ridersalen Theater in Copenhagen (premiered on November 4, 1936). See present, ed., vol. II, p. 430.
Page 151. Gorelik Max (Mordekai) (b. 1899) - American theater designer who designed the production of Brecht's play "The World" in New York's Theater Union (premiered November 19, 1935). See present, ed., Vol. I, p. 510.
Page 155. Heartfield John (b. 1891) - German poster and theater artist.
Page 161. Hannibal ante portes (Latin) - Hannibal at the gate. The words of Cicero, meaning a great danger looming.
Page 163. Guild Theater - American drama theater, established in 1919; here, the existing system of "stars" in America was opposed by a strong ensemble of actors. See "Theatrical Encyclopedia", vol. I, column. 1169-1170.

ON THE USE OF MUSIC IN EPIC THEATER

Page 164. "The Life of the Asocial Baal" - that is, Brecht's play "Baal" (1918).
Page 167. "Take it off" (English)
"Emperor Jones" - play American writer Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953).

"SMALL ORGANON" FOR THE THEATER

Brecht's main theoretical work, written in 1948. First published in 1949 in a special issue dedicated to Brecht in Sinn und Form, then in Versuche, No. 12 .
The word "organon" (meaning in Greek in literally"tool", "tool") among the followers of Aristotle means logic as a tool scientific knowledge. The word "Organon" denotes a collection of treatises on the logic of Aristotle. The English materialist philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626), wishing to oppose Aristotle's logic with his inductive logic (that is, based on inferences from particular facts to general conclusions), polemically called his work "The New Organon". B. Brecht calls his main theoretical treatise "Small Organon", continuing the struggle for a new, "non-Aristotelian" theater. Thus, already in the title itself there is a controversy against traditional dramaturgy and theater.

Page 175. Robert Oppenheimer (b. 1904) - American physicist; during the war, from 1943, he led one of the main American nuclear laboratories. Subsequently, he was put on trial for anti-American activities.
Page 195. Loughton - see 1st semi-volume, p. 516.
Page 208. "Tai Yang Awakens" - a play by Friedrich Wolf, staged by Piskator at the Walnertheater (premiere May 15, 19 (31),

ADDITIONS TO THE "SMALL ORGANON"

The additions were written by Brecht in 1952-1954. using experience in the "Berlin Ensemble".

Page 211. Owl of Minerva. - According to the beliefs of the ancient Romans, the owl is a sacred bird that accompanies the goddess of wisdom, Minerva.

DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER

DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER

Scattered notes, united under such a heading by the compiler of the German edition, W. Hecht.

Page 222. Study of the first scene of Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus. This conversation between Brecht and his collaborators in the Berlin Ensemble took place in 1953. Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus was translated and edited by Brecht in 1952-1953.
Page 232. Patria (Latin). - fatherland.
Page 239. Relative haste. - The play by N. A. Ostrovsky "The Pupil" was staged in the "Berlin Ensemble" directed by Angelika Hurwitz (premiered on December 12, 1955).
Page 240. Another case of application of dialectics. - The play "The Rifles of Teresa Carrar" was staged at the "Berlin Ensemble" by Egon Monck under the artistic direction of Brecht (premiered November 16, 1962).
Page 241. Letter to the performer of the role of the younger Herder in the Winter Battle. - "The Winter Battle", a tragedy by J. R. Becher, was staged in the "Berlin Ensemble" by B. Brecht and Manfred Wekwert (premiered on January 12, 1955). The role of the younger Herder was played by Ekkehard Schall.
Page 243. Arndt Ernst Moritz (1769-1860) - German writer, publicist during the wars of liberation against Napoleon.
Page 244. "Military Primer" - an album compiled by Brecht during the war, which is photographs with poetic signatures composed by Brecht.
Page 245. Niobe - in the Greek legend, the wife of the king of Thebes Amphion, whose children were killed by the gods; grief turned Niobe into a rock. Niobe is the personification of suffering.
Page 246. An example of how the discovery of an error led to a stage find. - The play "Millet for the Eighth Army" by Chinese playwrights Lo Ding, Chan Fang and Chu Jin-nan, arranged by Elisabeth Hauptmann and Manfred Wekwert, was staged at the "Berlin Ensemble" by M. Wekwert (premiered on April 1, 1954).
Page 248. Gottsched Johann Christoph (1700-1766) - German writer of the early Enlightenment. His Essay on Critical Poetics for the Germans was published in 1730.
Page 249. Paul. - Brecht is wrong: Paul was not a Roman actor, he was an Athenian of the era of Pericles.

SOME MISTAKE IN UNDERSTANDING THE METHOD OF THE PLAY OF THE "BERLIN ENSEMBLE"

This "conversation in the literary part of the theater" took place in 1955 after the premiere of " winter battle"J. R. Becher. Published for the first time in "Sinn und Form", 1957, E 1-3. Russian translation (partial) in the book: B. Brecht, On the Theater.

Page 252. Rilla Paul (b. 1896) - German critic, theorist and historian of literature, author of Literature, Criticism and Controversy, Berlin, 1950.
Page 254. Rose Berndt - heroine tragedy of the same name G. Hauptmann (1903).
Page 259. Erpenbeck Fritz (b. 1897) - German writer and theater critic.

NOTES ON DIALECTICS IN THE THEATER

Page 268. Nouveute (French) - letters, news. "Theatres des Nouveautes" - this was the name of many Parisian theaters, of which the most famous theater was founded by Brasseur Sr. on the Italian Boulevard in 1878, where vaudevilles, operettas and buff comedies were played.

General questions of theater theory

Features of theatrical art

I would like to start the story about the theater with the words of A.I. Herzen: "The theater is the highest authority for solving vital issues."

Theater is one of the earliest art forms. History of development human society does not know a period in which the theater would not exist. concept "theater" first appeared in ancient Greece: from the word "teaomai" (look) there was a word - places for a spectacle (a spectacle - the audience places were originally called, and then the name spread to a theatrical performance as such).

Theater is a kind of art in which the main means of self-expression is a stage action in front of an audience.

In the process of formation and development, certain types of theatrical art were formed: in one of the first dramatic theater staged works of the so-called conversational genre(tragedies, dramas, comedies); V operatic - vocal; V puppet theater actors-puppeteers remain out of the visible stage space- all the action is played by puppets; one of the last to appear ballet and theater pantomime, in which the action-plot is conveyed by the plasticity of actors dancing to the music, or by the movement of a mime. At the junction of dramatic, vocal and ballet art, such "light" theatrical genres as operetta and modern musical, labeled "democratic".

IN different eras and periods drama theater favored tragedy, proper drama, comedy (as an emotional unity of the scene and the viewer. Therefore, such theater functions, as educational, moral, aesthetic, educational, communicative, etc. The theater has rich means of expression, which are aimed at an all-consuming effect on the viewer. This is an important feature of the theater, which is inherent in all types of performing arts.

In the theater, the word and speech occupy a paramount place among other means of expression. Literary work is translated by the theater into a living embodiment - a stage action is created. At the same time, the main means of expressiveness are speech (monologue, dialogue, polylogue), acting, which are entirely subject to the laws dramatic action. The main task in setting dramatic work on stage is creation of harmony, or artistic unity of all elements.

Theater for all long history often experienced difficulties, prohibitions and persecution. However, this did not prevent him from developing, acquiring new forms of existence, manifesting himself in new genres and types. The purpose of the theater, like any other art, is to artistic means authentically reveal the complexity of the spiritual world of man, his desires and aspirations. To special expressive means The theater includes the play of actors, the work of the artist on the scenery design of the performance, the director's concept of the performance (the development of the director's theater declared itself especially powerful in the 20th century). Now the theater has many incarnations and is an integral part of modern cultural life.

Drama as the basis of stage action

Drama is a kind fiction, in which the driving force is the action that encounters the "counter-action", and is intended not only for reading, but also for the stage incarnation. Drama - basis of stage action. Unlike prose works, the plot of a drama (its conflict) is realized in the form of dialogues of characters and remarks that fix the actions and actions of the heroes of the play. Each scene of the drama is a struggle between the characters or the characters themselves. In the theater, it is the actor who embodies everything written by the playwright and conceived by the director - by broadcasting them, the actor lives on the stage someone else's life as his own. A dramatic work, ideally, should be a single whole, from which not a single fragment can be cut off without violating the living fabric of the play. But despite the fact that the same performances are going on the stage every day, every time an act of creativity takes place directly in front of the viewer - this is precisely the enduring magic of the theater. Theater connoisseurs compare the same plays in productions with interest different directors, since it is the unique director's interpretation, the choice of certain actors who are able to embody the creative intent of the author and director, that give the dramatic work a "new life", and there are many examples of this in the history of the theater.

The interdependence of characters and action became more understandable only with the emergence of the concept of drama as a conflict of will, and this played a significant role in the development of dramatic thought in the 19th-20th centuries.

Dramatic work can be seen as literary text and as a stage action, when such components as speech, music, plasticity, light, costumes, etc. are added to the text.

Theory dramatic thought begins with ancient Greece. The great Aristotle in his "Poetics" reflects on the laws of dramaturgy. According to Aristotle, in every tragedy there must certainly be six components: plot, characters, thoughts, stage setting, text and musical composition, but "the most important of these parts is the composition of events, since tragedy is an image not of people, but of actions and the misfortune of life." Aristotle believed that "tragedy is the image of people better than us", noble people, while comedy is "reproduction the worst people, but not in all their depravity, but in a ridiculous form, "and" without suffering. "Tragedy, of course, is higher than comedy, because it serves to purify human feelings through compassion and fear catharsis.

The thinker formulated two postulates that are as important today as they were when the Poetics was created:

• 1) the playwright should only be interested in what people do, what they think or what they are;
• 2) the action is not just one of the parties dramatic construction: this is the construction itself, and "the beginning and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy is the plot, and the second is the characters."

For drama to occur, single action (struggle of opposing forces) and dramatic knot (circumstances or events that lead to desire). Desire, in turn, gives rise to a collision, while the dramatic knot of the play in most cases becomes peripeteia - a sudden change in the fate of the hero of the drama, the opposite of what was expected.

Aristotle considered in "Poetics" the composition of a dramatic work, which he defines in the following sequence: tie, twist And denouement. The "construction" proposed by Aristotle, of course, is not universal, rather arbitrary, but it outlined the main guidelines for drama, including high tragedy, in which there can be no happy ending.

It should be remembered that a more complicated understanding of the structure of the drama, including the terms "exposition", "climax", etc., appeared much later. The first scenes, where the main theme - the single action of the play - is not yet manifested, are devoted to preliminary clashes and are called exposure. The dramatic knot predetermines not only the emergence of a single action, but also its development. The exposition, like the drama itself, is given in the form of conversations. In the first dramatic works, this function was performed by prologue. It was a separate part from the play, but was later included in the drama. The exposition can be presented in a story or confession of the characters, sometimes it is given in the form of hints in the characters' remarks or is displayed in an independent monologue of one of the characters.

Regardless of the exposure should be considered eyeball, those. the introduction of a dynamic motive that determines the plot development. The plot of the drama is the beginning of the main conflict of the struggle of the characters, generated by a conflict of interests. These are the initial events that violate the initial situation. In drama, the plot is not always the initial incident leading to a long chain of changing situations, but the task that determines the entire course of the drama. A typical plot is the love of heroes, encountering obstacles. The plot can be given in the exposition, it can be shifted deeper into the play, but it always directly "echoes" with denouement, which contains its permission. Sometimes several acts are filled with side episodes that play the role of indirect exposition and development of characters, and only in the middle of the play does the introduction of the first dynamic motif of the plot take place. There are plays where the first act is entirely devoted to the formation and tightening of the dramatic knot, i.e. it reveals the circumstances and growing events that anticipate the emergence of a single action, but the action itself has not yet begun.

In a dramatic work, the characters clash in a struggle. Aristotle emphasizes the so-called intricate actions, ups and downs, scenes of recognition, indicating the development of intrigue and its peak. There are recognition scenes that lead to disaster. The development of intrigue captures the interest of the viewer to a greater extent, who may be privy to the intrigue from the very beginning or not guess about the intricacies of the dramatic narrative along with the characters. Everything is ordered in the play, but the events taking place on the stage are so intense that sometimes the viewer does not have time to switch attention to new scene. The system of departures and exits of the characters helps to "discharge" the action so that the viewer can understand the logic of its construction and the motivation of the characters.

One of the unspoken components of a dramatic work is the build-up of action, because it becomes boring if passions do not heat up. To do this, the author either introduces new characters who suddenly announce some previously unknown circumstances, or enhances the intrigue unexpected turn events. Usually this leads to more tension in the action, this moment (not always noisy, but significant) has come to be denoted as climax - highest voltage when the conflict reaches a critical point in its development.

In many plays, the catastrophic moment comes with the participation - and volitional tension - of all or almost all of the main characters.

The final chord of the whole action is the finale of the drama - denouement. By definition, it is tragic - most often it is the death of a hero, the collapse of a whole life or love (a happy ending happens in comedies, but it should be said that it appeared later as an element of action). According to Aristotle, the denouement is anticipated by the scene pathos (violent suffering), usually after a catastrophe. In these scenes, as a rule, the hero, in search of a way out, turns to people, to the gods for help, or demonstrates internal struggles with himself, with his feelings, with the voice of reason. Sometimes scenes of pathos undermine the strength of the hero. Aristotle, at the end of the plot, saw the main meaning of the tragedy, which should evoke "fear and compassion" in the audience, and in the Hellenic - a feeling of complete submission to the fate that reigns over him.

The onset of the denouement is sometimes noticeable immediately, and sometimes the intrigue lasts until the last moment. Many playwrights use the "deceived expectation" effect. The interest of the drama is not always focused on the denouement, because it is predictable - main interest concentrates on unraveling the tangle of obstacles.

An important component successful staging is the acting. Bright and interesting plots make it possible to trace the impact on the viewer acting and staging. For a long time the actor was required to perform the assigned task mechanically, i.e. it was only necessary to understand the nature of the character. There was no need to memorize the text, since improvisation flourished during the formation of theatrical art.

To create a theatrical production, certain stages are required: the choice or creation of a work - at this stage, the distribution of roles and the approval of the rehearsal schedule take place. great attention is given to the means of expression, which not only allow reaching the maximum approximation to the illuminated era, but also largely determine the outcome of the performance. The next stage is the reading of the play by roles and numerous rehearsals. The final stage- Organization of performance rental. IN modern conditions the success of a theatrical production is an ambiguous concept: creative people a full house is important, the interest of the viewer, positive criticism, for the administration of the theater similar success is the key to the existence of the theater, for the producer it is a successful commercial investment, etc.

Theatrical art throughout its existence acquired special features, which were dictated by time, existing trends in art and literature. The formation of the theater in different periods history will be discussed in the next chapter.