People want to entertain, to have fun, to relax. One way of satisfying these needs is by going to watch plays, listen to live music concerts or watch opera or other performances. The place where people go to see these performances is called a THEATER. There, the actors or actresses, present the experience of a real or imagined event before a group or assembly of listeners, viewers, or spectators (live audience).
In this lesson, we are going to find out more about theaters. We will discuss:
Theater can be defined as a place, a building, or an outdoor area in which plays and other dramatic performances are performed on a stage, or motion-picture are shown in front of the audience.
In theaters, the actors or actresses, present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience.
The need for entertainment and fun on the one hand, and the need for expressing in front of the audience, on the other hand, was present a long time ago. That is why theaters existed since ancient times. The first forms of theater existed a long time ago. Even if they looked different than today, they have common elements with today's theaters. The Theater of Dionysus, built in the shadow of the Acropolis in Athens at the beginning of the fifth century, is the place where the first play was performed. That became very popular, so soon spread all over Greece. Actually, the word theater that we use today comes from the Greek one: théatron, which means: "a place for viewing”.
The stage is the area where actors or other entertainers perform. These can be:
These have an architectural frame, known as the proscenium arch, although not always arched in shape. Their stages are deep and sometimes raked, meaning the stage is gently sloped rising away from the audience. Sometimes the front of the stage extends past the proscenium into the auditorium.
Platform stages usually consist of a raised rectangular platform at one end of a room. They can either have a level or raked sloping floor. The audience sits in rows facing the stage.
These are flexible performance spaces which when stripped to their basics are a single room painted black, the floor of the stage at the same level as the first audience row.
These are places where theater and concert performances are held in the open air. It may include a stage and seats open to the sky.
It is any type of theatrical production that is performed at a unique, specially adapted location other than a standard theatre.
The main purpose of the theater is to entertain us. We are going to the theater to be entertained. It is a perfect place to spend your time in a fun and quality way. You can learn something new, you can be enlightened, or maybe be inspired. It can bring joy to your life. It can provide you cultural benefits.
The theater has many elements. The major elements of theater are:
• Performers. They are entertainers like actors, musicians, or circus performers, magicians, dancers, etc.
• Audience. It is the assembled spectators or listeners at a public event such as a play, film, concert, etc.
• Theater space. It is the space where a performance takes place.
• Director. It is a person that sets the vision for the production for everyone involved.
• Visual elements, like scenery, costume, lighting.
• Non-visual elements, like sound.
All of these elements must be combined one to another, to make the theater complete. The performers (actor/actress) need to give their best while performing. They must be convincing while pretending to be someone else, otherwise, the audience will lose interest in watching. The audience is the one who, with the expressing of their emotions, inspires the performers to give more energy and shine on the stage. The good interaction between them can lead to a successful theater performance. Of course, there must be a certain place, where performers and audience will meet. Performers need their stage, and the audience needs their space for sitting or standing to watch the performance. Scenery, costume, lighting, sound…they all come as design aspects. Scenery, costume, lighting are visual aspects and sound is a nonvisual aspect. The person that combines and coordinates these things is called a director and is also one of the elements present in the theater.
In the theaters are performed different types of plays, like comedy, tragedy, drama; there are performed: musicals, opera, ballet, modern dance, circus. In other words, theater can house any activity where performers can communicate with the audience.
From small to big, from old to new, opened or closed, there are so many theaters around the world making the art alive. The following are some of the most beautiful and stunning theaters around the world:
