THE THEATRE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW By Dingse Bitrus Nandom nandomdingse@gmail.com
THE THEATRE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW By Dingse Bitrus Nandom nandomdingse@gmail.com Many people are ignorant of what a theatre is and the role it plays in the society. Theatre manifests in the daily lives of humans without them even noticing. Theatre is far above what people think of it. People only perceive it as an art in which people (artists) gather to perform. When we look closely, we all are actors in one way or the other. A clear example of that is lying, dancing, etc. “All the world’s a stage” is a phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, spoken by Melancholy Jaques. Since the world is a stage, then everyone in it is an actor, and since actors act, and acting is part of theatre, then everyone is engaged or involved in the “theatre” in one way or the other. Hence, I feel that everyone should know the basis of theatre as a profession and a way of life. Theatre is a collaborative form of fine arts that uses live performances, typically actors, to present the experience of real or imagined events before a live audience in a specific place. Often on stage, the performer’s way to communicate this experience to the audience is through combination of gestures, speech, songs, and music and dance elements of arts. The origin of theatre can be traced back to the ancient time. The English word for theatre and drama has its root from ancient Greek, from the time of organized theatre first great emergence. Today, we use the word “Theatre” in a variety of way, as a place for dramatic performance, a company of players with a vision that animates them, and an occupation. A Theatre can be a structure (building) elaborate in size, decoration and functionality. In this aspect and scenario, the major requirement of a theatre is, however, an empty space with an elaborated acting stage and a place to watch. That is, the theatre as a “structure” cannot be called a theatre without these two major elements, acting stage and audience space. A theatre can also be seen as an organized performance before an audience. So theatre is a structure which accommodates the audience and the stage meant for theatrical activities and it is also the performance on its own. The performances that take place in the structure such as music, drama, concerts, etc. are referred to as the theatre. Theatre may suggest its elaborate nature as a collaborative Art by indicating the company or troupes into which its practitioners have formed them. Additionally, Theatre may refer to a larger grouping of artists, plays, buildings, and practices that constitute, for instance, the Elizabethan theatre or the Roman theatre. Theatre is an occupation and avocation as such. It involves the work of many people in multiple functions. Theatre, however, holds historical and qualitative relationships to play, games, and sports that suggest its impulses to play originates in human nature. Theatre is also an artistic work which involves quality unique in the arts, and impersonation by characters. As performing Arts, Theatre differs from the performance individuals may present in everyday life. As an Art, it utilizes different modes of performance, representational and presentational. It also differs from other kinds of related but recorded performances. Theatre is a live event that puts performers and audience in an immediate and mutually affecting relationship. The of theatre space or building which theatre requires is “personal”, that is, a theatre does not necessarily require a designated building or stage for it to be called a theatre. Therefore there is no designated space because theatre can take place anywhere as long as there are the theatrical elements in the given event with intent. Theatre although have designated building and variety of stages meant for theatrical performances, this theatre space is found in the building that houses these forms of performances. Theatre spaces can be in form of a Proscenium: This is original of the Roman theatre. The audiences are separated from the performers by the Proscenium; these features like the stage are permanent features of the structure. The Proscenium Stage, the audiences directly facing the stage (the acting space) which is raised several feet above front row audience level. The Thrust imagine a tongue Thrusting in a proscenium, the audience seat on three sides with the stage further injected into the audience a bit, unlike the proscenium, the audience seat on both left and right side of the stage and the front directly, given the actors more room for interaction with the audience because the acting space which is the stage is further and nearer to the audience. It goes beyond the usual location of the proscenium. It is also known as (Platform Stage or Open Stage) the Proscenium is what we usually think of as a “theatre”. Arena Theatre: A central stage surrounded by the audience on all sides. The stage area is often raised to improve sightlines assigning directions in the Arena stage can be almost arbitrary, as all directions don’t work well, common schemes used include compass direction (north, south, east, west) from centre stage because it has audience seated around it, like the stadium with the pitch in the middle with audience seating around it in all directions through the acting space (stage) is raised several feet actors exit through aisle created within the auditorium (theatre). Aside designated structures that houses theatrical performances, theatre can also take place at any given space, like in the village squares, during tales by moonlight, where the elders and the aged bring all the children together under the moonlight and tell them tales that inculcate in them the ideals of the culture and tradition and good morals which build their mental strength and scare them from doing evil and bad things. And other events that take place in the village square of the kings palace, traditional weddings coronations and so on, since Africa does not have a documented form of ways of passing its cultures and traditions from generation to generations from the unset, it uses the gerotes who are the custodians of the culture which brings about the oral tradition, father to son kind of traditional education. All these are forms of theatre, that is, theatre can be said to be as old as man himself. Theatre is a collaborative effort because there are many roles and activities that are carried out. Theatre artists group themselves by sharing of lot assigning to each practitioner roles to play in which you as the practitioner must be good in, and must master one or two, starting from the play writing, to public relations, marketing, directing, acting, costumes, make-up, set design, lighting technicians, music, and song composition, etc. All these are more like a workshop as earlier stated; it takes collaboration to be realistic and to achieve. Theatre artists are said to be disciplined and tolerant because they work as a team which in must cases there are clashes of interests here and there but they all must settle their difference before theatre can be said to take place, in the sense that there can be no progress and development without peace. In the cause of collaboration, they clash, but they tend to settle amicably in time because their focal point is the success of the production at hand which is their goal. The theatre practitioners are always working as a team, so if you are looking for a good team work in your organization, hire a theatre artist and you will have a testimony! Impersonation as a unique quality of theatre creates the paradox for perceiving and performing theatre. According to Konstantin Stanislavski; “an actor lives, weeps, laughs on stage, but he observes his own tears and mirth. It is the double existence; this balance between life and acting that makes for art” The artist conceives the theme, the characters the dialogue and story is the playwright. The playwright is said to be the primary Artist. In impersonation, which is to mimic and to mimic is human nature, “to put another person’s shoes” which comes up in plays by the performers (characters) trying to project the ideals of the playwright, his feelings thoughts and emotion which is reflected in plot i.e. what the story is about. Therefore acting is impersonation and impersonation is acting. For an actor to be effective in performance, he/she must be familiar and live on stage with the following six dramatic elements according Aristotle poetics: Plot: The plot is what the story is all about the collection of events as they unfold in a story. Character: The character here is the person who is doing the action, and it is also called the actor i.e. the character portraying the role. Thought: that is, what the actions in the play means as simple. Diction: It is how the dialogue is used to revive characters and set the tones environment to effectively communicate and portray roles taking by actors. Spectacles: The visual auditory element of the play which contribute to beauty, tell time period and enhance performance. Song: the musical element of the plays that enhance the comprehension of the plot and reveals actions which are to come or may never be seen on stage but it is sung. The two general modes of performance in theatre are presentational acting and representational acting, they are the critical terms used within aesthetics and criticism the approaches to acting that contradict the broader theatrical definition, however, the terms have come to acquire often overtly contradictory senses. In the most common sense, it relates to the specific dynamics of theatre to the broader aesthetic category of representational art of mimesis in drama and literature. The term describes two contrasting functional relationships between actors and audience that a performance can create. In the other sense, the form describes two contrasting methodological relationships between the actor and his or her character in performance, the collision of the senses can get quite confusing. The type of theatre that uses ‘presentational’ acting in the first sense of the actor audience relationship, is often associated with performer using “representational acting” in the second sense of their methodology. Conversely, the type of theatre that uses representational acting in the first sense associated with a performer using sense presentational acting in the second sense while usual, these chaotic correspondences do not match up in all case of theatrical performance. As the theatre production can be broadly divided into two as it is said, it presentation is depended on the theatre artist purpose as they relate to the audience perspective on reality. Basically in representational theatre, the artist strives to create a visual and performance reality on stage that tricks the audience into accepting the idea that what they are seeing is real and happening. The audience in this sense becomes a passive viewer of the experience that is happening to the character in the drama, from time to time the audience may respond through laughter, applause for the most part of the audience they are there to be entertained, enlightened and informed or maybe educated, yes educated certainly. While the artist in presentational theatre tries to challenge the natural passivity of the audience by creating a moment reality, forcing the audience to actively participate in the creation of reality. The representational theatre there are realistic settings with actors only assign one role throughout the production while in presentational theatre, the settings are not realistic at all and actors can be assigned a number of roles, with only but a minimal of physical changes.
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