Theatre and its structure

On 29th of September, Mr. Anil Pinto taught about the pre-renaissance view of theatre by the philosophers.
According to Plato, "Theatre deviates the society's thinking so it should be banned". His disciple Aristotle, talks only about the theatre. He says, theatre people are not imitating at all, they only want to recreate or evoke some types of emotions.
Aristotle's 'Poetics' is referred for a compulsory reading.
On 26th of October, Mr.Pinto discussed about the theatre review, right after a small workshop. After that workshop, it is understood that, all reviews in newspapers and magazines have the basic information about the play. For example: Production, Director, Characters, Story, Plot and so on. Later, it evaluates the whole play based on the appeal to emotions. Is the desired appeal is achieved? Based on this question the review will be written.
Though some reviews include harsh way of criticizing, but "Indicators" would better criticize; instead of telling directly "Unbearable", a reviewer can write - "A well trained theatre person will never like this play". And that sounds decent also. Students gave various examples for this kind of reviews and questions raised.
“Drama always takes the line. The purpose of drama is to 'Dramatize'. We see the dramas just to feel the dramatic effects done by the directors, like lighting and dialogues”. - Mr.Anil Pinto.


Ethics of Review:
The existing standards are considered in the field. There are some ethical perspectives to this:
• Important to make political and social point of view.
• Where you write (Blog, Website, or Sunday edition of a newspaper)
• Do not criticize the person.
• Avoid advertorial.
• One important thing is observe classical theatre structure.

The Journey of a Play:










1). Exposition- it includes setting of the play, protagonist and antagonist (who is the hero and who is the villain) and ends with an incitement action. Plays of Shakespeare and Girish Karnad are about hero’s journey. The main story will concentrate on the hero’s ethical decisions and how he faces the challenging society.
2). Raising action- it includes small-small incidents or problems.
3). Climax- it include highest breaking point of the play.
4). Denouement- it is the resolution of the play. Can be a happy ending or sad.

However, usually the Second act will be the longest and the Third act will be the shortest in a play.

This diagram shows the responsibility of a theatre director.





Director: he is responsible to –
Ensure the quality of production.
Help the artists to realize their artistic vision.

Prop: Properties of the play. It can be a hand prop or decoration. Properties which actors make use of it.

Method/Acting: With facial expressions and tone of voice. Actors are not just imitate, they emphasize and live the character.

Apart from this, a theatre director has to take care of Lighting, Costume, and Sound effects/design. Altogether makes Stanislavski, that is- a discipline and dedicated play.
Based on all these elements, a reviewer reviews the play.

An Actor Prepares by Stanslovsky,
Syd Field and John Tully’s text book of script writing,
Visual Culture by Owell.
Books are suggested by Mr.Anil Pinto for reference

as written by Prasanna V