Theater

- Healthy distance away fromplay to know its fake but still willing to believe in it. 

• 1 Experience =Concept, idea, image
• 2 medium (middleground to express ideas) = sculpture, dance, music
• 3 beholder = viewer,audience  
• catharsis- 
• a.     Emotionalpurging/cleansing (for audience)
• b.     Intellectualenlightenment (for audience)
• c.      Emotionalpurging/cleansing                                                             i.     And/orIntellectual enlightenment (of character)
• d.     Emotionalpurging/cleansing                                                             i.     And/orIntellectual enlightenment (for audience, character, actor) 

Comedy

1.     Based on a “comic Premise”

a.     Happy idea

b.     Suspension logic & probability

2.     Comedy involves friction

a.     Friction produces discomfiture

b.     We laugh because of our point of view

3.     Comedy capitalizes on Change of Direction

a.     Action builds in one direction--    then reverses itself

 

b.     Quickly, unexpectedly, but logically (in the world of play)

 

c.      Sense of preparation and release

Freud on comedy (Catharsis through sublimation)

              Laughter

a.     Is a release of aggression, hostility, anger, etc.

b.     Is the gratification of suppressed desires

c.      Is a form of venting

•                                                              
• i.     Laughter replaces aggression

•                                                            
• ii.     Laughter fulfills desires

d.     Is acceptable social behavior

•                                                              
• i.     Aggression ,hostility, anger are not

 

4.     Numerotage and gestalt

a.     N= sense of gradual low and development

•                                                              
• i.     The  “snowball effect”

b.     G= it is synergistic

•                                                              
•       i.     Whole is greater than the sum of parts

•                                                            
•       ii.     Sense of wholeness

c.      N & G grow out of the Archetype of Comedy

Archetype of Comedy- Northrup Frye

Young lovers seek each other

Want new life

They are separated by a blocking force(s)

Want to hang on to past

Ends with marriage and celebration

 

5.     Comedy  deal of unification

    Worksheet

6.     3 types of comedy

a.     Judicious  

•                                                              
•          i.     Didactic, educational

•                                                            
•           ii.     Ridicules vice

b.     Situation

•                                                              
•     i.      laughter for its own sake

c.      Sentimental

•                                                              
•              i.     Heat-warming, tearful, rewards virtue

7.     3 means of comic expression

a.     Structural= plot, character

b.     Verbal = “High comedy” (more intellectual activity) for the more sophisticated.

c.      Physical= “low comedy” less sophisticated.

Conflict between protagnist and antagonist

the desire to recreate a picture of life forothers through impersonation, is at the root of all the arts

Empathic Response   +  Emotional Identification    = Empathy

• Unity,     - Relationship between all pieces
• Coherence,  -A level of understanding
• Selectivity and Emphasis, -Choosing the most important…
• dwelling on it.
• Proportion, -Relative amount of time/space for selected and
• emphasized elements
• Rearrangement, - Position of the empathic idea
• Intensification- Through technical devices recreation made
• more:
•               Compelling
•                Dynamic
•                Exciting

Narrative form- Describes action, Virtual past, What someone tells ustook place. 

Dramatic Form- Represents action,Virtual Present, What takes place

The point of view/perspective

• To imitate isinstinctive to the human race (used key illustrations)  Can learn greed fromother people. Can learn moral behavior from others. From clever imitationwe all derive pleasure  
•  Aristotle said that pleasure derived from: Accuracy of imitation, Skill of performers, Learning is among“our greatest pleasures”

• 1.     Base human Drives
• 2.     Situation
• 3.     SocialInteraction
• 4.     Character Complex

• The arrangement of the incidents (story is always chronological)
• The “action” of poetry/drama
• Discovery-Discovery of self
• Generally in a play at least one major discovery that leads to a major reversal leads to suffering(discomfiture). Unity (sense of wholeness, organic quality)
• The probable     believable in    general sense
• The necessary    believable in   specific sense

• A.     Exposition
• B.     Complication
• C.     Climax
• D.     Resolution
• E.      Conclusion

- “late point of attack”

- “early point of attack”

- “circular, ends where it begins”

Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, music, spectacle

Manner of Presentation

• Unity - Relationship between all pieces
• Coherence,  -A level of understanding
• Selectivity and Emphasis, -Choosing the most important… dwelling on it.
• Proportion, -Relative amount of time/space for selected and emphasized elements
• Rearrangement, - Position of the empathic idea
• Intensification- Through technical devices recreation made more:
• Compelling
• Dynamic
• Exciting

•   The appeal is In the process,
•  NOT the outcome.
•     Possesses a “unity of Action”, a sense of wholeness
•      a.      Probable and Necessary action   Capitalizes on Discovery and Reversal
• Capitalizes on Discovery and Reversal
• Focuses on the tragic Hero
• a.     An evil man misery -> prosperity     most un-tragic
• b.     An evil man prosperity-> misery   moves us, but is just 
• 1.     
• (1?) the form determines the effect.
• a.     “tragic rhythm” = growth, maturity, Decline –Suzanna Langer
• Possesses universality-
• a.     Is transcendent                                                           b.     Involved a choice                                                       c.  Puts us in touch with infinity/the metaphysical 
• T provides “Katharsis” (catharsis)
• Tragedy s honest 

 experienced by watching, hearing or reading about someone else doing something, rather than doing it yourself

• To imitate is instinctive to the human race (used key illustrations)
• Can learn greed from other people.Can learn moral behavior from others.                                          
• From clever imitation we all derive pleasure 

Artist’s expression/interpretationof the truth of human existence (ultimate reality, actual existence, what itmeans to be)

• Everyone nurses certain suppressed longings for human experiences that he has:
• Experiences we have not had;
• Never expects to have;
• Does not really wish to have.In the theatre he is able to satisfy these longings vicariously

Structured (divided) in 5 parts Consisting of rising & falling actions Action preceded by Balance of Forces

Freud on comedy (Catharsis through sublimation) Laughter

Author of master Harold and the boys.

The quote for NorthropFrye re/ the Tragic Hero: The Tragic Hero

The AestheticTriangle

“tragic rhythm” = growth, maturity, Decline –Suzanna Langer

Detachment from illusion. Aesthetic distance.