Special Qualities of Theatre

Theatre is lifelike and familiar -- it is an imitation of humans in action.

Theatre is also exotic -- characters are different from us.

Verisimilitude -- lifelikeness

"Eros" -- Bentley says the fact that humans are before us on stage is inherently "erotic."

Ephemeral -- not recoverable -- one performance cannot ever be like the rest.

Objective:  the audience gets only what the characters do or say -- does not have vantage point of prose fiction, where the author can comment on action / characters.

Complex: -- uses complex means -- all art forms -- to convey.

Theatre is Immediate: happens to us now and never again the same way.

The "home of the now."

Robert E. Jones : "aware of the now" but the experience will last.

Essential Qualities of Theatre

1. Audience:

2. Performers: have different training, experiences, talents, perceptions, and imaginations.

3. What is performed: usually a script (play) -- but not always written down --

4. Performance:

5. Environment:

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Important terms:

verisimilitude

ephemeral

eros

theatrical action

Next Section: The audience in the theatre