The birth of the theater

theater history

The theater:

 Theatre, linguistically speaking, is a place where a play is performed, and its plural is theaters. In its artistic sense, it is a form of art in which the written literary text of a play is transformed into representative scenes, which the actors perform on stage in front of a crowd of audience.  Theater differs from theatrical performance, although the two words are sometimes used for the same connotation.  The play is the written literary text, and it refers to the literary aspect of the theatrical performance, and it is one of the many elements of theatre, such as directing, acting, costumes, lighting, decorative art, music, singing, and sometimes dancing.  Theater has been described as the father of arts;  To absorb all these technical elements combined.

 Theatre can be defined in a simple way:

 That it is an artistic phenomenon based on a conscious and intentional meeting between the actor and the spectator, in a specific place and time, and this meeting aims to embody a literary text by the actor to the spectator, using linguistic or physical expressions or both;  With the aim of achieving intellectual and aesthetic pleasure.  It is worth noting that despite the simplicity of the concept of theater, there is no single agreed upon definition of it, and this is reflected in the multiplicity of definitions of theater in different dictionaries and encyclopedias.

 Theater is a form of expression of feelings, human feelings and different ideas using the arts of speech and movement, and with the help of some other influences.  It was stated in the Dictionary of Literature Terms, for example, that the theater expresses the theatrical production of a certain author or several certain authors in a particular era, as he defined it as the building that includes the stage, the actors, the spectators’ hall, and other halls of administration and the willingness of the actors to represent their roles, as it can be  That theater be restricted to the audience and actors hall only, and a definition of theater in the Encyclopedia of Britain states that the art of theater is limited to live performances that are directed with precision, and with careful planning to create a deep sense of drama.

 Theater history:

 The emergence of theater The theater is an ancient art, known since ancient times to the Egyptians and Greeks. It was initially associated with religious rites. However, it soon became a self-contained art.  peoples.  Most writers who studied the art of theater believe that its beginning was with the Greeks, because this art enjoyed the prosperity of the ancient Greeks, and the beginning of its appearance in the Greeks dates back to the fifth century BC, but the prosperity of theater at that time does not mean that it did not exist  For civilizations preceding the Greeks, and accordingly, the idea that the art of theater did not exist before the Greeks is a denial of the ability of people from different cultures to entertain themselves, especially that theater is a means of entertainment and not only expression.

 This is why theater, in its various forms and styles, is one of the expressive arts that man has created since ancient times, and it is difficult to determine the location and time of the first real emergence of theater;  Tragedies appeared and were represented in Athens in the sixth century BC, and reached the height of their prosperity in the fifth century BC;  It was closely related to the special ceremonies representing ancient religious rituals and rites.

 The Muslim Arabs did not know theater at the beginning and spread of the Arab-Islamic civilization. The Arabs did not even know the importance of the famous Roman theatrical architectural buildings that spread from northern Syria to Morocco.  This is because they did not know the theatrical text or the theatrical performance, and the Crusaders did not know the theater;  This is due to the ecclesiastical prohibition of this art, and therefore it was not transmitted to Muslims during the period of the Crusader occupation of parts of the Arab and Islamic world.  With the end of the Middle Ages, the European theater re-emerged, and its source was the Christian rites of the churches, and the first theatrical texts at that time were related to the Crusades and the character of Saladin.

 About the world stage:

 Art has developed in various countries of the world over the ages, and the art of drama in each country represented the prevailing customs, local beliefs,

 myths, in addition to its representation of different life circumstances;  In Japan, for example, three types of heritage drama appeared, and these types are:

 Noah: It means the complete plays, which are the oldest.  It is based on ancient Japanese literature.  Kabuki: These are popular plays.  Gogori: These are puppet plays. Kabuki and Gogori plays are said to contain loud music and sporty dance.  In India, the theatrical heritage - specifically southern - known as Kathakali was famous, which was performed in temple rituals, in which the actors wore luxurious and expensive costumes, and represented stories taken from Indian myths, as they were exaggerated movements of hands and arms, in addition to expressions, and in the face  China Drama was expressed in performances that combined dancing, singing, loud music, clowning, and acrobatics.