Since the dawn of time, the theatre has witnessed changes that affected the actors and also gave rise to different forms of acting and storytelling.
The history of theatre arts can be dated back to as early as the period of ancient Greek. Since then the various eras witnessed changes in the types of theatre stages, which affected the actors and also gave rise to different forms of acting and storytelling.
In ancient Greece, plays were staged to mark a religious occasion in theatres where only prestigious men were allowed as at that time women and slaves were looked down upon in society. Theatres popularly known as amphitheatres housed a large round stage that was encircled three-fourths by the audience. This is how a stage would be set in the Greek Era. Amphitheatre could accommodate an audience of 25,000 at a time which made it very difficult to see what was going on for the audience at the back. To overcome this obstruction the actors would be loud with grandiose voices and enormous gestures and to be more noticeable wore masks and symbolic attires. The high pitched chorus was used as a means of cautioning about an upcoming event or to advise co-actors. To improve the visibility and to give a deception of reality to the plays they were held in daylight and a real landscape acted as the background of the play.
In the medieval era, facilities were more commonly available to many of the inhabitants of the community. Theatres too were no longer reserved for the rich. Plays were held on wagons better known as pageants. The wagon would be dragged into the marketplace where the play was decided to be held. Spectators would surround the stage from all sides and would watch them play. The themes of most of the plays at that time were the daily happenings and day to day experiences depicted as an ironic comedy or as a genuine mime depending on the taste of the audience. This created an interaction between the audience and the actors with the audience expressing their views on the theme.
During the Renaissance Period, theatre performance took the form of professional performance more than an artistic one. The blueblood of England started investing in performing groups and theatres with an apron stage. The apron stage had a rectangular platform with nearly an audience of 2,000 surrounding the three sides of it and was in close proximity to the actors performing on stage. With the wealthy aristocrats funding the plays the costumes were designed with more details and were elegant. Plays were enacted during the daytime which made the creation of an illusion of nighttime difficult which was overcome by dispatching the information as a part of an actor’s dialogue which is termed as word scenery. Denizens from all sects of the society attended these plays so an effort was made to please a large array of spectators by considering different storylines.
The period around the 17th and 18th century was known as the Restoration period. The theatres around this time were smaller than those of the Renaissance period and held up to 500 spectators at a time. This period gave an end to daylight lit auditoriums replacing them with closed rooms lit completely with man-made light. Stages were bounded with decorated frames but with no curtains like the modern times. Although the audiences weren’t in close vicinity of the stage, a small stage protruded into the auditorium to increase the interaction between the audience and the actors. The lack of curtains hindered the privacy of changing scenes which affected the realistic illusion. Performances during the restoration period were character-driven with more emphasis on perfectionism, social issues, and scenery.
The stage in the later centuries evolved into what is known as the proscenium stage or picture frame stage. It’s designed and named after the technique of how one visualizes a picture. There is a defined separation between the spectators and the actors with the introduction of the ramp. Curtains added to this and at the same time gave privacy to change scenes thus creating a realistic and elaborated picturization. The auditorium is darkened during the performance thereby increasing the concentration of the audience. Modern technologies and aids have made illustration more interesting and realistic and made the art even more interesting and popular.
