Theater History What Better Way

¶ … Theater History

What better way of receiving knowledge and experience from our ancestors is there, if not the theater? Language, civilization, myths, the ways different societies were structured, cloths and mentalities and so many other things about mankind can be found out through theater. Isn't one of the main purposes of the theater precisely, education?

Starting with the ancient Greeks, Sophocles, a playwright, politician and priest, is considered to be "the greatest playwright in ancient Greek theater," in any encyclopedia. Who hasn't heard of Oedipus and Antigone? Euripides, with his "strong women characters," like Hecuba, Electra, the Trojan Women, Iphigeneia and Helen, and others are not only among the first to have composed a playwright, but can be considered historians as well. Their playwrights were not serving purposes at their times, but they are still highly valuables to us nowadays.

We should not forget about the Romans, too. Even if greatly infleuenced by the Greeks, they are another source of inspiration to every one of us, today. Roman culture and habits are to be found out about in the works of Plautus and Seneca, for example.

Theater played also an important part in the Middle Ages. It is true that most of the playwrights were inpired by the Bible, but theere are interesting things to be found out about it, too. The plays were performes by amateurs in wagons on wheels. Thus, the history of world theater goes on through the Middle Ages.

Comedia dell'Arte with its stereotypes like Arlecchino, Pantalone, Capitano, was traveling across Europe and so are we while reading about it.

William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Moliere, brought us so many masterpieces not only valuable as works of art, but also as very important sources of understanding the society in the Renaissance. More important, when reading or wathching these plays, we can understand today the universality of Man.

We are not allowed to forget the Asian theater which bears the stamp of the philosophical and religious ideas and beliefs of the times when it was created.

Up to the 20th century, theater continued to play an important role in every society around the world.