The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being WatchedOxford University Press, 30.4.2008 - 272 sivua What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruff says in this elegant and unique book, is as necessary - and as powerful - as language itself. Defining theater broadly, including sporting events and social rituals, he treats traditional theater as only one possibility in an art that - at its most powerful - can change lives and (as some peoples believe) bring a divine presence to earth. The Necessity of Theater analyzes the unique power of theater by separating it into the twin arts of watching and being watched, practiced together in harmony by watchers and the watched. Whereas performers practice the art of being watched - making their actions worth watching, and paying attention to action, choice, plot, character, mimesis, and the sacredness of performance space - audiences practice the art of watching: paying close attention. A good audience is emotionally engaged as spectators; their engagement takes a form of empathy that can lead to a special kind of human wisdom. As Plato implied, theater cannot teach us transcendent truths, but it can teach us about ourselves. Characteristically thoughtful, probing, and original, Paul Woodruff makes the case for theater as a unique form of expression connected to our most human instincts. The Necessity of Theater should appeal to anyone seriously interested or involved in theater or performance more broadly. |
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Tulokset 1 - 5 kokonaismäärästä 59
Sivu 11
... examples of theater that go beyond serving basic needs and furnish unique benefits to their communities: the ancient Greek tragic festival, and modern American college football. They are 11 Introduction: Why We Need Theater.
... examples of theater that go beyond serving basic needs and furnish unique benefits to their communities: the ancient Greek tragic festival, and modern American college football. They are 11 Introduction: Why We Need Theater.
Sivu 14
... example, how to make a knife or how to harvest nuts), and, in a full-blown culture, memory should preserve the stories of that culture. Let's try some examples to illustrate cultural necessity, starting with the arts. Poetry Before ...
... example, how to make a knife or how to harvest nuts), and, in a full-blown culture, memory should preserve the stories of that culture. Let's try some examples to illustrate cultural necessity, starting with the arts. Poetry Before ...
Sivu 18
... example, but there is also an art of dance quite apart from theater. Dance does not require an audience. Theater has many supporting arts; every human art, I think, can be used to support theater, because theater can make any human ...
... example, but there is also an art of dance quite apart from theater. Dance does not require an audience. Theater has many supporting arts; every human art, I think, can be used to support theater, because theater can make any human ...
Sivu 19
... Examples illustrate both questions: watching the fencing at the end of Hamlet, watching a collegiate fencing match, watching a staged sword duel to the death in a trial at arms. The three experiences have a great deal in common; they ...
... Examples illustrate both questions: watching the fencing at the end of Hamlet, watching a collegiate fencing match, watching a staged sword duel to the death in a trial at arms. The three experiences have a great deal in common; they ...
Sivu 22
... example). The grounds of this need are psychological (we dry up if we feel no one is noticing us), social (a community comes apart if it attempts to secure justice in a forum that is not watched), and ethical (I cannot exercise human ...
... example). The grounds of this need are psychological (we dry up if we feel no one is noticing us), social (a community comes apart if it attempts to secure justice in a forum that is not watched), and ethical (I cannot exercise human ...
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The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched Paul Woodruff Rajoitettu esikatselu - 2008 |
The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched Paul Woodruff Rajoitettu esikatselu - 2008 |
The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched Paul Woodruff Rajoitettu esikatselu - 2008 |
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action worth watching actors aims Alice Alice’s wedding altar call Antigone Aristotle art of theater art of watching art theater audience Bacchae believe belongs Brecht bride bring caring character choice Claudius comedy conflict courage Creon culture definition Dionysus effect emotions empathy Endgame engaged example Falstaff fantasy fear feel fiction film football game Hamlet happens Hecuba human action worth imagine justice kinds of theater King Lear Laramie Project laugh laughter lives make-believe mean measured mimesis mimetic theater mind never Oedipus Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus’s pay attention people’s performance philosophers Plato players playwright plot poetry poets quarterback reason response sacred space scene Shakespeare share simply Socrates Sophocles stage story Suppose tell theater piece theatrical theory things tion tonal sympathy tradition Trobriand cricket truth understand watchers wisdom wise Woodruff young