THE 9 MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE THEATER - ART

The main elements of the theater are the actors, the text or script, the audience, costumes, makeup, scenery, lighting, sound and director. Each of them has characteristics and functions within theatrical works.

The " theater " can be conceptualized in two ways. The first is the literary genre written by playwrights, whose main purpose is to offer dialogues between characters with the aim of being represented before an audience. For this reason, this type of theater is also known under the name of "dramatic genre ".

Likewise, the art of acting is called "theater" in which stories are personified in front of spectators or in front of a camera.

The word theater comes from the Greek term theatron which means "place to watch." Hence, the original term alluded to both the place where it took place and the dramatic activity itself.

People often use the term drama to refer to theater as well. It is probably due to the fact that it is derived from the Greek word that means "to do" or "to act" to refer to theatrical activity on a stage, without necessarily addressing drama as a fictional literary genre.

Although the word with which we call this scenic and literary art is of Greek origin, the beginnings of the theater go back to older civilizations such as Egypt or China.

The scientific community agrees that it is difficult to determine an exact historical point of the emergence of the theater because according to the records of cave paintings (prehistoric drawings in caves or caves), there were already some manifestations in religious rituals where music and music were also included. Dance.

As the theater is an artistic manifestation and a form of communication present in all cultures, it developed its own characteristics according to the historical moment and its geographical location.

From this perspective, we affirm that the theater is made up of two basic components: the text and the representation.

Theater is born from uniting text and representation, however varied the forms and formulas in which it is <> is carried out.

Essential elements of the theater

There are 3 basic elements of theater which are the actors, the audience and the text. There are other additional elements that complement and make the show more striking, convincing and real, such as makeup, costumes, set design and lighting.

1- Actor

Bangkok theater actors. Source: pixabay.com.

He is an artist present on the scenic space, whose mission is to act and speak in a fictional universe that he constructs or contributes to construct. There must be at least one and they do not necessarily have to be people as marionettes or puppets can also be used.

As Ricard Salvat refers to it “The actor is, of all the elements of the theatrical payroll, the one who is essential. At the time of dispensing with some components of the theater complex, always ending up reducing the actor ”.

The actor or actors are the ones who give life to the characters, through their actions, their words and their clothing.

It is they who recite dialogues, imprinting vocal tones, diction, emotions and energy that reinforce the credibility of the performance and influence the involvement of viewers in the story.

Seen in another way, the actor's body is presented as something alive, integrated, capable of embodying the character with all the bodily and physical demands that fiction requires.

2- Text or script

It is about the writing that raises the story to be developed and consists of a structure similar to that of the story (beginning, middle and end), which in the specific case of the theater is known as Approach, Knot or Climax and end.

Dramatic works are always written in first-person dialogues and make use of parentheses when you want to specify the action that takes place while pronouncing the fragment (this is known as boundary language). When the literary piece is to be taken to the stage or to the cinema, it is called a "script."

This writing is not divided into chapters (as would normally be done in a novel or other type of prose) but into acts, which in turn can be divided into even smaller fragments known as pictures.

The text is the spirit and the genesis of the theater; without it it is not possible to speak of theater. Its degree of need is such that common sense can be addressed and verify that we do not know any play without a text, so we start from the hypothesis that theater is <>.

3- Hearing

A spectator is considered to be anyone who watches a play or attends a show. Apparently the audience does not interfere in the development of the play, however, the purpose of this is to entertain the public. The audience is the reason for the theater.

Throughout a play, a relationship is built between the audience and the actors. Thanks to them, not only is the creation-communication cycle completed, but also immediate feedback is received to the actors, since there is no passive audience but rather they are all critical observers who develop a positive or negative perception of the visual art they contemplated.

Complementary elements

The following elements are not vital to carrying out a play but their contribution adds great value in making the story more interesting, organized, credible and real.

In Salvat's words: “<> such as the sets, lights, props, costumes, machinery, etc., which contribute to create the illusion of the unreal reality of the scene ”. These are:

1- Costumes

Play. Source: pixabay.com.

It is the outfit that the actors wear. Through them and without the need to enunciate words, the audience can identify the gender, age, occupation, social status and characteristics of the characters, as well as the time in which the story takes place.

Today there is a person dedicated exclusively to this aspect and works hand in hand with the director and with the makeup artists to create harmony in the construction of the character's appearance.

2- Makeup

Used to fix distortions caused by lighting (such as loss of color or excess facial brightness).

Additionally, the application of cosmetic products serves to consolidate the character through its external characterization, highlighting or concealing the actors' factions or adding effects to the characters: rejuvenating, aging, making moles, scars or simulating wounds, among others.

3- Scenery

Corresponds to the set of decorations used to set the scene for the dramatic representation. This means that it is the space in which the actors interact, decorated in such a way that it shows the geographical, temporal, historical and social space in which the story takes place.

Most of the elements are static and to produce a more impressive effect, they are supported by lighting. A simple example can be the proposed scenario "by day" and "at night".

The utensils or tools used by the actors during the performance are called prop objects.

4- Lighting

As with scenery, lighting encompasses objects such as the action of handling lights. In other words, lighting is the set of lights used during the artistic representation, as well as the creation and execution of the same to help convey emotions, highlight and hide actors, and give more assertiveness to the scenery, makeup and costumes.

5- Sound

Constituted by music and all auditory effects to improve the acoustic aspects of the theater piece to the actors and the public.

For example, microphones so that the actors' dialogues can be heard by the audience, reinforcing the transmission of an emotion or an action such as the sound of rain or the sudden brake of a car.

6- Director

He is the creative artist in charge of coordinating all the elements involved in the performance, from the scenography to the interpretation. He is responsible for the material organization of the show.

The figure of the director is practically new in relation to the entire historical trajectory of the theater: the director's work hardly existed before 1900 as a separate artistic function and before the 1750 theater, very rarely.

This is proven by the fact that in the Greek theater, in the Roman, medieval and Renaissance theater this figure did not exist in the strict sense of the word. This person is not present on stage, unlike the actors.

References

Balme, C. (2008). The Cambridge Introduction to Theater Studies. Cambriddge: Cambridge University Press.
Carlson, M. (1993). Theories of Theater. A Historical and Critical Survey from the Greeks to the Present. New York: Cornell University Press.
Csapo, E., & Miller, MC (2007). Part I: Komastsand predramatic ritual. In E. Csapo, & MC Miller, The Origins of Theater in Ancient Grece and Beyond (pp. 41-119). New York: Cambrigde University Press.
Pavis, P. (1998). Theater Art. In P. Pavis, Dictionary of Theater. Terms, Concepts and Analysis (p. 388). Toronto: University of Toronto Press Incorporated.
Salvat, R. (1983). The Theater as a text, as a show. Barcelona: Montesinos.
Trancón, S. (2006). Theater Theory. Madrid: Foundation.
Ubersfeld, A. (2004). Dictionary of key terms of theatrical analysis. Buenos Aires: Galerna.

THE 9 MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE THEATER - ART - 2024