Theater is a literary performing art created to be performed by an actor or actors on a stage or in a designated space in front of an audience, either through a written script or improvisation. It is also generally used to refer to the work being performed. Theater is a stage art that presents events in a dynamic, ongoing form. In this respect, it can be defined as a performing art based on speech and action. In a widely embraced humanist expression, theater is described as “the art of portraying humanity to humans, through humans, in a humane way.”
The most significant difference between theatrical works and other literary forms is that, while other literary works are written to be read or listened to, a play is written to be performed in front of an audience on stage. Its value is determined by the perceptions and understanding of the audience. Its visible, dynamic nature and the fact that it is performed live allow it to appeal to social psychology. The place of performance and the work itself constitute the literary element of theater. In addition to this literary component, theater encompasses acting, stage design, lighting, set decoration, costumes, and music, forming a comprehensive whole.
The scripts of theatrical works are called “plays,” the individuals who write these scripts are known as playwrights, and those who perform the play on stage are called “actors” (or more broadly, theater performers). Additionally, other supporting roles in a theatrical production include stage managers, set and costume designers, lighting technicians, and prompters.
The most famous theatres and their writers:
• William Shakespeare- Hamlet
The play Hamlet, written by Shakespeare in 1599 as a tragedy, is said to reflect the grief he experienced following the death of his son Hamnet. In the play, Prince Hamlet, the son and heir of the late King of Denmark, harbors resentment toward his uncle Claudius, who married his mother, Gertrude, after his father’s death. Meanwhile, Denmark anticipates an invasion by Prince Fortinbras of Norway.
On a cold night at Elsinore Castle, soldiers standing guard witness the ghost of King Hamlet. While trying to recount their experience to Prince Hamlet’s friend Horatio, the ghost appears again. When Hamlet hears of this, he eagerly seeks to witness his father’s ghost. That night, the ghost reveals to Hamlet that Claudius murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison into his ear.
Uncertain about the ghost’s reliability, Hamlet resolves to seek revenge. However, his erratic behavior arouses suspicion, so he feigns madness. Claudius’s advisor Polonius lives with his children, Laertes and Ophelia. While Laertes is in France, Hamlet persistently courts Ophelia, leaving her unsettled. Both Laertes and Polonius warn Ophelia about Hamlet, believing his intentions are frivolous. Polonius interprets Hamlet’s madness as the result of love-struck despair.
• Bertolt Brecht- The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper) is a musical theater play written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht, with music composed by Kurt Weill. Brecht and Weill collaborated with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and designer Caspar Neher to create The Threepenny Opera. The play is an adaptation of John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch’s 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar’s Opera. The play offers a Marxist critique of a capitalist world and was first performed on August 31, 1928, at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin.
Set in a vaguely anachronistic Victorian-era London, the play focuses on Macheath, a morally corrupt antihero and criminal mastermind.
• William shakespeare Romeo and Juliet
The Italian city-state of Verona has a long-standing feud between two wealthy and noble families, the Montagues and the Capulets. The play begins with a street brawl between the two families. The city guards stop the fight, and the Prince of Verona, Escalus, warns that if another fight occurs, the leaders of the families will be executed.
At this time, the Capulet family holds a masquerade ball at their house. Lord Capulet invites Count Paris, who is interested in marrying his daughter, Juliet, to the ball. Romeo, a Montague, also attends the masquerade ball in disguise. Romeo has been in love with Rosaline, one of the Capulet relatives, but she has rejected him. Romeo’s friend, Benvolio, helps him attend the ball so that he can express his love to her. However, at the ball, Romeo sees Juliet, the 13-year-old daughter of the Capulets, and falls in love with her. Juliet reciprocates Romeo’s feelings. The play’s most famous scene, the “balcony scene,” occurs. On a starry night, Juliet is on her balcony, and Romeo is below. They express their love for each other using metaphors, comparing their longing for each other to light. From that night on, Romeo secretly climbs up to Juliet’s room every night. Juliet’s nurse acts as an intermediary between the two lovers. They decide to get married, and Friar Laurence secretly marries them.
Shortly after, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt learns that Romeo attended the ball in disguise and insults him, challenging him to a duel. Romeo, now seeing Tybalt as a relative, does not want to fight, but Romeo’s friend Mercutio, unable to tolerate the insults, accepts the challenge. While Romeo tries to stop the fight, Mercutio is fatally wounded. In his grief and anger, Romeo kills Tybalt. As a result, the Prince of Verona, Escalus, banishes Romeo to Mantua. Romeo escapes and spends the night in Juliet’s room before departing for Mantua.
Juliet’s family begins preparations for her marriage to Count Paris. To avoid this marriage, Juliet goes to Friar Laurence, who gives her a potion that will make her appear dead for forty hours.
Friar Laurence writes a letter to Romeo explaining the situation, but the letter never reaches him in time. Juliet drinks the potion, and her family believes she is dead and buries her. Romeo, hearing from his servant Balthasar that Juliet has died, decides to return secretly to Verona with poison to kill himself at Juliet’s tomb.
Upon arriving at Juliet’s tomb, Romeo encounters Count Paris. The two fight, and Paris is killed. Romeo then drinks the poison and dies next to Juliet. Friar Laurence arrives at the tomb, awakens Juliet, and finds Romeo dead. Juliet, seeing Romeo’s dagger, takes it and kills herself.
Friar Laurence, the sole witness to the events, explains everything to the families, and the feud between the two families comes to an end.
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