The Power of Theatre A theatrical performance is not one thing. It is a compilation of many things that make up one performance. In general, there are five important aspects that help give theatre its power.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion. 2. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. 3. Theatre Provides a Progressive Experience. 4. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. 5. Theatre Is Fantastic.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion When watching a theatrical performance, many individuals share the same experience within the same period of time. We can all be held captive by a play in performance. It is not like literature or like painting – it is something designed to be seen by a crowd.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Theatre in Epidaurus, Greece

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Globe Theatre in London

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Street Theatre in Mexico City

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Weathervane Theatre, a converted barn, in New Hampshire

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Weathervane Theatre, a converted barn, in New Hampshire – inside view of the 250 seats

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Walnut Theatre in Philadelphia – 600 seats

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Tivoli Theatre in Illinois, built in 1928 – 700 seats

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Creates a Social Occasion Winter Garden Theater in New York – 1,482 seats

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. Shakespeare had Hamlet say that the “purpose of playing” was “to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature: to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.”

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. What Hamlet expected the “mirror” of the stage to show was not an ordinary reflection, but one that revealed to the audience the truth about themselves.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. What happens on the stage may look real, because, in some respects, it is real.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. There are real men, women and children. There is talk, noise, and silence; light, darkness, movement and stillness.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. To a degree, the dramatists and directors cheat by being selective in what they show us in the mirror. They may leave certain elements of reality out. An actor may cry quicker than a man would in real life or a piece of furniture may be ignored.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature.

The Power of Theatre

1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. Sweet Charity

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature. To some degree, film provides a dramatic contrast. Many would say that film is more lifelike, and that is true is some ways, but a film does not show anything palpably there. Everything happens in two dimensions. To some degree, film provides a dramatic contrast. Many would say that film is more lifelike, and that is true is some ways, but a film does not show anything palpably there. Everything happens in two dimensions.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre provides a Progressive Experience. While a painting or a photograph can be revealed in a moment, theatre is something that develops over the course of several hours. While a painting or a photograph can be revealed in a moment, theatre is something that develops over the course of several hours.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre provides a Progressive Experience. Narrative, conflict, argument, tension, climax and development are the very stuff of dramatic energy. Narrative, conflict, argument, tension, climax and development are the very stuff of dramatic energy.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre provides a Progressive Experience.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre provides a Progressive Experience.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre provides a Progressive Experience.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. Theatre can work without words, by use of spectacle, dance or mime. Theatre can work without words, by use of spectacle, dance or mime.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. But most of the time, words are a vital and powerful element of theatre. But most of the time, words are a vital and powerful element of theatre. Consider how many ways there are for saying “Good morning.” Consider how many ways there are for saying “Good morning.”

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. A good dramatist imagines everything that will happen on the stage and will provide words that will fit in with all this complex phenomena. A good dramatist imagines everything that will happen on the stage and will provide words that will fit in with all this complex phenomena.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. A poet or a writer can manipulate words too, but a dramatist can focus an audience’s attention on exactly that element in the play that is important at any one moment. A poet or a writer can manipulate words too, but a dramatist can focus an audience’s attention on exactly that element in the play that is important at any one moment.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. Occasionally, what is said draws attention to what is not said. Occasionally, what is said draws attention to what is not said.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. Speech is also important in a musical sense. Speech is also important in a musical sense.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre Can Make Use of Words. Speech is also important in a musical sense. The playwright can change its variations of tempo, pitch, and rhythm. Speech is also important in a musical sense. The playwright can change its variations of tempo, pitch, and rhythm.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre is Fantastic. Saying theatre is fantastic is quite the opposite of saying that theatre “holds the mirror up to nature” but the former is equally true. Although theatre can show us our world, it can also show us a world that never was. Saying theatre is fantastic is quite the opposite of saying that theatre “holds the mirror up to nature” but the former is equally true. Although theatre can show us our world, it can also show us a world that never was.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre is Fantastic. Arden Theatre’s production of “The Snow Queen”

The Power of Theatre

1. Theatre is Fantastic. In “Swimming in the Shallows” a boy falls in love with a shark.

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre is Fantastic. Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”

The Power of Theatre 1. Theatre is Fantastic. Oberon and Titania in “Midsummer Night’s Dream”