Theatre for Young Audiences | Theodore Grammatas | θέατρο και Παιδεία

The Reception of Ancient Drama Values by the modern audience: “Seven against Thebes’’- Audience Research

1. Selection of a Play for Analysis

The research team‘s initial concern was to find an appropriate play / theatrical performance that was sufficiently well-known and recognizable by general theatrical spectators, contained rich conceptual context and values, and has been well-received as an artistic rendition by both critics and audience. Furthermore, the performance had to be realized by a director who had a balanced approach in the rendition of ancient drama. Finally, the performance should be streamed on the internet, and the research team should obtain projection rights as well as access rights for the research participants.

February 14, 2024 • Theatre for Young Audiences, Theory of Theatre • Views: 374

Mnemonic recording of the theatre

If by performance we mean the “poetics of remembrance”, since it is there that the playwright’s and the actor’s memory as well as the spectators memory and social memory creatively meet, then the theatre can be called the “art of memory” ( Samuel 1994), reflection and repetitive appearance of the past in the present and, therefore, the timely presence or the timeless past, through which cultural memory (as a collective product) is enclaved inside the individual memory (as a subjective creation) of the viewer with a holistic reference ( Schudson 1989 : 105- 112). Subsequently, the theatre becomes a privileged field of repetition, memory and mnemonic reconstruction of the texts and their performed visualisation ( Malkin 2002), a timely cultural phaenomenon comprising and deriving meaning from the individual memory of the viewer, as well as the collective memory of the audience, with which it exists in a constant dialogue ( Jardine 2005 ). It is both a metaphorical and literal space where a “trial of memory” occurs, on the instance of the stage act of texts and “writings” of the past, which despite the fact that they took place elsewhere / at another time they make an appearance here/now ( Patsalidis 210:57 ).

July 3, 2023 • Theatre for Young Audiences • Views: 854

The Transmission and Reception of the Values of the Ancient Greek Culture in Theater via “Digital Dialogue”

Abstract[1]

Our age is characterized by the instantaneous transmission of information and the redefinition of distances and boundaries of human relationships and communication. Theater, as a “sensitive indicator of reality”, does not remain unaffected, but seeks new ways of expressing the “timelessness” and “universality” which brings viewer’s consciousness. Dialogue as a key feature of theater, through the conversation of the actors in the context of the dramatic text, as well as through the bidirectional communication between actors and spectators, influences and is influenced in production, output and reception of the performance, by the introduction of digital media, new technologies, even of Artificial Intelligence. “Old” values such as democracy, equality, equity, freedom and peace find new ways of emerging and updating through dialogue into a new reality between the transmitter and receiver of the “digital age”. The creation and reception of messages is happening with different rhythms and new ways, eliminating the space-time distances and shaping this hybrid form of theater that we call “Digital Drama”.

Key words: dialogue, theatre communication, values, digital drama

December 13, 2022 • Theatre for Young Audiences • Views: 7046

When Pupils Go to Theatre: The Activation of Memory and the Mnemonic Depiction

Going to theatre, may be a unique experience for schoolchildren, which is indelibly etched in their memory. The Primary School pupil-spectator comes in touch with the theatre principles and is initiated in its world. S/he experiences its ritual and cohesively structured character within the frame of the collectivity that is required and with the particularity of the formation of the psychic mechanism and social conscience in this specific phase of the development of his/her personality, as well as the influence of a number of some other differentiating factors, thus leading to the establishment of a very special relation and interaction between the stage and the audience. Continue Reading

March 28, 2020 • Theatre for Young Audiences, Theory of Theatre • Views: 2800

The folk tale of the pied piper of Hamelin for an animating theatre pedagogy

DRAMA ANIMATION
Some people might ask why theatre is so important during school: the answer is, in order to lighten up the children’s souls, to help them achieve self-knowledge through the significant, everyday issues of life presented to them, as well as to make them discover the many prospects of knowledge and understand the functions of being. By offering them an overall perception of themselves and the world, theatre becomes a vehicle for holistic learning. Continue Reading

November 5, 2015 • Theatre and Education, Theatre for Young Audiences • Views: 6155

Pedagogical use of the storytelling in a contemporary educational environment

The folktale narration goes back to art and the tradition of oral speech, (Ong 1984: 1-12) in a period of time when there was no written speech. (Levy- Bruh 1985) Its context is the imaginary narration of events and actions with a natural/real or extra-terrestrial/supernatural character, which represented the initial source of knowledge and learning for the primitive man (Levi- Strauss 1966). Later, by becoming more sophisticated, it was turned into a special cultural expression of the people and was monopolized almost by a children’s audience and the literature for children (Biakolo 1999: 42-65). Continue Reading

October 26, 2015 • Theatre and Education, Theatre for Young Audiences • Views: 8658