2.1.1- The beginnings of Performance
Research Activity
Many different forms of performance had their origin in religious rites and ceremonies. The tragedies and comedies that are the roots of many modern plays originated in festivals for the God dionysus in ancient Greece.
Terms such as Chorus and scene were first used in Greek theatre.
Use the Internet or library to find out about the origins of one of the forms of performance listed below. Look for information on:
When and where the form originated
Early examples
People who were involved at the beginning
Blues Music
Blues Music originated within African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States.
The term "The Blues" refers to the blue devils, which means sadness, an early use of this term in this sense can be found in George Coleman's Blue Devils (1798).
Involved at the beginning were Bessie Smith in the 1920's with the Twelve Bar Blues, also in Ray Charles's instrumental "Sweet 16 Bars and also in Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man.
Melodrama
Melodrama originated in the 18'th Century, the earliest known examples are from a Latin school play Segismundus from 1753. The first origins of written Music were done by Horace Coignet who wrote in the 1760's and 1770's.
Morality Plays
Morality plays had their origins in Medievil and early Tudor Times and were at their most popular during the 15'th and 16'th centuries. The earliest examples are from Christian Monks who done these in the 13'th Century.
Classical Ballet
Classical Ballet originated in 18'th century France, the earliest examples are from the 18'th and 19'th centuries. At the beginning involved was, Jean-Georges-Nouverre with a French Play in 1760.
Ragtime Music
Ragtime Music had it starting point in the United States in the 1890's, and was very popular in the early 20'th century, the 1900's and 1910's and had a brief popularity in the 1970's. This type of Music was really led by John Philip Sousa.
Sattirya Dance
The dance had it's starting point in 15'th century Assam which is an eastern part of India, it was created by a saint called Srimanta Sankardeva, the dance is still used today and is very popular.
Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop was born in black communities in Harlem, New York, in 1927, and into the 30's and 40's, only for a little bit of the 50's before fazing out in late 50's, however it experienced renewed popularity in the 1980's.
Restoration Comedy
Restoration Comedy started in 1660 headed up by Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant, they were granted exclusive play staging rights by Charles II.
1980's Alternative Comedy
This type of Comedy would start up in the early 80's and would go on to mainstream publicity in the 1990's and the 2000's. Alternative comedy was usually one of the following: Observational humour, Political satire, Breaking social taboos, Surreal whimsy, Intellectual humour, Extreme slapstick, Improvisation, Story telling and personal narrative.
Punk Rock
Punk had mainstream publicity in the mid 1970's from 1974 to 1976 mainly in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, by such bands as the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash. It experienced renewed popularity in 1991, with Nirvana seen as the leaders of it but this time it was a new type called Grunge. Grunge and Punk Rock was popular from 1991-1994.
Brit pop
Brit Pop really had it's start in 1993-1994 and ended in 1997, with two major bands leading the Britpop craze, Oasis and Blur. In 1995 especially, Britpop was at it's peak of popularity. However by 1997, Britpop was beginning to lose popularity.
History of radio plays
Radio plays had their beginnings in the 1930's, radio plays were unheard of for most of the 1920's and before, however in the very late 1920's the radio plays were beginning to get off the ground. Radio plays were also quite popular throughout the 1930's, however when Tv started to become popular and get off the ground in the mid to late 40's, radio began to decrease in popularity. Only a few of the radio plays managed to survive into the "Tv era". This was for America.
In Britain, it is more or less the same, it achieved worldwide success upon its initial starting point in the 1920's, it was very popular throughout the 30's and 40's, especially in the 40's when it was the leading popular entertainment. However when television was launched in the 1950's radio plays lost popularity in some countries and since has never regained it, in some museums there are still some recordings of old time radio. In Britain however there is a radio play that has always been popular ever since it launched in the early 50's. The Archers had a few brief pilot episodes which began on 29'th May, and ending on 2'nd June 1950.
The programme began on a permanent basis on the 1'st January 1951, and still runs to this very day, as of 31'st January 2010 there has been 16,013 episodes! It is the world's longest running soap and it is now the longest running soap opera of all formats in the world! It is still quite popular today.
2.2.5 Aims of a performance 26/01/10
Devised performance or theatre is usually improvised by the Actors, and thought of before the performance begins.
The theme of the piece is Blues Music .
I chose this theme because the history of it looks quite interesting, and blues music is one of the oldest types of music dating back to the late 1700's.
This type of Music is mainly for Adults and Older People, a lot of young people probably don't like or want to listen to it, it had it's popularity in the early 1900's through to about the 1950's, it began to fall out of popularity in the late 50's to early 60's
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