Meaning and Definition of Theatre | Concept and What is.

What is Theatre?

This is a branch of the performing arts, which consists of representation or performance of stories in front of the public, using speech, gestures, MIME, dance, music and other elements for these purposes. In the theatre you can recognize elements belonging to the other performing arts, and it is not limited to the traditional style of the narrative dialogue (for example in mimicry, puppetry, the opera and ballet).

The etymology of the word theater is from the Greek "theatron", which means "place to see" or "place to contemplate". We found the origins of theatre in the union of ancient sacred rituals to ensure good hunting or agricultural season, with pop-ups in the cultures related to music and dance. Between the second and the first Millennium before Christ, in the ancient Egypt were already represented dramas about death and life, using masks during the drama.

During the 5th century BC, in Greece, sat the bases of what would come to be the traditional models of tragedy and comedy in the West. At the beginning the works were represented with an actor and a choir, but authors as Aeschylus and Sophocles began to make theatre more players, which in turn led to build the great theatres of stone on the skirts of the hills. Already at that time used a kind of dressing rooms called "skene", where actors dressed and changing costumes, and also used some basic "effects", masks and costumes. The classical genres that the Greeks developed widely are tragedy (subjects related to their heroes and gods, great emotional content), and the comedy, which already at the time ridiculed the politicians and celebrities.

We also find the theatre in ancient civilizations of Asia, in China, in Japan and the India, where he took a deep symbolism-laden sacred character, and in where in addition it was used widely and comprehensively the music and dance. Also in the pre-Hispanic America existed Theatre, for example between the Incas and Aztecs, who used it mainly related to war and Agriculture and religious purposes.

Among the genres of theatre are the musical work (style Broadway like for example in "Cats"), comedy, farce, pantomime, the romantic comedy, tragedy, fantasy, opera, the theatre of the absurd (related to Existentialism), and many other forms, both traditional and experimental. March 27 held in the world of theater day.

Translated for educational purposes.