THE 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Outsider Art, Main Plot, Pedro Calderón De La Barca
Document Summary
Ritual is one of the most important foundations of theatre. Ritual: ceremonial, according to religious law or social customs, formal customarily repeated act, relating to rites and the list goes on. Ritual is fascinating due to its many forms, ideas, implications, and meanings. Two forms are climatic structure and episodic structure. Drama based on ritual, and the musical all have individual forms with specific characteristics. Climactic drama takes place in a short period of time, near the climax of the story; has a limited number of characters, scenes, and events; and is tightly constructed. Episodic drama has many episodes spread out over long periods of time and a number of locales; many characters and frequently has parallel plots or subplots in addition to the main plot, as in shakespearean drama. Other structures have emerged in theater history: theater of the absurd, avant-garde theater, ritual, pattern, and serial structures. Without structure of some kind, we do not have art.
