Theatrespeak | It's All Greek To Me | It's Poetic(s) | When in Rome... | What a Bunch of Characters! (Part 1) |
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What is theatrical?
This behavior may be "acting out" - but its appropriate on the stage.
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What is malice?
In Plato's view, this goal of comedy grows from the Latin root for "bad."
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Who was Aristotle?
By the time he set the record straight, comedy was already shifting from Old Comedy to New Comedy.
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What is Mockery?
Horace warned against this type of comedy, which had been banned, as it led to violence.
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What is irony?
Contrary to what you'd expect, this is not rain on your wedding day.
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What are laurels?
Not much of an award, unless you want to rest on them.
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What is a descriptive critic?
If you're like Aristotle, you don't need to be a rock star to leave behind a record.
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What is utile dolce?
While Mary Poppins might sing of it as a "spoonful of sugar," this latin term describes comedy as a "sweet instruction."
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What is an impression?
Not the thing your dentist makes, unless he's playing Christopher Walken on open mike night.
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What is a fire? ..to set fire to the Thinkery?
Strepsiades' final act involves billowing even though its not a cloud.
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What are the Aristotelian Unities?
One Day, One Place, One Plot. Together, they sound like the title of a song from Les Miz.
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What is Burlesque?
Roman writers incorporated this comic form with a penchant for exaggeration and the absurd. A modern audience might expect it to mean something a bit more bawdy.
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What is Comedy? (komedie)
This form of theatre may have come from an ancient line of drunken fools.
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What is a deus ex machina?
Often thought of as a literary device, this mechanical basket once saved the (theatrical) day.
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What is Neoclassicism?
The idea that if the Poetics were good enough for the Greeks, they were essential to the French.
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Who was Donatus?
His name, an etymological cousin to a mutant ninja turtle, this Roman philosopher reinforced Cicero's notion that comedy is "an imitation of [daily] life."
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What is satire?
This comic form about the nature of humans derives its name from something half human.
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Who was Socrates?
This Greeks stage persona infamously replaced his actual persona with grave results.
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What is verisimilitude?
The satisfying force that PROBABLY keeps Peter Pan flying.
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Who was Hrotsvita of Gandersheim?
Although comedy was looked down upon by the medieval Christian church, this nun "cried strongly" for it - modeling her plays on the works of Terrence.
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