Masterpieces of Greek and Roman Theatre

Every week, our group will answer the following questions about the actor/spectator relationship based upon the plays from antiquity that we study and movies that we view in class :

What is the relationship of actor and spectator in comedy?

How does the actor develop a relationship with the audience through such techniques as asides, eavesdropping, role-playing, improvisation, etc.?

How does allusion to other genres or specific works affect the way the audience responds to a scene or a play or a film?

In these plays and films, we will look at the use of the following stage conventions that allow the actors to interact with the audience:

Prologue-(a preface or introductory part of a discourse, poem, or novel)
Soliloquy-(the act of talking while or as if alone)
Aside-(a part of an actor's lines supposedly not heard by others on the stage and intended only for the audience)
Role-Playing-(the modifying of a person's behavior to accord with a desired personal image, as to impress others or conform to a particular environment)

*definitions from dictionary.com

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WEEK ONE :

Aristophanes' The Birds

Charlie Chaplin in The Immigrant

WEEK TWO :

Menander's Perikeiromene

Frank Capra's It Happened One Night

WEEK THREE :

Plautus' Poenulus (Towelheads)

Bob Hope & Bing Crosby in
Road to Morocco