Free Modern Theatre Research Paper Example

Theatre is a place where people go to take the burst of emotions while watching the mastery of actors or singers, or dancers and, to provide themselves with impressions from an action on a stage. The history of theatre includes a vast number of periods marked with various theatrical innovations and discoveries of those days.
Nowadays, everyone can witness one of the theatre’s period which is called modern. A lot of important events have affected the development of modern theatre. Among them were the intellectual and democratic revolutions, industrial-technological revolution; all of these facts caused the emergence of experimental theatre and theatre of challenge (“The Modern Theatre”). Realism, symbolism, Theatre of the Absurd and Theatre of Alienation took the central position on the stage of modern theatre. The main topics developed on a stage were those which described a person in a society; the inner world of a person and events which had an influence on it.
One of the inalienable parts of a theatre is its audience. The majority of people think that a theatrical art is turned to those people who can be called the elite of a society and are wealthier and better-educated (“The place of theatre in contemporary life: Work, leisure, and theatre”).
Although, it is the popular misconception; perhaps, it can be said mostly about the 19th century when theatre was available for high society only, but in the 20th century, the inequality between different social classes was blurred and it made theatre widely available. Such tendency continues to exist today when everyone, who is interested in theatre and everything which can be offered by it, may buy a ticket and attend any theatrical performance.
Theatre is impossible without a lot of things and one of such most significant things is a stage. Theatrical stage is space which is intended for all kinds of performances. It also serves as an area for actors and all people involved; at the same time, a stage is the ‘big screen’ for audience. From the architectural point of view, the stage can include a platform, which is frequently raised, or several platforms. In some instances, these platforms can be temporary, though in theatres they are the permanent detail. One may distinguish a few stage types which are varied according to its usage and the arrangement of audience. The most widespread type of stages, especially in the West, is the proscenium stage which means the arrangement of audience on one side of the stage with other sides used by the technical personnel or actors. Thrust stage is also popular and very similar to the proscenium one, but with a platform stretched into the audience space; in such a way, the audience is gathered round a stage on three sides. One more type of stage is when people are situated on all four sides of a stage which is called ‘theatre in the round’. The fourth stage type includes stages which are specially created and adapted for performances.
Props on stage play the role of no small importance and help actors to present their acting in a more trustworthy way. Practically, props are thought out to be something which is movable on stages or sets; in other words, a prop is an object used in plays to ‘support’ an action (“Theatrical Property”). Technically, props create the specific period and peculiar features of a performance. It is stored backstage in the special place appointed for such objects.
Theatre can astonish and surprise, it can disillusion; but at the same time, it’s never boring, because of the special atmosphere reigning there.

Works Cited

The place of theatre in contemporary life: Work, leisure, and theatre. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/590186/theatre/30054/The-influence-of-writing-and-scholarship#toc30056
Theatrical Property. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/theatrical_property
The Modern Theater. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0767430077/student_view0/chapter8/index.html