The birth of the theater
The word "theater" has Greek roots. It means some kind of spectacle, as well as a place for it. The game is the basis of theatrical art and one of its elements. Behind the earliest stages of the development of theatrical performances were sacred rituals and games of primitive people. The characters in such games were spirits - good and evil. Participants in the action used pantomime, accompanied by music and dancing.
Ancient Greece is considered to be the birthplace of theater. In the 5th century BC. e. theatrical performances became part of religious holidays. We know about mass celebrations in Athens, processions around the city with a statue of Dionysus, which were accompanied by games, songs and dances. It follows from this that the history of ancient Greek theater originated as a certain form of amateur performance for a certain number of spectators.
Then the first theater figures began to stage tragedies, and comedies appeared much later. The peculiarity of theatrical performances of that time was that the play was presented only once, so the authors tried to create interesting works. The playwright not only wrote plays and acted as an actor, but was also a director and staged music and dance parts. Even now it is clear how talented these people were. The whole world knows their names:
- Aeschylus;
- Sophocles;
- Euripides;
- Aristophanes;
- Aristotle.
Each of them contributed to the development of theatrical art, thanks to their good education and creative abilities. Some of the works are still preserved.
Ancient theater, actors and spectators
The place where the action took place is of interest. The Greek theater was huge in size and was located in the open air. It could simultaneously accommodate up to 44 thousand people. Initially, wooden floorings were constructed for spectators; they could sit on them during the action; then they were replaced with stone ones.
Later, in the 4th century, the Greeks built their first stone theater. Only men acted as actors. Facial expressions were not used, because the actors' faces were wearing grotesque masks. The actors paid the main attention to clothing and movements.
There was an entrance fee, but it was inexpensive. It is noteworthy that some rulers granted the right to attend performances to poor city residents. Slaves often came to watch the spectacle, and prisoners were released from prison for this purpose. The audience expressed their emotions in different ways. When the performance was to their liking, they applauded and admired loudly, otherwise they stomped and shouted. Sometimes the actors were driven off the stage by throwing heavy stones at them.
The role of theater in the life of a preschooler
Emotions, or feelings, play an important role in the lives of children. Positive emotions - pleasure, joy - increase the child’s activity, his receptivity, have a beneficial effect on the course of all physiological processes in the body, and improve health. Therefore, it is so important that a preschooler’s mood be predominant.
The main source of pleasure and joy is the active activity of the child, communication with adults and children close to him. Therefore, both at home and in a preschool educational institution, all conditions must be created to satisfy and strengthen his most natural need for a variety of activities: to look, listen, move, in the process of which comprehensive development occurs. The child becomes more and more familiar with the world around him.
Aesthetic education is essential. Impressions of early childhood remain in memory for a long time.
Theater in a child’s life is not a rare phenomenon in the modern world. It’s great if children and their parents not only go to a professional theater, but also when amateur children’s theater becomes part of the daily life of a child attending a preschool institution.
The tasks of artistic and aesthetic education of preschoolers are successfully solved in the process of introducing children to theatrical and musical culture, developing ideas about various genres of art - this is a special world where the child learns the essence of good and evil, but also becomes familiar with great art. Theater artists and teachers do a great deal of creative work with their little spectators, involving them in various theatrical performances and concerts, creating a real holiday for them.
In the hall of the theater you can see an exhibition of children's drawings, models of performances, and fairy-tale characters.
The theater combines all types of art, which makes it possible to talk with children not only about its history, but also about painting, architecture, the history of costume and decorative arts.
But the most important thing is the celebration, the emotional outburst, the delight of participating in the performance.
With a child of two or three years old you can have quite an interesting and, what is important, useful time.
It is best to start your journey into the world of fairy tales and magic with a puppet theater. The basis of the puppet theater's repertoire is a fairy tale - folk and literary, Russian and foreign. This is a real fairy-tale country, where children are treated to wonderful, childishly naive, touching and kind fairy tales - puppet shows with games, starting from the very entrance to the theater, because communication with the mysterious world of puppets requires additional preparation. The performance lasts from forty minutes to an hour.
Parents and children, grandmothers and grandchildren will laugh and cry here at the adventures of familiar and unfamiliar heroes. The repertoire of modern theaters includes the best works of literature for children. Each performance in a tactful and unobtrusive form talks about love and fidelity, tolerance and mercy, kindness and courage. And together with the heroes of the play, the preschooler seeks answers to difficult moral questions and learns to distinguish good from evil.
The child gets acquainted with the best works of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov, Hans Christian Andersen, Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky, Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak.
Mysterious, magical, funny, sad and certainly kind - this is the essence and form of children's theater performances.
The main task of children's theater is to introduce children to the traditions and customs of different peoples through fairy tales and folk art and at the same time awaken their interest in reading. Through play, children can get acquainted with the theatrical and musical art of the peoples of the world.
Theater is a whole world of new words that are not used in everyday life. This is the stage, the curtain, the backstage. Acquaintance with many more amazing words and concepts awaits those who wish to look behind the scenes of the theater.
Music occupies a large place in the play; it can help young actors tune into the desired emotional mood, and to some extent compensate for the shortcomings of their performance in the audience’s perception. Music embellishes the performance, helps to create a brighter and fuller perception, creating the necessary mood.
What they see and experience in a real theater and in their amateur theatrical performances broadens the children’s horizons, creates an environment that requires the children to engage in conversation and talk about the performance to their comrades and parents. All this undoubtedly contributes to the development of speech, the ability to conduct a dialogue and convey one’s impressions.
Musicals are considered one of the most complex forms of theatrical production.
The composer not only wrote the music, but also created an orchestral soundtrack, which, of course, enriches the sound of the musical.
Musicals are developed and created taking into account children's perception, which means that children do not get tired of the music, work on their role with interest and get enormous scope for their own creativity.
Here, vocal art, theatrical acting, and plastic arts are fused together.
The immediate transition from conversation to song, from song to dance is so natural for a child. And the musical is built on this.
Such musical performances will be a great event for children, teachers, and parents.
Musical theater for children is represented by a variety of genres - ballets for children, musical comedies and musicals were created and are being created by leading composers of our time - Tikhon Khrennikov, Eduard Kolmanovsky, Alexander Tchaikovsky, Shirvani Chalaev and others: fairy tales “The Fly Tsokotukha”, “The Frog Princess”, “Thumbelina” "
Literature:
1. Mother and child. Encyclopedia for moms and dads / Comp. Ivanova I. I. Rostov n/d: 2009.
2. Media education No. 5 2005. Russian journal of history, theory and practice of media pedagogy.
3. Tsukasova L.V., Volkov L.A. Theatrical pedagogy: Principles, commandments, advice. Ed.3, add. M., 2009.
4. T. N. Karamanenko Puppet theater in kindergarten. M., 1960.
Development of street theater
Street theater is rightfully considered one of the most ancient forms of theatrical art. The performances were dedicated, first of all, to different seasons. They developed the theme of the revival and withering of nature, so they carried out ceremonial ritual actions.
Street performances took place during holidays, and were organized at the request of noble persons. They took the form of long processions, which were accompanied by dancing. The actors constantly exchanged jokes, shouts and sang songs. Over time, these actions were transformed into saturas (a genre of Roman literature), which were performed by histrions. Such events were loved by the people, so they were preserved for many centuries.
A characteristic feature of street performances is the absence of separation between actors and spectators. Theater performances of this kind are characterized by interactivity - the viewer takes part in the action, and often even influences the course of events.
A series of conversations about theater with older preschoolers. Material (senior group) on the topic
A series of conversations about theater with older preschoolers.
Goal: To introduce preschoolers to the world of theater, to the specific rules of behavior in the theater, to stimulate their interest in theatrical art.
Conversation 1 “What is theater?”
Educator: Do you know what a performance is? What does "theater art" mean? Who are the authors? What kind of performances are there in the theater? What kind of scenery is there? Lighting? Transformations? Listen, now I will explain everything to you in order. (I post a photo of the Bolshoi Theater). Here is the house. From the outside, it looks like nothing special. Well, the house is just like a house, only more elegant than others, and there are fewer windows than doors. We entered and saw a window with the inscription “Box Office”. People buy tickets here. (The music director approaches the table decorated in the form of a cash register).” “Please give us tickets,” you say to the cashier, “for today’s performance.” “Please,” he answers you and tears off the tickets, on which are printed the name of the theater, the row number, and the place where you need to sit. You pay money. You get a ticket and go watch the show.
You buy a program from the theater employee, the usher. The program is a piece of paper on which everything you are interested in knowing about the performance before it starts is written: which actors are playing, what the name of the play is, who wrote it, and more.
A very interesting performance today! Let's take a look at today's program. Bah! Yes, this is the Petrushkin Theater, where they perform the fairy tale “Oh, Turnip!”
Let's buy tickets to the show. Who will be our cashier? Children “buy” tickets and sit down to watch any fairy tale prepared by the music director.
Conversation 2 “Who invented the theater?”
Educator: Theater already existed among the ancient Greeks. They were the first to come up with the idea of presenting the legend about their gods and heroes in living persons. They realized how wonderful, instructive and entertaining a theatrical spectacle can be, where instead of the storyteller, the very people who are told about in the fairy tale appear before the audience. After all, we believe much more what happens in front of our eyes than what we are only told about. The Greeks discovered ways to present well in the theater both serious works - tragedies, and funny ones - comedies. When the actors portrayed different people, gods, animals, the audience very often rewarded them with clapping of their hands - applause.
In ancient times, actors played on the street. Almost the entire population of the city was present at the performance. To make the actors clearly visible, they wore large masks, much larger than their heads. And so that the public could hear clearly, a mouthpiece was inserted into the mouth of the mask, calling the person.
From the Greek theater we borrowed many of the names for our theater, starting with the word “theater” itself, which in Greek is pronounced “theatron” and means “spectacle”.
Let us now put on these masks and turn into different animals.
Now tell me, what animal is called the king of all animals?
That's right - a lion. The game is called "Animals, beware of the lion!"
A game similar to “Trap”. The lion is in the middle of the circle, the animals move in leaps to the music, then clap rhythmically and say: “One, two, three, well, quickly catch us!” and run away. "Lion" catches. The one who is caught takes his place, and so on.
Conversation 3 “In the theater”
Educator: At the last lesson, you and I saw the theater, went into it, bought a ticket and a program at the box office. Today I propose to go into the auditorium and look around. (Exhibits an illustration or diagram of the theater auditorium).
The most important place in the auditorium is the stage where the play is presented. And opposite the stage are rows of chairs and armchairs. Those seats that are closer to the stage are called an amphitheater. And on the sides there are boxes with beautiful names: benoir, mezzanine, balcony. Each box, that is, in a fenced-off area, can accommodate 4 or, if the box is large, 6 chairs. If you are sitting far from the stage, then you will need binoculars. This is a device consisting of two tubes with magnifying glasses to better see what interests you, but to be at a relatively far distance.
Now pay attention to the scene. See the light coming from the edge of the stage and illuminating the curtain. Here a row of light bulbs, called a ramp, is placed along the entire length of the stage. The stage itself is covered with a curtain. The performance begins as soon as the curtain rises, or moves apart, because there are two systems of curtains: rising and sliding.
Do you know the fairy tale “The Nutcracker”? No? Just today it will be presented in the theater. (The musical director includes a video recording of P.I. Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker”, where the auditorium of the Bolshoi Theater, stage, and curtain are clearly visible. Children listen to the overture of the ballet, watch the beginning of the performance).
Conversation 4. “Behind the Scenes”
Educator: Guys, you can find a lot of interesting things in the theater, let's see today who is hiding behind the scenes, that is, behind the stage. The audience does not see this space. The actors and employees of the theater have their own entrance from the street, leading directly to the stage. If we get there, then the most important person we will meet there is the theater director.
When the author writes a play and the theater accepts it for production, the first person to receive the play is the director. He carefully reads the play, studies it and discusses it with the actors. Then he distributes the roles between the actors - those words and those images that the actors should speak and portray on stage, reads the play to them and assigns rehearsals - an approximate performance of the play. While the actors are rehearsing the play, other work is in full swing in the neighboring rooms: the decorator paints the scenery for the play, the costume designer sews costumes for the actors. And then the day comes when the performance is performed for the first time. This is the premiere (in French - “first time”). Guys, where do you think the actors play? That's right, on stage. (Shows illustration). See how big it is? If we look up, we see many curtains. These are hanging decorations, and those decorations that are on the stage are called “pavilion”.
Having examined the stage, we can get acquainted with other rooms of the “backstage kingdom”: the decorator and prop maker’s workshop, the costume room, and the actor’s dressing room - where he puts on makeup and changes clothes.
Do you guys know who a prop man is? A props maker is a person who makes artificial things. (Show props, fruits, flowers for the reception).
And now we are in the actor's dressing room. Look! A table with a mirror on it, paints, powder, fake hair, which is called a wig. Here the actor turns into the hero of a fairy tale. And theater make-up artists and hairdressers help him with this.
Let's now play actors and make-up artists, make a princess out of an ordinary girl, and a grandfather out of an ordinary boy.
They choose one make-up artist and two actors, and they begin their transformations in front of everyone.
About puppet theater for children
The origins of puppetry go back to primitive times, when each tribe had its own totem animal. The symbolic image was worshiped and praised. It was believed that it was endowed with magical powers, so various rites and rituals were often performed with this personification of the deity.
Such totems were also made in Rus'. They looked like small dolls. Their task was to protect young children from the evil eye and evil spirits. Time passed, and totems became toys. The kids eagerly played with them, pretending different situations and making up stories.
We owe the appearance of theatrical puppets to the Greeks. In Greece, a tradition was established of organizing family performances with the participation of puppets. They carefully prepared for them: first they sewed dolls, then outfits for them, and also created decorations. The first examples, which moved their arms using straps, delighted the public.
Over time, the dolls were placed in special boxes with holes from which they looked out. With such boxes, puppeteers traveled to cities and gathered audiences. During the Middle Ages, performances were held at fairs or city squares.
Briefly about ballet for children
Despite the fact that dancing has been decorating human life since ancient times, ballet is a young art. He was born more than 400 years ago in Northern Italy. At that time, the Italian nobility loved palace entertainment events, and dancing occupied a special place in them. Ordinary dances were not suitable for courtiers. Therefore, there were dance teachers - choreographers, whose duties included rehearsing movements and posing figures. So the dance became more and more theatrical.
The word "ballet" comes from the Italian dance. The term originated at the end of the 16th century. But at that time it did not mean a theatrical production, but just a separate dance episode. After several such episodes, the “big ballet” began, that is, the dance itself.
The first ballet performance is considered to be the Queen's Comedy Ballet, which took place in France in 1581. For this reason, the further development of the ballet took place in Paris, where the Paris Opera subsequently opened.
The theater is an amazing and interesting place where magical events take place. There you can laugh and cry, think about life, and feel sympathy for other people. To see the performance, you need to come to the theater building, where actors are always waiting for their spectators, ready to give him live emotions.
What is theater? /A story about theater for children and their parents/
What is theater?
/A story about theater for children and their parents/
Music director Margarita Aleksandrovna Sorokina, kindergarten No. 1341
Nice thing, theater. Do you know what it is? What does performing arts mean? Who are the actors? What kind of performances are there in the theater? What kind of scenery is there? Lighting? Transformations?
Now I will explain to you in order.
You buy a ticket and go to the theater to watch a performance. At the door of the auditorium you are greeted by a theater employee - a usher.
He has in his hands
the program
for today's
performance.
A program means a piece of paper on which is printed everything that you are interested in knowing about the performance before it starts: which actors are playing, who composed it and what the name of the play is.
And a performance means a spectacle presented by actors, or, as they are more often called, artists.
You are invited to the lobby, where spectators take off their coats, hats, and leave umbrellas for the storage of the employees, who, after hanging up your things, give you a number
The waiter invites you into the hall, pointing to the nearest door
to the auditorium
. Offers binoculars in order to better see what interests you, but is located at a far distance.
In the auditorium, the audience sits on all sides except one, where the eyes of all spectators are directed.
Below, in the middle, are rows of chairs and armchairs. These places are called stalls
, which translated from French means - on earth.
On the sides below are stocks
, which translates as “premises” In each such box, that is, a fenced area, four or six chairs are placed.
The bottom row of boxes is called benoir
,
It is usually at the same height as the stage. The boxes that form the mezzanine
.
A number of places above them are called a balcony
, while the places above the balcony are called
a gallery
.
Or in the old way - paradise
, since there is nothing higher than these places in the theater, just as there is nothing higher than heaven in the sky.
There, where the public's eyes are directed, hangs a fabric curtain.
a stage behind it
that is, the place where the play is presented.
Notice the light coming from the edge of the stage and illuminating the curtain. A row of light bulbs called a ramp
. The performance begins as soon as the curtain rises or parts. Because curtains come in two systems: rising and sliding.
In ancient times, the Greeks were the first to discover ways to present well in the theater, like serious works - tragedies
, and funny, called
comedies.
After the third call
the lights in the auditorium have gone out and are visible only in front of the curtain and slightly in the orchestra (
space in front of the stage
)
a conductor
appeared in the middle of the orchestra , that is, the manager of the musicians.
The conductor tapped his baton: attention! Everything became quiet. He waved his wand and the music began. This is an overture,
which means “opening” in French.
The curtain wavered and rose, revealing the stage to the audience!
It's like you've been transported to another world! And the performance began!
Behind the scenes
The actors and employees of the theater have their own entrance from the street, leading directly to the stage. If we get there, we'll most likely meet the director
theater
A director is to actors what a conductor is to musicians. But he not only manages the entire performance, but, one might say, creates it. He carefully reads the play, studies it and discusses it with the actors. Next, he checks whether the roles in the play are good,
that is, the words and those images that actors must speak and portray on stage.
Then he draws up a plan for the production, deciding in what scenery, in what lighting, at what tempo (i.e. with what speed), distributes roles and assigns rehearsals -
approximate performance of the role. There are many rehearsals every day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The actors also need to learn the words of the role and rehearse the game in front of a mirror.
But the work of preparing the performance takes place not only on the stage; work during rehearsals is in full swing in the neighboring rooms, and the following people participate in it: the decorative artist
with his assistants.
Hanging decorations
- curtains - in the theater they are called “backdrops”, “arches”, “cloths”. But the decorations leaning against the wall - they are actually collapsible - are called “pavilions”. The scenery is often called the backstage, which is why in the theater they began to say that they are “behind the scenes” about those who are on the stage but hidden by the scenery. The art of decorating is difficult, but, first of all, you need to be a talented artist.
Propper
– another important profession in the theater. From the first moment, a prop workshop resembles a toy store or an armory, or even a junk shop. A prop maker - that is, one who makes artificial things - props - he must be both a furniture maker and a sculptor, be able to sculpt from clay, be a blacksmith and carpenter, and a glass painter and a specialist in props, that is, those things that are brought to the stage during performance. There are few good prop makers in the world, and they are highly valued in the theater.
Dresser
with a whole staff of tailors. And the costume room! There is a lot to admire here. Various plays are presented on stage: historical ones, where people of past centuries act; and fantastic, but simply fabulous, for which costumes need to be specially composed. For a suit, first of all, a sketch is drawn, in which the style is drawn up - the cut, color and trim of the suit. The sketches are handed over to the tailors, and based on them they sew exactly what is drawn. There are a lot of such costumes accumulated in the theater. They must be kept in great order.
Now let's take a look at the actor's restroom
.
A table with a mirror on it, paint, powder, Vaseline. Some kind of hair, wigs, a chair in front of the table, a hanger with a dress on the wall. That's all. The room is tiny, but great things happen here. This is where the actors transform into heroes of the play. But as? Are there paints on the table here? These are the so-called makeup paints. Actors use them to paint their faces in order to become like those who need to be portrayed on stage by role. The art of giving your face a different look and expression through paints, glue, and artificial hair is called makeup.
make-up artists and hairdressers
help the actors with this I have not listed all the professions that exist in the theater.
When, finally, everything is ready for the performance, the director schedules a “dress rehearsal, which takes place in the scenery, costumes, and makeup - just like a real performance, only without an audience. The first performance of the play is called the premiere
(in French this means “first time”). And, as a rule, all tickets for it are sold out, since this is a new product for theater lovers - theatergoers.
Well, our journey to the theater has ended. And what a great happiness it is to join this art.
Go to the theater! Love the theater!
/ The material is based on the book for children “What is Theater”
N. N. Evreinova /
