Theatre Links Site Directory
Education
- 1000s of Useful Theatre Terms for StudentsLinks to websites containing glossaries of theatre-specific terms for teachers and students. Here you’ll find definitions for acting terms, technical terms covering stagecraft and production areas, improvisation terms, playwriting terms, and even historical terms for Greek and Roman theatre.
- 100s of Hilarious Drama and Theatresports GamesTheatresports is a form of competitive improvisational theatre game first introduced in the 1970s by Keith Johnstone. Games structures are known as handles and usually played in teams of four with scoring based on players demonstrating technique, narrative and entertainment. Theatresports are an effective tool for building improvisation skills in the drama or theatre classroom.
- Theatre In EducationApplied Drama is an umbrella term for the use of drama practice in a specific social context or environment. It is most often undertaken in spaces “not usually defined as theatre buildings, with participants who may or may not be skilled in theatre arts and to audiences who have a vested interest in the issue…
History
- 10 Useful Theatre History Resources for All PeriodsThe major periods of Western theatre include ancient Greek and Roman theatre, Medieval drama, the Italian-born Commedia dell’Arte, the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre of Renaissance England, Restoration drama, 19th century American vaudeville, French and English Melodrama, modern 20th century drama, and contemporary theatre. Eastern theatre forms through history include Noh theatre, Kabuki, Sanskrit theatre, Peking Opera and Bunraku to name just a few.
- Roman Theatre: 20 Useful Student ResourcesRoman theatre is said to have begun around 240 B.C. Most Roman dramas were translations or imitations of Greek plays. While broader forms of entertainment such as athletic events, music, dance and chariot races played a pivotal role in Roman life, theatrical forms included mime and farce, with comedy being more popular than tragedy. Only some of the comedies of Plautus and Terence survive today, yet no tragic works have survived. Like the Greeks before them, the Romans performed plays at religious festivals in honour of their Gods. Roman theatres were huge architectural structures, of which several exist to this day.
Industry
- 100s of Free Compelling Monologues for ActorsIn the theatre, a monologue is a speech delivered by a single character. “Monologue” is derived from the Greek words “monos” (single, alone) and “logos” (speech, word). Monologues are typically performed in the presence of other characters and are often directed towards them. Monologues from plays are typically used for acting auditions.
- 15 Convenient Websites for Theatre ReviewsReviews of professional theatre shows from across the globe sourced from international newspapers such as The New York Times and The Guardian, industry websites like Broadway World and the New York Theatre Guide, theatre portals such as Theatre People and Australian Stage, plus city-based newspapers like The Age and the Wall Street Journal.
- 30 Great Sound Design Resources for Theatre StudentsTheatrical sound design involves interpreting the script to include pre-recorded or original sound effects and pre-recorded or original soundscapes in the production. Effective sound design can establish the time of day or year, create mood, denote location, and provide scene transitions.
- 35 Awesome Theatre Lighting Design ResourcesAnnotated theatre lighting design resources including links to designer websites, examples of lighting plots and plans, lighting design videos, lighting theory, plus the role and duties of the stage lighting designer.
- 75 Resources for Safe and Ethical Theatre PracticesSafe and ethical practices are vital to the success of the live theatre industry. All aspects of theatre, from set construction and rigging to make-up and costumes, must be safe for workers and performers during each phase of the production process. Ethical considerations include sustainability, diverse and inclusive casting, and sourcing of products. On this page is a collection of resources on safe and ethical practices in the industry from a number of different theatre venues, companies and institutions across the world.
- Stage Props: 40 Resourceful WebsitesStage props exist as their own distinct area in the modern theatre. Normally small moveable objects often handled by the actors, these form an integral part of the overall design process. While there are various agreed categories, the division between prop, costume and set is often vague. Terminology varies from prop makers and designers to…
- Theatre Directing: 40 Valuable ResourcesTheatre directing is the art of combining all the elements of a stage production together into a unified whole that satisfies an artistic vision. The functions of the director are many, including casting, analysing and interpreting the script, running blocking rehearsals, being faithful to the playwright, and coordinating the various creative teams involved in lighting,…
- What Exactly is Dramaturgy? 35 Useful Theatre ResourcesDramaturgy is one of the most confusing and misunderstood areas of theatre. Its roots lie in Ancient Greece, yet it was not until the 1760s in Germany did theatre have its first working dramaturg. Bertolt Brecht brought dramaturgy into the 20th century by employing multiple dramaturgs on his works in the 1920s and 30s, yet…
Scripts
- 35 Popular Elizabethan and Jacobean Play ScriptsA large selection of links to Elizabethan and Jacobean playscripts located across the web from playwrights Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Thomas Dekker, Francis Beaumont, and William Rowley.
- 46 Powerful Ancient Greek Play ScriptsThe standard texts of ancient Greek play scripts are all in the public domain. It is only certain modern translations that may have some copyright restrictions. On this page you will find the full text to the plays of the great classical tragedians Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles, plus works of the comic playwright Aristophanes.
- [PDF] 17 Outstanding Chekhov PlaysRussian novelist and playwright Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) has often been considered the father of the modern short story, such was his skill. But he was equally adept at writing plays. In his canon of seventeen stage works lies four of the best plays in the modern theatre: The Sea-Gull, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya and…
- [PDF] 25 Significant Ibsen PlaysNorwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is often considered the father of modern theatre and realism, even though he wrote in a number of dramatic genres. Ibsen’s twenty-five plays include some of theatre’s greatest works (A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler). The break from society’s moral standards evident in A Doll’s House shocked the audience at its…
- [PDF] 38 Remarkable Shakespeare PlaysLinks to all 38 Shakespeare plays in PDF. Comedies include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, plus others. Shakespeare play scripts that are histories include Richard III, Henry V, Henry VIII, King John, and more. Shakespeare scripts considered tragedies include Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus and Troilus and Cressida. Romances include Cymbeline, Pericles, The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale.
Stagecraft
- Stage Props: 40 Resourceful WebsitesStage props exist as their own distinct area in the modern theatre. Normally small moveable objects often handled by the actors, these form an integral part of the overall design process. While there are various agreed categories, the division between prop, costume and set is often vague. Terminology varies from prop makers and designers to…
Styles
- 100 Essential Theatre of the Oppressed ResourcesThe Theatre of the Oppressed is a participatory form of theatre developed by Brazilian drama theorist, political activist and theatre practitioner Augusto Boal. Originally developed to give poor and disenfranchised communities a more powerful voice, it soon grew into an international theatre movement. Importantly, it is a form of rehearsed theatre for non-actors. Multiple subsets…
- 15 Theatre of the Absurd Reference MaterialsThe Theatre of the Absurd began in Paris in the early 1950s with a number of European playwrights. Influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre’s notion of existentialism, Absurdist plays commonly consisted of illogical dialogue, cyclical plots that ended where they began, characters who lacked motivation, and a strong sense of timelessness. Most of the conventional rules of theatre were deliberately, sometimes shockingly broken. The existential view of man’s meaningless existence out of harmony with the world (in essence, “absurd”) was visibly portrayed in works of the movement, most notably in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1953).
- 1960s Guerrilla Theatre: Fascinating Resources from the Decade of ProtestsGuerrilla theatre is a form of theatrical protest popularised in America in the 1960s by the San Fransisco Mime Troupe. Commedia dell’Arte and satire were actually the group’s principal modes of performance, not mime. At its purest, guerrilla theatre was left-wing political activism in the form of avant-garde performance in non-traditional spaces such as public parks and sidewalks.
- 20 Crazy Melodrama ResourcesMelodrama, derived from the Greek “melos” (music) and the French “drame” (drama), was a form of theatrical entertainment popular in Europe and America from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. While melodramatic plots were often romantic depictions of everyday life showcasing heightened emotions (stemming from earlier sentimental dramas), the staging of these was nothing short of spectacular. Characters were usually archetypal figures such as villains, victims and heroes.
- 25 Convenient Kitchen Sink Drama ResourcesKitchen sink drama, also known as kitchen sink realism, emerged on the British stage in the mid-1950s in stark contrast to the middle and upper class drawing room dramas that preceded it. For the first time, characters were everyday working class people portraying the mundane banality of life, mostly set in poor industrial towns in…
- 25 Important Bunraku Teaching ResourcesBunraku is a traditional Japanese art form involving puppets, music and narration. Bunraku first came to prominence in the 17th century and continues to be performed today. Puppet dolls typically measure two to four feet high and are manipulated by puppeteers visible to the audience. A small shamisen (three-stringed Japanase lute) provides musical accompaniment during performances along with the narrator (tayu) who voices the puppets as well as chants.
- 30 Intriguing Theatre of Cruelty ResourcesAntonin Artaud (1896-1948) was a French dramatist, poet, actor and theoretician who rejected Western theatre’s reliance on the spoken word, instead advocating an experimental theatre influenced by the East where ritualistic movement, stylised gestures and signals became paramount. Artaud’s physical theatre of cruelty was performed in non-traditional spaces with a weakened audience positioned at its…
- 30 Provocative Living Newspaper ResourcesA living newspaper is a theatrical form in which social issues and current events are dramatised in order to prompt action. Living newspapers typically have elements of social activism, documentary theatre, left-wing political theatre, verbatim theatre and agitated propaganda (agitprop). Living newspapers were first used in the Russian Cvil War, where pro-Soviet daily newspapers were…
- 45 Inspirational Epic Theatre Resources for Students and TeachersEpic theatre began in Germany in the early 20th century with Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht. Working independently and together on a number of projects during the 1920s, mostly in Berlin, both practitioners developed their own brand of this radical new theatre form. Largely anti-realistic in style, epic theatre aimed to politically educate the German…
- 50 Hilarious Slapstick ResourcesWhile the origins of slapstick humour are most commonly associated with the highly physical Italian Commedia dell’Arte in the 16th to 18th centuries, there is evidence of the form existing earlier in Roman Atellan farces. The wooden paddle used to whack characters in Commedia dell’Arte performances became the name for this form of comedy. Its…
- 75 Absorbing Poor Theatre ResourcesPolish theorist and practitioner Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999) is today best known for his poor theatre form, The Laboratory Theatre and tiny Theatre of 13 Rows in regional Poland. But his poor theatre concept and practice was just one of many phases in a career spanning four decades. Much of Grotowski’s work with actors was never…
- Auto SacramentalAutos sacramentales (Spanish auto, “act” or “ordinance”; sacramental, “sacramental, pertaining to a sacrament”) are a form of dramatic literature which is peculiar to Spain, though in some respects similar in character to the old Morality plays of England. The auto sacramental may be defined as a dramatic representation of the mystery of the Eucharist. At…
- Collage Drama: 13 Great Playbuilding Resources for Students and TeachersCollage drama normally involves original improvised material, group-devised through the act of playbuilding. The form often includes a number of different performance styles deliberately juxtaposing against each other. The narrative of collage drama is usually episodic, consisting of various scenes linked only by a common theme such as the environment, peer pressure, body image, or global warming. Collage drama is regularly used in the classroom and can exist purely as a process for learning or extend through to performance, if desired. This page consists of a number of playbuilding and collage drama resources for students and teachers.
- Comedy of Humours: A Not So Funny Collection of ResourcesComedy of humours is an historical form of comedy linked to Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson in such works as Everyman in His Humour (1598) and Everyman out of His Humour (1599). It is based on the premise that the human body consists of four liquids – blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile – all representing a different type of humour (or temperament). This in turn affected character behaviour in the drama.
- Fantastic Magical Realism Resources for the TheatreMagical realism (sometimes referred to as magic realism) is a term first used in the art world by German critic Franz Roh (1925) and later in literature by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier (1949). Characteristics of the genre typically include the coexistence of the real and the fantastical, the natural and the supernatural, the normal and magical worlds. In magical realism, elements of fantasy are accepted.
- Fun Jukebox Musical Resources for Theatre BuffsA jukebox musical is a musical theatre work centring on a collection of songs, usually by a single artist or group, and typically part of a back catalogue. The plot is often created around the story of the songs. While this technique has attracted criticism by some, the shows are often blockbusters such as Mamma Mia! (ABBA), Jersey Boys (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical .
- Futurism: 20 Powerful Theatre Resources for the IntelligentsiaThe Futurism movement began in Italy in 1909 with Filippo Marinetti and The Futurist Synthetic Theatre Manifesto. Futurist performance evenings, known as ‘serate’, were a mixture of poetry readings, visual art displays, performed plays and most important of all, manifesto readings. The Futurist play was often frighteningly short (sometimes only a moment or two in duration).
- Interesting Collection of Black Comedy ResourcesBlack comedy, also known as black humour and dark comedy, traditionally mocks serious subject matter. Topics can range from politics to religion and even death (gallows humour). By its very nature, black comedy will entertain some while offending others. The term in its current use was coined by André Breton, the main theoretician of the…
- Meyerhold’s Biomechanics: 50 Critical ResourcesBiomechanics for the Theatre Vsevolod Meyerhold Comprehensive biography of Vsevolod Meyerhold and his career in the theatre as an actor and director. Meyerhold biography accompanied by a few simple biomechanics exercises suitable for students. Excellent biography of Vsevelolod Meyerhold with detailed accounts of his career and productions. Detailed biography of Meyerhold and his achievements in…
- Naturalism: 25 Useful Theatre ResourcesThe naturalistic theatre movement emerged in the mid 19th century and was first introduced by French novelist, critic and playwright Emile Zola in the preface to his novel Thérèse Raquin (1867), which the author later adapted into a stage play (first performed in 1873). Naturalism demanded a slice of life authenticity in every aspect of production and is not to be confused with realism.
- ParodyA parody (also called spoof, send-up or lampoon), in use, is an imitative work created to imitate, or comment on and trivialize an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Dallas Baptist University Excellent explanation of the ingredients of Parody in the theatre, offering examples…
- Physical Theatre: 25 Fun Resources for the ClassroomPhysical theatre is a broad term encompassing works with elements of movement, dance, mime, acrobatics, dance-theatre, clowning, stylised actions and gestures, circus, mask, and more. While recognised as a form on its own, physical theatre can also involve aspects of other recognised styles such as Commedia dell’Arte, performance poetry, cabaret, musical theatre and more. Critical…
- Political Theatre: 35 Bold Educational ResourcesArguably all theatre is political, as playwrights compose from a particular point of view and the theatre they create depicts a time, place and society affected by given circumstances. Western theatre that is notably political began with the satires of Aristophanes in Ancient Greece. The modern movement was forged in Germany from the 1920s by…
- Rare Atellan Farce ResourcesAtellan farce, or Atellanae fabulae, was improvisational comic drama in Roman times originating in the town of Atella. As with its modern counterpart, this was a form of low comedy aimed at entertaining the masses. The characters in Atellan farce each had their own mask and costume, similar to the stock characters of the Commedia dell’Arte centuries later. Atellan farce existed for over 500 years, eventually losing popularity around 200 A.D.
- Realism: 15 Helpful Theatre Resources for StudentsRealism as a theatre movement emerged in Europe in the latter part of the 19th century. As a genuine theatre style, realism was a reaction against romanticism and the sensationalism of melodrama which dominated the stages of Europe and America for much of the 1800s. The realistic movement continues to influence theatre to this day.
- Resources for Theatre’s Problem PlayThe problem play, or play of ideas, contains strong characterisation and topical social issues. The genre is typically thought to have reached its maturity in the late 1800s with some of the works of Henrik Ibsen such as A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1882), and An Enemy of the People (1882). These realistic social dramas frankly portrayed current social issues on the stage.
- The History of Music Hall: 30 Wonderful ResourcesMusic hall refers to a genre of entertainment and the venue in which performances took place. Its origins lie in 1850s England where it began as a physical expansion of the tavern. As alcohol was banned in mainstream theatres but permitted in music halls, many tavern owners built a music hall annex. Shows consisted of…
- The Mysterious Interlude of Medieval and Tudor DramaAn interlude was typically a short dramatic piece, often comic in nature, placed between more serious material. It began during the Middle Ages as a form of lighthearted stuffing (hence interlude) between miracle and morality plays. These were typically short satires or farces. There is even evidence of interludes being used as propaganda in times…
- Vaudeville: 25 Fascinating Teaching ResourcesVaudeville arrived in America in the 1880s and became a hugely popular form of cultural entertainment for the next fifty years. Consisting of a series of short, non-related acts on a single bill, vaudeville’s eclectic list of variety performances involved anything from live animals, jugglers, magicians and singers to comedians, dancers, clowns, and female and male impersonators. The form gradually died out due to the competing medium of motion pictures. This page contains a collection of curated resources on the history and characteristics of vaudeville.
- What is a Closet Drama? 20 Useful ResourcesA closet drama is a work intended from the outset to be read and not performed. Readings typically occur in isolation or aloud in small groups. While there is evidence from classical times of works most likely intended for private readings, the genre was firmly established in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, and again gaining popularity…
- What Makes a Great History Play? Shakespeare Wrote 10 of Them!A history play, also known as a chronicle play, is a dramatic work where the events of the plot are either partially or entirely drawn from history. It is also considered a theatrical genre. William Shakespeare wrote ten of these plays, each loosely based on an English monarch and the period in which he reigned. Importantly, these plays remain works of fiction, whether based on an historical figure or not.
- Whodunit: Mysterious Crime Resources for Drama StudentsOften considered a sub-genre of the crime and mystery genres, the whodunit play is a thrilling plot-driven detective story. Suspenseful throughout, the aim of a whodunit is to discover who committed the murder? The audience normally witnesses the perfect crime, while suspects are then wrongly accused. Agatha Christie’s whodunit The Mousetrap ran continuously on London’s West End from 1952 to 2020, making it the longest first run of any play in history. J. B . Priestley’s play An Inspector Calls (1945) is another fine example of the genre.