27.11
European theatre begins in the 5th century BCE.
Home reading: 3 plays.
No history exists. There are only facts and interpretation.
Ivan the Terrible is our hero.
Reading is enormous work. We cannot simply trust the text. Artists are obliged to be educated and intelligent.
Any text is a scroll of meanings that time unfolds, inscribing meanings // Bakhtin
A text (as a philosophical concept, a painting can also be a text) consists of 3 blocks
Any text speaks of two things:
Hamlet will always tell about us (regardless of the quality of the performance). This text lets time in.
Why does the Mona Lisa evoke rejection?
Baroque is a hyperform. As a consequence of the crisis of abandonment by god. Everything produces meaning. If the universe kept a diary—it would be culture.
The great styles:
Further modernism / art nouveau. Cubism, etc. – stylistic movements.
Why can we not bring back the Renaissance? – that is the question.
This is the first (introductory) lecture by V. in two years.
Let us begin to speak about antiquity. Themes: space, tragedy. Tragedy is an invention of the theatre; in other forms there is no tragedy (?) It is precisely among the Greeks, in Athens, that the theatre is born (note – here my formulation may not be exact). The theatre is not a mask, not an actor, and not even a spectator. Then what is the theatre? – space.
The most important polis was Athens, the peak of Greek civilization. A new art emerges. Women (free citizens) could attend the theatre. But possibly in the upper seats. People gathered at the theatre early in the morning and watched all day. 3 dramatists presented 3–4 performances (over several days), a tetralogy. Everyone went to the theatre. In February–March was the main season due to the weather. A winner was chosen. Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides. Aristophanes – a comic playwright. The theatre is a socially significant event. It is born as a political and social action directed at the world.
The gods have sex with each other. Olol. … Immortality is ensured by the presence of a god.
Faddey Zelinsky on the harm of astrology.
Jesus knows what the body is. Although He is God. // see the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. The trials of the saints show that we can “endure” our body. This idea gave birth to theatre. The point of intersection of immortality and humanity.
“Orchestra” (orchestra) and “theatron” (theatron) are the two main elements of ancient Greek theater: the orchestra is a circular area for the chorus and actors, and the theatron is the seating for spectators arranged around it.
Evolution of the stage (note – here is a diagram of the ancient Greek stage)
Any performance carries within itself a part of that reunification which existed in Greek theatre.
The next topic is tragedy. Reading: