Theater Critic and Director Harold Clurman Said, “ Theater Is Deep Human Connection Throught He Mask of Fable.”

Sadia Khan

Theater 1041

Eric Krebs

Final Paper

Prompt: Theater critic and director harold clurman said, “ theater is deep human connection throught he mask of fable.” explain and discuss this idea as fully as you can.

According to the Macmillian dictionary, theater is defined as “the act of writing and producing plays.” Harold Clurman commented that “theater is deep human communication throught h mask of fable.” though there ismt much info about how and where theater actually began, its been around since ancient times, evident in ancient greece and even in ancient india. it is evident that a lot has been achieved through drama. for centuries, myths, rituals and ceremonies have been peformed by human societies. Later they became part of a peoples culture and dominated their way of life. hieoglyphics, artifacts and paintings found at excavation sites show that the ancient men had a way of recording events such as wards, hunting expedicitions and communication witht he gods. these were passed on to young people in the form of drama, storytelling and other forms of art. During the performacnce of ritals, they would dress up with costumes and masks. as a result, areas deveped where the performers would be on one point and the audience could view them from another, soon leading to auditoriums being built for the viewing of the entire community to witness particular ceremonies. there is how theater was born. this paper explores harold clurman’s concept and how a fable is usefully exploited to communicate, inform, educate, and warn the populace.

The need to educate the masses is ever present. this is seen throught he hundreds of newpapers, magazines, jounals, and tabloids. the internet is awash with electronic concent that seeks to give information on anything one can think of. in the same respect, theater has been centre stage on public education. lorraine Hansberry, authored “ a raisen in the sun,” a drama about how family’s dreams are destroyed. through this experince. the family was able to discover other important things that added value to their lives. through the characters of “romeo and juliet” William shakespeare was able to teach the audience about the need to shun hatred. according to shakespeare, love is a beautifulthing, when two people fall in love it is out of the affection they have for each other. family differences should not come in the way of things.

Theaterical productions turn fables and myths into educative concepts. playwrites combine a number of themes based either on their personal experience or the events taking place at the time. some of these messages are hidden in the written form. through drama, actors assume various roles. they try to bring out the hudden message. at times the play director