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(1806-1872) Famous American actor of the stage.

Edwin Forrest

(1806-1872) Famous American actor of the stage.

(5 B.C. - 65A.D.) Roman philosopher, statesman, and writer whose works were important to the evolution of theatre.

Seneca

(5 B.C. - 65A.D.) Roman philosopher, statesman, and writer whose works were important to the evolution…

Actor in Elizabethian costume.

Actor

Actor in Elizabethian costume.

View of the amphitheatre at Pompeii.

Amphitheatre

View of the amphitheatre at Pompeii.

Theatre de Bellecour, Lyons, Architect: Chatron

French Theatre Mask

Theatre de Bellecour, Lyons, Architect: Chatron

A Greek Theater, Athens.

Greek Theatre

A Greek Theater, Athens.

"Tragedy masks. The origin of Greek drama is to be found in the yearly celebrations in honor of Dionysus, god of wine. Riotous festivals were held, during which the god of wine was extolled with carousals and boisterous songs, these having been introduced to Greece from Thrace, where they were even wilder in their nature." — The Delphian Society, 1913

Tragedy masks

"Tragedy masks. The origin of Greek drama is to be found in the yearly celebrations in honor of Dionysus,…

"While Greek tragedt grew farther and farther away from the humor and burlesque so characteristic of the old satyr dances and songs, comedy arose to incorporate within itself much of this early spirit. The comedies supplied entertainments, pure and simple, yet at the same time did much to mold public opinion." — The Delphian Society, 1913

Comedy masks

"While Greek tragedt grew farther and farther away from the humor and burlesque so characteristic of…

Three puppets

Puppets

Three puppets

"Theatrum, a theatre. The Athenians before the time of Aeschylus had only a wooden scaffolding on which their dramas were performed. Such a wooden theatre was only erected for the time of the Dionysiac festivals, and was afterwards pulled down. The first drama that Aeschylus brought upon the stage was performed upon such a wooden scaffold, and it is recorded as a singular and ominous coincidence that on that occasion (500 b.c.) the scaffolding broke down. To prevent the recurrence of such an accident, the building of a stone theatre was forthwith commenced on the south-eastern descent of the Acropolis, in the Lenaea; for it should be observed, that throughout Greece theatres were always built upon eminences, or on the sloping side of a hill." &mdash Smith; 1873

Theatrum

"Theatrum, a theatre. The Athenians before the time of Aeschylus had only a wooden scaffolding on which…

"Toga, a gown, the name of the principal outer garment worn by the romans, seems to have been received by them from the Etruscans. The toga was the peculiar distinction of the Romans, who were thence called togats or gens togata. It was originally worn only in Rome itself, and the use of it was forbidden alike to exiles and to foreigners. Gradually, however, it went out of common use, and was supplanted by the pallium and lacerna, or else it was worn in public under the lacerna. But it was still used by the upper classes, who regarded it as an honourable distinction, in the courts of justice, by clients when they received the Sportula, and in the theatre or at the games, at least when the emperor was present." &mdash Smith; 1873

Toga

"Toga, a gown, the name of the principal outer garment worn by the romans, seems to have been received…

The Erfurt Theatre.

Erfurt

The Erfurt Theatre.

A famous English actor.

David Garrick

A famous English actor.

Ford's Theatre in Washington, where President Lincoln was assassinated.

Ford's Theatre

Ford's Theatre in Washington, where President Lincoln was assassinated.

Lincolns assassination at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.

Lincoln Assassination

Lincolns assassination at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.

Mark Twain illustrating an Italian newspaper as saying a cop in a theater of opera in Wallace, Indiana, had willed to expel a spectator which continued to smoke in spite of the prohibition, who, spalleggiato by his friends, manifold revolver shots.

The Revolveration in Theatre

Mark Twain illustrating an Italian newspaper as saying a cop in a theater of opera in Wallace, Indiana,…

(1584-1616) Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre.

Francis Beaumont

(1584-1616) Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre.

(1635-1710) A famous English actor.

Thomas Betterton

(1635-1710) A famous English actor.

The theater of Athens where Greek drama was born.

Theater of Athens

The theater of Athens where Greek drama was born.

John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of…

The Savoy Palace was considered the grandest nobleman's residence of medieval London, until it was destroyed in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. It fronted Strand, on the site of the present Savoy Theatre and the Savoy Hotel that memorialise its name. In its area the rule of law was different from the rest of London.

Part of the Savoy Palace

The Savoy Palace was considered the grandest nobleman's residence of medieval London, until it was destroyed…

An illustration of Bowery Theater, a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theater, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s. By the 1850s, the theater came to cater to immigrant groups such as the Irish, Germans, and Chinese. It burnt down 5 times in 17 years, a fire in 1929 destroying it for good. Although the theater's name changed several times (Thalia Theater, Fay's Bowery Theater, etc.), it was generally referred to as the "Bowery Theater".

Bowery Theater

An illustration of Bowery Theater, a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although…

A view of Main Street, Dawson City in the Yukon, Canada in July of 1897.

Main Street, Dawson City, July 1897

A view of Main Street, Dawson City in the Yukon, Canada in July of 1897.

A diagram of the box occupied by President Lincoln in the Ford Theater when he was assassinated.

Diagram of Box Occupied by President Lincoln in Theatre

A diagram of the box occupied by President Lincoln in the Ford Theater when he was assassinated.

Ford's Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Ford's Theatre

Ford's Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

O, orchestra; L, logeion; P, paraskenai; SK, skene; ST, stoa.

Plan of Greek Theatre

O, orchestra; L, logeion; P, paraskenai; SK, skene; ST, stoa.

The theatres were originally built on a very large scale to accommodate the large number of people on stage, as well as the large number of people in the audience, up to fourteen thousand. Mathematics played a large role in the construction of these theatres, as their designers had to able to create acoustics in them such that the actors' voices could be heard throughout the theatre, including the very top row of seats.

Ground Plan of the Theatre at Iassus

The theatres were originally built on a very large scale to accommodate the large number of people on…

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a stone theatre structure located on the south slope of the Acropolis of Athens. It was built in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla. It was originally a steep-sloped amphitheater with a three-story stone front wall and a wooden roof, and was used as a venue for music concerts with a capacity of 5,000.

Ground Plan of the Theatre of Herodes Atticus

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a stone theatre structure located on the south slope of the Acropolis…

"The theatre was essentially like the Grecian in its arrangement; it formed a semicircle with seats rising in the form of an amphitheatre for the spectators, at the chord of which was the stage, with its permanent decorations."

Ground Plan of the Theatre at Pompeii

"The theatre was essentially like the Grecian in its arrangement; it formed a semicircle with seats…

"Ground Plan of the Colosseum at Rome, with representation of the Tiers of Seats, and of the Substructure. The shape of the amphitheatre was borrowed from that of the theatre. Since no stage was necessary, and with a view to securing as many rows of seats as possible, the semicircular form of the theatre was done away with, and the whole became a circle, or rather an ellipse, which was afterwards the recognized shape for all buildings of this nature, whether at Rome or in the provinces."

Ground Plan of the Colosseum

"Ground Plan of the Colosseum at Rome, with representation of the Tiers of Seats, and of the Substructure.…

This drawing represents the interior of Her Majesty's Theater of England.

Interior of Her Majesty's Theatre

This drawing represents the interior of Her Majesty's Theater of England.

The Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier, but more commonly as the Paris Opéra, is a 2,200-seat opera house on the Place de l'Opéra in Paris, France. A grand landmark designed by Charles Garnier in the Neo-Baroque style, it is regarded as one of the architectural masterpieces of its time."The newest and most important building is the new Opera House at Paris," this image "presents an external view.The competition which was announced for the plans for this building brought out at the time the most eminent, artistic, and architectural talent of France, and aroused a very general and lively interest in the result: inasmuch as an architectural chef-d'œuvre was to be produced, such as Paris did not possess before, and one in which the architecture of the present day was to make the utmost possible effect to build a theatre, which in every respect should be worthy of the metropolis of the world, and should thanks to the almost unlimited means at disposal, be the most perfect of its kind."

View of the Opera House in Paris

The Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier, but more commonly as the Paris…

"The Berlin school, whose founder was Schinkel, the architect of the noble Berlin Theatre, and of the Museum, which is noteworthy for its magnificent façade, exhibited a decided inclination towards Grecian architecture, and strove to attain a certain purity of form, and delicacy and elegance in details, which where for the most part carried out in the Grecian style. He had to contend against a deficiency in building material. Owing to want of building-stone, the mouldings, and indeed all the architectural details, were unavoidably carried out in stucco; nor was this all, but in order to give the same durability, they were made to project as little as possible. Consequently this architectural style, with the exception of some few public buildings, seemed flat and wanting in power, especially in the case of private dwelling-houses, and frequently presented the appearance of pasteboard-work, or cabinet-work, rather than of a structural edifice. This facility also which stucco afforded for enriching the façade, caused more attention to be paid to decoration than it was entitled to, for ornament should always be kept in subservience to the main and constructive architectural forms." The Konzerthaus Berlin (once called the Schauspielhaus Berlin) is a concert hall situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of Berlin. Since 1994 it has been the seat of the German orchestra Konzerthausorchester Berlin. The building's predecessor, the National-Theater in the Friedrichstadt suburb, was destroyed by fire in 1817. It had been designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans and inaugurated on January 1, 1802. The hall was redesigned by Karl Friedrich Schinkel between 1818 and 1821, and the new inauguration of the Königliches Schauspielhaus on June 18, 1821 featured the acclaimed premiere of Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz. Other works that have premiered at the theatre include Undine by E. T. A. Hoffmann in 1816 and Penthesilea by Heinrich von Kleist in 1876. After World War I the Schauspielhaus reopened under the name of Preußisches Staatstheater Berlin in October 1919. Under the direction of Leopold Jessner it soon became one of the leading theatres of the Weimar Republic, a tradtion ambivalently continued by his successor Gustav Gründgens after the Nazi takeover in 1933, including his famous staging of Goethe's Faust and the premiere of Gerhart Hauptmann's tragedy Iphigenie in Delphi in 1941. Severely damaged by Allied bombing and the Battle of Berlin the building has been rebuilt from 1977 on and reopened as the concert hall of the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester in 1984. The exterior, including many of the sculptures of composers by Christian Friedrich Tieck and Balthasar Jacob Rathgeber, is a faithful reconstruction of Schinkel's designs, while the interior was adapted in a Neoclassical style meeting the conditions of the altered use. The great hall is equipped with a notable four-manual pipe organ including 74 stops and 5811 pipes.

Theatre at Berlin

"The Berlin school, whose founder was Schinkel, the architect of the noble Berlin Theatre, and of the…

"The Berlin school, whose founder was Schinkel, the architect of the noble Berlin Theatre, and of the Museum, which is noteworthy for its magnificent façade, exhibited a decided inclination towards Grecian architecture, and strove to attain a certain purity of form, and delicacy and elegance in details, which where for the most part carried out in the Grecian style. He had to contend against a deficiency in building material. Owing to want of building-stone, the mouldings, and indeed all the architectural details, were unavoidably carried out in stucco; nor was this all, but in order to give the same durability, they were made to project as little as possible. Consequently this architectural style, with the exception of some few public buildings, seemed flat and wanting in power, especially in the case of private dwelling-houses, and frequently presented the appearance of pasteboard-work, or cabinet-work, rather than of a structural edifice. This facility also which stucco afforded for enriching the façade, caused more attention to be paid to decoration than it was entitled to, for ornament should always be kept in subservience to the main and constructive architectural forms." The Altes Museum (German for Old Museum), is one of several internationally renowned museums on Berlin's Museum Island in Berlin, Germany. Since restoration work in 1966, it houses the antique collection (Antikensammlung) of the Berlin State Museums. The museum was built between 1825 and 1828 by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the neoclassical style to house the Prussian Royal family's art collection. Until 1845, it was called the Royal Museum.

Theatre at Berlin

"The Berlin school, whose founder was Schinkel, the architect of the noble Berlin Theatre, and of the…

"In Dresden, owing to the method of instruction in the technical schools, as well as to the influence of the buildings, as, for instance, those by Zwinger, and the new theatre by Semper, the Renaissance style is the one preferred by the architects who have been there educated." The Semperoper is the opera house of the Saxon State Opera Dresden (German: Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden) and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in Dresden, Germany. It was first built in 1841, by architect Gottfried Semper. The building style itself is debated among many, as it has features that appear in the Early Renaissance style, Baroque and even features Corinthian style pillars typical of classical Greece (classical revival). Perhaps the most suitable label for this style would be Eclecticism; where influences from many styles are used- a practice most common during this period. It had to be rebuilt after a fire destroyed it in 1869. The citizenry demanded that Gottfried Semper do the reconstruction, even though he was in exile at the time because of his activities in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849. So the architect had his son Manfred Semper complete the second opera house with his father's plans. This second one was constructed in Neo-Renaissance style in 1878. During construction, performances were held at the Gewerbehausall, which opened in 1870. The building is considered to be a prime example of "Dresden-Baroque" architecture. It is situated on the Theater Square in central Dresden on the bank of the Elbe River. On top of the portal there is a Panther quadriga with a statue of Dionysos. The interior was created by such famous architects of the time as Johannes Schilling. Monuments on the portal depict famous artists such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, William Shakespeare, Sophocles, Molière and Euripides. The building also features work by Ernst Rietschel and Ernst Julius Hähnel. In the pre-war years, the building premiered many of the works of Richard Strauss. During the last weeks of World War II in 1945 the building was destroyed again - this time by Allied bombing and the subsequent fire storms. Exactly 40 years later, on February 13, 1985 the opera was rebuilt almost the same as it was before the war. It reopened with the same opera that was performed last before the destruction in 1945: Weber's Der Freischütz. During the flood of the Elbe in 2002 the building suffered heavy water damage. With substantial help from around the world, it reopened in December 2002. Today, most operas are accompanied by the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.

Theatre at Dresden

"In Dresden, owing to the method of instruction in the technical schools, as well as to the influence…

"The next evolution is presented in Euripides. He is less ideal than his predeccesor, but truer to nature. His drama is more of a reality. He takes his stand in the midst of human life as it is. His language is the language of the people. The heroes of his plays are more possible than those of Sophocles. They are redeemed with weaknesses, touched with folly, stained with tears. He has more variety in his action, greater freedom, more surprises and vicissitudes."—Ridpath, 1885

Euripides

"The next evolution is presented in Euripides. He is less ideal than his predeccesor, but truer to nature.…

One of the earliest open-air theaters in Athens, Greece.

Theater of Dionysus

One of the earliest open-air theaters in Athens, Greece.