Portal:Theatre

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The Theatre Portal

Ancient Greece theatre in Taormina, Sicily, Italy

Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. It is the oldest form of drama, though live theatre has now been joined by modern recorded forms. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. Places, normally buildings, where performances regularly take place are also called "theatres" (or "theaters"), as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe").

A theatre company is an organisation that produces theatrical performances, as distinct from a theatre troupe (or acting company), which is a group of theatrical performers working together. (Full article...)

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Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, located in the Haymarket, in the City of Westminster. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre. In the early decades of the 20th century, Tree produced spectacular productions of Shakespeare and other classical works, and the theatre hosted premières by major playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge, Noël Coward and J. B. Priestley. Since World War I, the wide flat stage has made the theatre suitable for large-scale musical productions, and the theatre has specialised in hosting musicals. The theatre has been home to record-setting musical theatre runs, notably the World War I sensation Chu Chin Chow and the current production, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, which has played continuously at Her Majesty's since 1986. The theatre's capacity is 1,216 seats, and the building was Grade II* listed by English Heritage in January 1970. Really Useful Group Theatres has owned the theatre since 2000.

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Chikamatsu Monzaemon

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Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2011
Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967–2014) was an American actor, director, and producer of film and theater. He was an accomplished theater actor and director. His performances in three Broadway plays – True West, Long Day's Journey into Night, and Death of a Salesman – led to Tony Award nominations. He was also nominated for five Drama Desk Awards and two Lucille Lortel Awards for his work in Off-Broadway theatre. Best known for his character roles – typically lowlifes, bullies, and misfits – Hoffman gained recognition for his supporting work in films like Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). For his portrayal of the author Truman Capote in the film Capote (2005), he won multiple accolades including the Academy Award for Best Actor. Three more Oscar nominations came for his performances in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012). Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Mission: Impossible III (2006) and The Hunger Games (2013–2015). Hoffman died in February 2014, of combined drug intoxication, at age 46. He is remembered for his fearlessness in playing reprehensible characters, and for bringing depth and humanity to such roles.
  • ... that the studios of Basin PBS had once been a movie theater, a church meeting space, and a nightclub?
  • ... that theatre critic Günther Rühle's books cover the history of theatre in Germany, its events and its people, from 1887 to 1966?
  • ... that while preparing for War Horse, theatre set designer Rae Smith spent weeks pretending to be a First World War British Army captain?
  • ... that the Little Theatre, once deemed a "gem among playhouses", was later planned to be replaced by a driveway for The New York Times?
  • ... that a 40-foot-tall (12 m) mural outside Broadway's St. James Theatre was painted over due to a broken foot?
  • ... that in 1999, donors to the American Airlines Theatre could pay US$75,000 for their name on a bathroom?

Selected quote

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay
The business of the dramatist is to keep out of sight and let nothing appear but his characters.

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