Steven Berkoff is a well renowned English actor, author, playwright and of course theatre practitioner. Being born in 1937, Berkoff has seen a lot of change in what is standard for theatre and as an antithesis, evokes a sense of uncomfortableness through his use of ranging techniques that make up Berkovian theatre.
Bertolt Brecht lived from 1898 to 1956, and developed his own style of Epic, episodic, political theatre, and was a playwright and theatre director who is now one of the most famous and powerful practitioners of theatre to this day. He influenced political theatre forever, as well as Augusto Boal, Peter Brook, Pina Bausch and links to the Paper...
Melodrama was a very popular from of theatre found predominantly in Victorian Britain. However forms of melodrama do still live on today most notably with the form of soap-operas such as EastEnders or Coronation Street.
Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian playwright, actor and theatre practitioner that developed the style of naturalism in theatre. His main principle was simply to show life as accurately as possible through his art by focusing in on the character one was playing. He lived from 1863-1938 and was the co-artistic director of the Moscow Art Theatre,...
William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was born the the 23rd of April and died in 1616. During his Career Shakespeare the most influential playwright in history. Shakespeare's reputation was established in London by 1592. It was during this time that Shakespeare wrote his...
Accidental Death of an Anarchist is a play written by Dario Fo in 1970. On the 12th of December 1969, a bomb exploded in the headquarters of the National Agrarian Bank in Piazza Fontana, Milan, Italy. The Bomb killed 17 people and injured 88. In the same afternoon 3 more bombs exploded and 1 was discovered unexploded. The police immediately...
Commedia Dell'arte, translated from Italian: "the comedy of art", is an Italian style of comedy theatre originating in the 16th century. Throughout the next two centuries it spread throughout Europe developing its own iterations, with the most popular being the Comédie-Italienne in France. It also evolved and elements of Commedia Dell'arte were...
With the return of the monarchy led by King Charles II in 1660, there was also a return of prominent theatre after an 18-year prohibition by Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan philosophy. The subsequent period then brought 'fun' (often being rude) entertainment which was harshly banned under Cromwell's rule, seen with many restoration comedies that...
As the Western Roman Empire fell throughout the 4th and 5th centuries, theatre continued to evolve and change as elements like the chorus fell out of favour for other aspects such as dialogue, along with song, dance and musical accompaniment. It is also worth noting that Medieval Theatre is a broad term as it spans over centuries taking form in...
Here is a review I wrote for the Leopard Magazine about The Skinners' School 2024 Junior Production: