Words to know
social values
The beliefs a community shares about what is right, important or good, such as loyalty, kindness, fairness or respect for elders.
form
A type of drama or theatre, such as a morality play, kabuki or docudrama.
style
The particular way a form is performed: its movement, costumes, voice, staging and so on.
morality play
A type of play from medieval Europe in which characters stand for ideas, like Death or Good Deeds, to teach a lesson about how to live.
kabuki
A Japanese theatre form that began in the early 1600s, known for bold makeup, colourful costumes, music and dance.
contemporary
Happening now, in our time.
economic
Having to do with money, jobs and business.
festival
A special event, often yearly, that celebrates something, such as theatre, film, music or a community's culture.
Remember from Grade 6
You looked at themes and traditions in ancient Greek theatre, commedia dell'arte, Noh and Indigenous theatre in Canada today, including Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters. You also described contributions theatre makes to a community, such as bringing people together and creating jobs.
In Grade 7 you will look at social values: what a play shows its audience is right, important or good. You will compare and contrast forms from different times and places, and look at how theatre and festivals contribute to social, economic and cultural life today.
What does this play think is important?
Every play, even a comedy, shows what its makers and audience value. Who is the hero? Who is laughed at? Who is allowed on stage? What happens to characters who are greedy, loyal or kind?
If you could time-travel to theatres around the world, you would see very different values on stage, and you would also see some values that look familiar.
Five forms, five sets of values
Morality plays (England and other parts of Europe, 1400s and 1500s). In Everyman, an English morality play from the late 1400s whose author is unknown, Death tells the character Everyman that his life is ending. He asks his friends (Fellowship), his family (Kindred) and his money (Goods) to come with him, but they all refuse. Only Good Deeds goes with him. The characters stand for ideas, and the play taught audiences the Christian beliefs of the time: possessions and popularity can't save you, but how you live matters.
Kabuki (Japan, from the early 1600s). Kabuki began with a woman, Izumo no Okuni, and her troupe of performers in Kyoto. In 1629, the government banned women from performing kabuki. Since then, male actors have played all the roles; actors called onnagata specialize in women's roles. Many famous kabuki plays explore loyalty and the struggle between duty and personal feelings. Both the stories and the rules about who could perform show the values of the time.
Elizabethan theatre (London, England, around 1600). At open-air theatres like Shakespeare's Globe, poorer audience members called groundlings paid a penny to stand in the yard, while wealthier people sat in the galleries. Women were not allowed to act on the public stage, so boys and young men played the women's roles. Shakespeare's plays often explore power, order and what happens when rulers make bad choices.
Collective creation (Ontario, 1972). The Farm Show (from the last lesson) put the lives of ordinary rural Ontario families on stage. Its value: ordinary people's lives and communities matter and deserve to be seen.
Indigenous theatre in Canada (today). First Nations, Métis and Inuit theatre artists create plays that bring together storytelling, Indigenous languages, music and movement. Companies such as Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto develop and produce Indigenous plays, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa has an Indigenous Theatre department. Many of these works centre values such as community, relationship with the land, the importance of language, and the strength of Indigenous peoples, told by Indigenous artists themselves.