theatrical traditions
Customs of drama
Theatrical traditions are the accumulated conventions, practices, and styles that define how performance is done within a particular culture or era.
These include acting techniques, staging customs, audience expectations, and storytelling forms passed down through generations: The kabuki theatrical traditions of Japan, Western theatrical traditions dating to ancient Greece.
The phrase often signals established methods that newer work either honors or deliberately breaks from.
- Method actingDeep psychological character immersion
- Commedia dell'arteItalian improvised masked theater
- Greek tragedyClassical dramatic form featuring downfall
- BunrakuJapanese puppet theater tradition
- Peking operaClassical Chinese musical drama
costume design · liturgical drama · lighting design · morality plays · mystery plays · dramaturgy · shadow puppetry · comic relief · fourth wall · stage directions · set design · costumes · props · masks · vaudeville · footlights · melodrama · tragic hero
theatrical traditionsmodern innovations
Novel developments of today
experimental theater · avant-garde performance · avant-garde theater · contemporary theater · immersive theater
theatrical traditionsimprovisation
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
improvisational theater · street theater · guerrilla theater · happenings · absurdist theater
theatrical traditionsdigital theater
Online performance venue
film · cinema · television drama · screen acting · streaming content