Entertainment

Since the beginning of man, he needed entertainment. No one really knows the origin of theater, but many theories exist. Based on assumption, it is believed that it evolved from ritual. This is assumed because in the beginning man viewed the natural forces of the world, the seasonal changes as unpredictable and wanted to control the unknown and fearful powers. The measures taken which seemed to give the desired results, were kept and repeated until they became ingrained rituals. Then stories came about explaining the rites of mysteries. Some rituals included human sacrifice. These were thankfully abandoned and later called myths. These persisted and provided material for art and drama.

The ancient rituals contained seeds for the theater. It lead to music, dance, masks and costumes. A suitable site was required for these activities, hence a very plain theater was in it's humble beginnings. It is known that unsophisticated people did and still don't distinguish among the various areas of their lives. Such as their work, religion and theater. There is no explanation why the theater continued to grow in importance after it was separated from ritual and in so doing lost it status as a means of influencing man's welfare.

By Happiraphael - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

Ritual probably dates back to the dawn of human history. It is thought that information of the Egyptians is derived from the hieroglyphics and artifacts and that scenes of entertainment and ritual are evident. The play production of Greece is rather complicated.

In the city of Dionysia, one of the great religious and civic occasions of the year, that Oedipus the King, was first presented. If a tragic dramatist wished to enter plays there, he had to apply to the principal civic magistrate for a chorus. Three tragic writers were granted choruses. The magistrate also appointed the choregoi and playwrights were matched by lots. We don't know by what yardstick these playwrights were chosen.

The magistrate also appointed the choregoi or wealthy citizens who had to pay the choruses. This whole process would almost take up a year for planning and rehearsals. We can then obviously throw in the actors, costumes, parts and practices. I'd say that play production in those early years were horrendous, but it was necessary for the entertainment we have today. We know that Roman drama played a huge part in the lives of the people. Well preserved theaters attest to that. Some of these old amphitheaters have been upgraded to modern theaters.

To produce a play in our day still needs much work and time to develop near perfection. The theater going audiences pay much money for tickets. We can choose to see satyr, comedy, drama etc. Today we use theater in our classrooms, whole school productions, musicals, pantomime, ballet shows, puppet shows, etc. In our time we are fortunate to be able to get what we need for a play fairly easily. Years ago my daughter played a role in a sweet advertisement. It took 12 hours to produce a 4 minute advert. It was fascinating to watch. Many people were involved in the production. As a school teacher I was involved in many plays. It was hard work, but very rewarding.

The entertainment we have today is amazing. It makes for an endless list. How many ways of entertainment can you name?
Perhaps we can look at entertainment in a different way. All of us have a part to play in the theater of life.

Sources : Wikipedia, An introduction to Theater. ( Brockett), Pixabay, Wikipedia