Theatrical constraints are various rules, either of taste or of law, that govern the production, staging, and content of

stage play A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging ...

s in the

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

. Whether imposed externally, by virtue of

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

franchises or

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

laws, or whether imposed voluntarily by actors, directors, or producers, these restraints have taxed the creative minds of the theatre to tackle the challenges of working with and around them. The

Classical unities The classical unities, Aristotelian unities, or three unities represent a prescriptive theory of dramatic tragedy that was introduced in Italy in the 16th century and was influential for three centuries. The three unities are: #''unity of action' ...

, requiring "unity" of "time, place, and subject", is the most well-known of all theatrical constraints. It was first employed in Italy in 1514 and later became embraced in France. Another example is the Japanese prohibition of female acting in 1625, then the prohibition of young male actors in 1657, that create "

Onnagata , also , are male actors who play female roles in kabuki theatre. It originated in 1629 after women were banned from performing in kabuki performances. There are many specific techniques that actors must learn to master the role of ''onnagata'' ...

" which is the ground of Japanese theatrical tradition. In the

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

theatre of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, a similar ban forbade all actresses from appearing on stage, at all; the parts of women were generally played by boys. The plot of ''

Shakespeare in Love ''Shakespeare in Love'' is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, B ...

'' turns on this fact. In cinema, the Dogme 95 films form a body of work produced under voluntary constraints that severely limit both the choice of subjects and the choice of techniques used to bring them to the screen. Another culturally significant constraint occurred in France. In the late seventeenth century (1697 to be exact), Italian companies were prohibited from appearing in France, so native actors took over the Italian plays and made the roles their own with great success. In the markets and fairgrounds, itinerant actors created a new theatrical form by holding up cue-cards (like sub-titles or

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

) containing the words of the plays or songs, which the audience then acted or sang for them. This became even more successful, with crowds coming from all around to see how the actors had overcome such rigid censorship. Some of the restrictions, or traditions born of them, may have still been in place in the nineteenth century, at least if

Marcel Carné Marcel Albert Carné (; 18 August 1906 – 31 October 1996) was a French film director. A key figure in the poetic realism movement, Carné's best known films include ''Port of Shadows'' (1938), ''Le Jour Se Lève'' (1939), ''Les Visiteurs du Soi ...

's '' Les Enfants du Paradis'' is a reliable guide.

External links

"Censorship as Liberation"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theatrical Constraints Theatre LGBTQ-related controversies in theatre Theatre controversies Censorship in the arts

See also

External links