THEATRE HISTORYThe Beginnings of Theatre

The Sorcerer (13,000 BC)

The Sorcerer is one name for an enigmatic cave painting found in a cavern known as 'The Sanctuary' at Trois-Frères, France. It appears to depict a man dressed as a stag (or, alternatively, a half-human, half-stag spirit).

Whether a drawing of a god or a priest, the Sorcerer is a therianthrope, a symbolic blending of human and animal forms that can be found in many cultures. Therianthropes commonly blend the human form with animals that were directly important to local culture, for example as food. Thus, the image is commonly interpreted as a shaman performing a ritual to ensure good hunting; however, this interpretation cannot be proven.

Some believe that further animals may be discerned within the image: the hands have been described as bear-like, and the face that of a bird. What is agreed on is that the legs and arms are human and there are parallels with other ancient images in which human limbs are attached to an animal, usually a bison, to create a bipedal figure.

The Sorcerer bears a strong resemblance to the Celtic God Cernunnos, who was depicted as a man with deer horns, and similar imagery appears elsewhere in the satyrs, and fauns of Greek mythology, and the Hindu Lord of Animals. The Sorcerer was created long before the emergence of any of these cultures, and has been interpreted as the earliest known evidence of the "Horned God" religion.

PRIMITIVE TRIBAL DANCE

Dancing, with mimicry, is one of the ancient accomplishments of man, inseparably connected with religion, warfare, the getting of wives and the getting of food. The movements of animals were imitated, costumes and masks were devised, the cries of the young were skillfully repeated. Since death was often associated with the idea of reincarnation in the form of some animal, it was but natural that many primitive rituals intended to ensure protection for the living, should imitate the movement and cries of beasts.

A further incentive to imitation and play-acting was the wide-spread belief in sympathetic magic, which is based on the idea that the imitation of an event will bring that event to pass. When the savage wants rain, he climbs a tree and goes through the motions of pouring water from a bucket upon the ground. A second performer strikes two stones together to represent thunder, while a third waves a firebrand until the sparks fly in imitation of lightning. If a warrior wishes the death of an enemy, he makes a clay image and sticks it full of thorns and nails. If the hunter wishes to enlist the help of the gods he pretends to chase his prey, and when the victim is caught he goes through the motions of killing and skinning him. Thus the image of the deed is made, and the actuality will soon follow.

A play called The Battle of the Corn is an Indian ritual designed to win the favor of the gods in whose hands lies the prosperity of the crop. A slight setting is arranged, the front of which is made to represent roughly a field of maize. On the background are painted the symbols of the tribe. The performance begins by the appearance of angry demons representing Hail, Drought, Storm, and the like. These devils rush in, trampling down and destroying the grain. Presently come the owners of the field, hastening to the rescue of their crops. They attack the demons and wrestle with them, until at last the struggle becomes a pitched battle. A wounded demon falls, yelling in pain, and the defenders spring forward with renewed energy. A mortal falls, and the demons dance for joy. Just as the triumph of the devils seems assured, a new champion comes into the fight on the side of the rescuers, and the tide is turned. The weary men gather their strength for one more onslaught, the evil forces are put to rout and the crop is saved. This play, though more complex than many primitive scenes, can of course be performed entirely without words.

THE PYRAMID TEXT4000 BC

The Pyramid Texts are a collection of Ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom, mostly inscriptions on the walls of tombs in pyramids. They depict the Egyptian view of the afterlife, and the ascent into the sky of the divine Pharaoh after death. They were written in 4000 BC (approx.); thus, they are some of the oldest known writings in the world.

Abydos Passion Play (19th Century BC)

The world's earliest report of a dramatic production comes from the banks of the Nile. It is in the form of a stone tablet preserved in a German museum and contains the sketchy description of one, I-kher-nefert (1887 BC – 1849 BC), a representative of the Egyptian king, of the parts he played in a performance of the world's first recorded "Passion" Play somewhere around the year 2000 B.C. This Egyptian Passion bears a notable resemblance to the Passion Plays of the twentieth century. Its purpose is obviously the same as that of the one at Ober-Ammergau, or the Tyrolean, or the Persian Passion Play of Hussein . . . the principal object, as always, being to keep vivid in the minds of the faithful the sufferings and triumph of a god.

In the case of the Egyptian "Passion" the central figure was the legendary king-divinity, Osiris. According to the historical legend, Osiris ruled wisely. He was treacherously murdered and his body was cut in pieces and scattered. His wife, Isis, and his son, avenged his murder, gathered up the pieces of his body for pilgrimage relics, won back his throne and established the cult of Osiris-worship. We know that Passion plays in his memory were performed annually at Abydos, Busiris, Heliopolis, and elsewhere.

The acting of those days must certainly have been quite as realistic as that of any modern stage, for later Greek historians tell us that many actor-warriors died of the wounds received in the "sham" battles between the enemies of Osiris (led by his brother, Set) and the forces led by his son, Horus. The play closes with the resurrection of Osiris as a god and the foreshadowing to all the faithful of their own final resurrection.

CLOTHING OFANCIENT EGYPT