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 * Contrast and compare the role and purpose of secular drama and theatre as an expression of the communities from which it arose and for which it has served with that of religious and ritual drama and theatre. Use examples from __Joe Turner__ and the way the play makes use of both secular and religious/ritual aspects to shape its content and manner of expression.**
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Theatre is regarded as an essential part of human expression. It has often provided much of a community’s entertainment, especially before the advent of advanced technology. Different aspects of society can be seen as modeled through the theatrical expressions of each community. Theatre has served many purposes throughout time and will continue to bring people together in the future.

Theatre began as a primarily religion and ritualistic event. Plays, performances, and rituals in the United States have been dated back to the time of the Hopi Indians. The Hopi Indians are known for their kachina performances. In these performances, a Hopi man takes on and is transformed into the kachina spirit. There are more than 300 different kachinas. The rituals are spread out over the course of the year. These ritualistic performances often correspond to the harvest. For example, the first observation of the kachina cycle comes at the winter solstice. This ceremony is meant to break the darkness and prepare for a new year. Religious and ritualistic performance can also be found in Greek history. There were many festivals honoring Dionysus. Dionysus is the Greek god of the life force who was primarily honored in the spring because he is associated with regeneration and renewal. He was honored in a ritual that was once completed with human sacrifice, but eventually turned into animal sacrifice. The Greeks examined relationships necessary to sustain human existence as they understood it. Another example of religious and ritualistic theatre is the Christian mystery cycles. These were performances staged primarily by the Catholic Church across Western Europe. They were meant to reinforce the Christian faith and social organization. However, once they no longer benefited the interest of the state, they were suppressed. This led to the rise of secular drama and theatre.

Secular drama and theatre came to rise primarily with Elizabethan theatre. In this time period, actors and playwrights were making a living from their plays and acting. The Renaissance helped the plays of Shakespeare and other sophisticated plays to flourish. They revealed the complexity of human motivation. Shakespeare’s accomplishments have become synonymous with the Renaissance. He often wrote about the struggle for political power, but managed to focus on the characters. In addition, secular theatre rose in China as well through the Beijing opera of China. There were two primary types of plays in Beijing opera, civil plays that were about domestic and social situations and military plays with lots of action. The Beijing opera was suppressed during the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, Beijing opera was replaced with eight model plays that dealt with specific themes and emphasized certain areas of life, like sacrificial actions for the revolution. Secular theatre did not come about until after the rise of religious theatre, but it is regarded more of a mirror of society because the themes that are addressed in secular plays have a strong relevance to life experiences and struggles.

In August Wilson’s //Joe Turner’s Come and Gone//, there are both secular and religious or ritual aspects addressed in the play. Some of the secular themes that are discussed include slavery and its effect on identity, which can be seen through the play. Each of the characters is seeking to know who they are and understand how they fit into the world. The boarding house is used as a way station for them along their journey. Another important theme is family. Throughout the play, the definition of family is explored and expanded as the characters in the boarding house bond together as a family. Themes of race, freedom, and healing are also explored in the play. Throughout the play, much of the activity is centered in the kitchen where Bertha is present cooking food. This adds a secular element to the play because it is a tangible part of everyday life. In addition, Bertha’s constant cooking alludes to the typical female role at that time – cooking, cleaning, taking care of the house. This is a secular element of the play. Bertha is also using food as a way to distract characters from their troubles and to soothe problems over. It also adds to the theme of family because all of the characters come together to eat in the kitchen, as a family would, even though most of them are not actually related. Racism is another secular theme that is present in the play. Racism can be seen through the Martha’s troubles with sharecropping. After Loomis leaves their plot when he is sentenced to the chain gang, she is unable to meet his obligation and is forced to go live with her mother. She is help back by the white sharecroppers whose main intent was to keep the black workers permanently in their debt. The presence of a chain gang is further evidence of the racism present at this time and throughout the play. There are many everyday details included throughout the play that add to the realistic element.

The primary ritualistic presence in the play is the character Bynum. Bynum is also an important character in the play because without his presence, the play would remain in a state of stasis. All of the scenes in the first act of the play begin in the same way – with Seth and Bertha in the kitchen, usually eating breakfast. From the beginning of the play, Bynum is introduced as a spiritual character by Seth complaining to Bertha about his strange spiritual activities. Bynum talks about his adventure where he meets a “shiny man,” who explained the Secret of Life to him, in which he learns the song he uses to bind people together. He binds people together and is also associated with a ritualistic cutting. Bynum also guides another character, Loomis, through a spiritual hallucination in which he sees bones rise out of the water exposing his misery. The Juba in the play takes place in Act 1, Scene IV. It is another example of a religious or ritualistic aspect that celebrates African heritage and is a symbolic representation of obstacles in the characters’ lives. Seth suggests the “juba,” and goes into an episode after Loomis demands they stop singing. Bynum calms him and take him upstairs. This is foreshadowing of Loomis’s dislike of anything supernatural. At the end of the play, when Martha rejects Loomis for Zonia due to Bynum’s binding spell, he denounces his religion and slashes at his chest with a knife. The stage directions at this point in the play are very significant. They speak of finding his song of self-sufficiency, resurrection, being cleansed, and leaving his spirit to soar. Bynum ends the play yelling, “Herald Loomis, you shining! You shining like new money!” (Arnold, 2011). It is interesting that Loomis, the character most opposed to the ritual song and dance earlier in the play, finds “his song” at the end of the play. This moment is extremely spiritual and ritualistic in nature. It demonstrates that within the play, there are both spiritual and religious elements, as well as secular elements.

Works Cited

Arnold, Stephanie. //The Creative Spirit: An Introduction to Theatre.// 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.