East vs West The east and the west show great number of differences in their culture, dress, religion,

philosophy, sports, arts and languages. The west is young where as the east is old. The east is contemplative whereas the west is emotive as far as their religions and cultures are concerned. There are differences in their religious thinking as well. The West is active in the sense that all its activity is turned externally. The religious activity of the east on the contrary is turned towards the spirit. It is more spiritual than the west. Confucianism, Shinto, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism are far eastern and Indian religions. Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism are the religions of the Middle East. The eastern medicine or the oriental medicine is constituted by the systems of Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Traditional Tibetan medicine and Traditional Korean medicine. Western religions on the other hand are based on Abrahamic monotheism and they derive mostly from the Middle Eastern milieu. Far and Middle Eastern languages comprise of Japanese, Chinese, Maloyo Polenesian languages, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese. Indian languages comprise of Sanskrit, Hindi, other Indian dialects and Dravidian languages. Western languages comprise of English, German, Celtic, Italian, Greek and the other European languages. Arabic and Russian are also considered western languages. The east and the west differ much when it comes to arts and architecture. The Renaissance art is known to have created waves in the west and it is true that several museums in the western countries have housed art pieces of the Renaissance period. The eastern art primarily comprises of musical and dance forms. Several dance forms can be seen in the eastern countries like Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. India is home to various dance and music systems. Thus we can see that the east and the west are laden with great number of differences between them.

Read more: http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-east-andwest/#ixzz1pfKoRzp9 Eastern Theatre,Western Theatre

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Most players of Eastern theater did not consider themselves as actors. A number of them continued to repeat past traditions by playing the roles in exactly the same structure and pattern, in the belief that they were performing a religious duty. Others copied the exact actions of the past in order to earn the merits of the world beyond. In many areas theater is considered a religious quest. Even in the most secular parts of the East, apart from requiring technical experience, no actor can go on stage without some form of spiritual and ethical training. Becoming an actor in most parts of the Eastern world is a form of self-sacrifice, and the actor, by having total control over his spirit and by using all his physical abilities, should be able to

produce an environment of unusual conditions. The actors entering this environment and returning to the day-to-day routine, which could take place many times in a play, in some obscure way, refers to the bond between heaven and earth. In practice, however the actor shows that he is an ordinary human being who is able to represent a supernatural act. The very essence of the play is not in the words utilized by the players, despite the fact that the words may be most valuable.4
Apart from the major differences between the Eastern and Western theatrical schools of thought, the Eastern playwrights were the product of a visual idiom, whilst most Western playwrights were influenced by the literary and philosophical aspects of their society as a whole. Depth and pragmatism, which are fundamental criteria of Western theater, are seldom found in the Eastern context. This is quite natural since the ideal in Western theater is the recognition of man and his standing in society, whereas the ideal of Eastern theater is the human role in the controversy of existence. Therefore Eastern theater, in its highest form, while presenting a very simple story, does not confine itself to a limited space but rather tries to portray mans role and place in the totality of creation. For this very reason the characters portrayed in Eastern theater are not equal in depth and psychological implications to those of the West, possessing instead a rich and comprehensive allegorical power. Based on Eastern criteria, a good script is one in which there is, on the one hand, the optimum possibility of being performed in the most eloquent manner possible, and on the other hand, provides the ability to create an atmosphere in which the real and wonderful meaning of existence can be elaborated to the fullest possible degree. Thus the hidden unity amongst all the elements of existence can be portrayed and the apparent disparity eliminated. Everything now becomes unified, and out of this whole, the play emerges. So unlike the West, Eastern scripts are only partly influenced by literature. Eastern plays are not really readable material; rather they are visual phenomena. In many Eastern traditional scripts the literary text is either of secondary importance or even non-existent, but what is the main and important element, is the scripts capacity for pure performing value. Yet since Eastern theater is mostly non-literary, how can we judge the value of the performance? Artistic performance cannot be recorded as it is dependent on the momentary and fleeting combinations of actions which occur during a performance. Objectively it is not possible to either register or rightfully record the pure interpretation of the whole performance. It follows that in order to preserve traditional Eastern plays, they continue to be passed on from mouth to mouth and from one generation to the next. The same holds true for ancient traditions and ceremonies that also reach their goals in a similar manner. The main means of performing were by way of dancing, mimicry, asides, narration and movements upon the stage. In addition to these we must include non-verbal sounds such as singing, humming, and also sound effects. The elements of speech in a poetic framework, i.e. poetry, by way of conversation or recitation of the text of the play, were introduced much later. Although they later became an important part of the script, they were however not amongst the main aims of the performance. During the creation of scripts and plays in both the Eastern and Western theaters, the effects of these different elements were similar but different, in much the same way that the two cultures were different. In ancient Greece scripts were produced by philosophers, but in India plays were founded by the gods. During the course of history, the outcome of theater in these two cultures pursued different paths.