Transcript Chapter 1: The Nature of Theatre

Chapter 5: Creating a Professional Theatre
Elizabethan England, Italian Commedia dell’Arte, and
Seventeenth-Century France
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Renaissance: revived interest in classical theatre of Greece and
Rome
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English Decree of 1558: plays on religious and political subjects
banned
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New subjects: classical literature, historical chronicles, legend
Patronage: church and state withdraw support; theatre becomes
commercial enterprise
Elizabethan Theatre
Professional Groups:
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Had to perform often
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Had to have a large stock of plays to sustain audience interest
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Had to play in space large enough to accommodate sizeable
paying audience; had to be able to control access to space
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Had to control all production elements
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Had to assemble company that could work full time
Elizabethan Theatre
Professional Groups:
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Acting was not considered an acceptable profession
Because acting did not fit into the guild system, actors were
considered masterless men
Companies petitioned noblemen to serve as patrons
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Patronage legitimized companies to an extent
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Patrons provided little financial support
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Companies had to be licensed
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Plays had to be approved
Elizabethan Theatre
Prominent Playwrights:
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William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
John Fletcher (1579-1625)
John Webster (1580-1634)
Elizabethan Theatre
Companies:
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Always 2 to 4 active companies in/around London (1580s-1642)
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Performed 6 days per week in the afternoon
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Usually changed bill every day
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During the 1590s, a London company averaged a new play
every 17 days
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Average life of play = 10 performances over a season or two
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Writers sold plays to companies for one-time fee
The Globe Theatre
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Used by Shakespeare’s company after 1599
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Round with exterior diameter of 99 ft.
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3 levels of roofed galleries enclosing open space
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The yard = open space enclosed by galleries; 74 ft. in
diameter
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The stage = 41 ft. 3 in. wide x 24 ft. 9 in. deep x 5-6 ft. above
yard; extended to middle of yard; viewed from 3 sides
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Roof sheltered stage = the heavens or the shadows
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Back of stage platform = multilevel façade with 2 doors
The Globe Theatre
Theatrical Conventions:
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Properties brought onto stage when needed (throne, bed)
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Façade served as backdrop for all performances; location clarified
by dialogue: spoken décor
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Most characters were costumed in contemporary Elizabethan dress
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Companies composed of approximately 25 members:
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Shareholders
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Hired men
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Apprentices
The Globe Theatre
Theatrical Conventions:
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All roles played by men
Performance style somewhat realistic
No use of masks, except as disguises
All lines spoken
Musical elements:
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Marked entrances of royal characters
Called attention to important announcements
Served as signal in battles
Accompanied songs and dances
Most performances concluded with jig = short, lively music-and-dance
piece
The Globe Theatre
Theatrical Conventions:
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Admission fee determined viewing location
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Cheapest = yard
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Moderate = galleries
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Expensive = boxes, “lord’s rooms”
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No intermissions
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Circulating vendors sold wine, beer, ale, nuts, playing cards
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Atmosphere similar to modern sports event
Hamlet
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Includes main plot and related subplot
All main characters drawn from nobility or aristocracy
Hamlet is among the most demanding roles ever written for tragic
actors
Writing:
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Blank Verse: dramatic poetry that retains flexibility of normal speech
while formalizing it
Iambic Pentameter: Speech rhythm in an unstressed-stressed pattern,
that makes up 5 “feet” per line:
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“to BE or NOT to BE that IS the QUEStion”
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Prose: used mostly for lower class characters
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Figurative Language: sets up direct or indirect comparisons
English Theatre
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English public theatres were closed in 1642 due
to civil war, and did not reopen until 1660
The Theatre Experience in Renaissance Italy
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The Renaissance, begun in the 14th century, revived interest in
classical theatre of Greece and Rome
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Early 16th century, plays imitating classical forms were written in
Italian
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Performed at court festivals
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Reliance on classical sources, especially De Architectura by
Vitruvius
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Describes theatre layout
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Describes settings appropriate to: tragedy, comedy, pastoral
The Theatre Experience in Renaissance Italy
Principles of perspective drawing (developed in 15th century) added to
scenery (in 16th century)
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Signaled movement away from formal, architectural stage to
representational, pictorial stage
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Picture broken up and painted on 3 separate scenic elements:
side wings, backdrops, overhead borders
Floor of stage raked upwards towards back
Introduction of proscenium arch, which framed the painted
elements to complete the picture
Resulted in need for mechanisms to shift scenery
The Theatre Experience in Renaissance Italy
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Intermezzi = interludes performed between the acts of regular
plays
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Suggested parallels between a mythological figure and the
person being honored at the festival
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Major features = music and dance
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Elaborate special effects
Opera = combined drama, music, dance, spectacle, special effects
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Originated in the 1590s
Commedia dell’Arte
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Commedia dell’Arte = comedy of professional artists
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Actor as most essential element of form
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Adaptability: could perform in virtually any space, with or
without scenery
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Scenario = summary of situations, complications, outcome;
functioned as script
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Improvisation: distinguishing feature of commedia
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Lazzi: bits of comic business
Commedia dell’Arte
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Stock Characters
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Lovers:
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Most realistic roles
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Only characters that did not wear masks
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Dressed fashionably
Masters: 3 recurred most often
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3.
Pantalone: elderly Venetian merchant
Dottore: lawyer or doctor
Capitano: braggart and coward
Servants = zanni
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Minimum of 1 clever and 1 stupid
Most popular = Arlecchino (Harlequin)
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Acrobat, dancer, and used slapstick
Wore black mask and hat
Commedia dell’Arte
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Troupes averaged 10-12 members
Performers were both male and female
Troupes traveled frequently
Most popular from 1575 to 1650, but continued into late
18th century
Numerous scenarios have survived
Commedia dell’Arte
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Activity:
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Read each of the commedia character descriptions below.
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Think of characters from TV sitcoms that possess qualities
similar to each commedia character.
1.
Lover: young and handsome; stylish
2.
Pantalone: an elderly, would-be lover; very frugal
3.
Dottore: lawyer or doctor; supposedly intelligent, but easily
tricked
4.
Capitano: boasts about prowess in love and war, but cowardly
when challenged
The Servant of Two Masters
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Written in 1745 by Goldoni, from last days of Commedia dell’Arte
More than a scenario, so lacks most of commedia’s
improvisational elements
Conveys other key elements of commedia
Characters:
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2 pairs of Lovers
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2 Masters
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3 Servants
Plot relies on disguise, coincidence, misunderstanding
Divided into 3 Acts, with a total of 10 scenes; requires 5 settings
The French Neoclassical Ideal
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Firm genre restrictions: tragedy and comedy should not mix
Tragedy must be about royalty and nobles
Comedy should deal with middle and lower classes
Characters should exhibit decorum
All plays should be written in 5 acts
Neoclassical Unities:
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Time: all play’s action should occur within 24 hour period
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Place: all play’s action should occur in one location
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Action: there should be only one plot
Ending of play should uphold poetic justice
Purpose of drama = to teach and to please
Molière and Seventeenth-Century French
Theatre Practice
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Unlike Elizabethan Theatre, French companies included both male
and female actors
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Each actor played a limited range of roles, eventually organized
into lines of business
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Actors had to furnish own costumes; blend of contemporary
fashions and some historical dress
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Plays were set in one place; no scene changes; generalized scenery
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Plays performed indoors, using candles and oil lamps for lighting
Tartuffe
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A comedy of character, written by Molière
Shares some characteristics of Commedia dell’Arte
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5 stages of plot:
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Demonstration of Tartuffe’s hold over Orgon
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Unmasking Tartuffe
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Tartuffe’s attempt at revenge
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Foiling Tartuffe’s plan
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Happy resolution
Written in verse: alexandrine = 12-syllable lines, with each pair of
adjacent lines rhyming
Neoclassical unities of time and place are observed
The Elizabethan, Italian, and
French Traditions
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Although Shakespeare and Molière were separated in
time by only a few years, they worked in different
theatrical traditions
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When the English theatres reopened in 1660, the
influence of Commedia dell’Arte was clearly evident in
the new style of plays written
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By the 18th century theatres throughout Europe shared
the same basic conventions
Making Connections
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Consider the ways in which English, Italian, and French
theatre practices of the 17th century are similar and the
ways in which they are different.
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Make a list describing those theatrical conventions from
the 17th century that you see today being used in
theatre, television, or film.