Transcript Classical Theatre History A Journey Through Time The Middle Ages

Classical Theatre History A Journey
Through Time The Middle Ages and The
Renaissance – Italy and Spain
By Margaret Foland
AET 541
Dawn R. Tittle
Introduction to the Dark Ages and the Renaissance
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Week 4 will discuss the following:
The Middle Ages (also known as the Dark Ages) and
it history
 The Renaissance – The age of Enlightenment, and
how it helped to bring about a new age in Theatre
and of course the it’s History.
 Biblical Theatre – its rebirth
 Renaissance Theatre – Comediá del arté.
 It will include the countries of Italy, France and
England – as it will be broken up into weeks 5 and 6.
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The Dark Ages
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Dueling
Feudalism
Crusades 1 and 2
Plague
Church
Hierarchism
Royalty
St. Joan of Arc
Mongol Invasion
Barbarians from Northern Europe
Knights Templar
Eastern Chaos
Order of the Horse
Chivalry
Arthur
Celtic – Celts
Norsemen (Noorsman)
Anglo, Norman, Saxon, Jutes, invasion
Martin Luther
Chaucer
Minstrel song – Jougleus, balds
Gothic Architecture
Notre Dame
Passion Plays – morality plays, miracle plays, mystery plays
Universities
Schism in the Church – Church/State
Inquisition
Monasticism, saints
Warfare techniques
Michelle de Martan - Michael of the Mountain
Printing press, Johan and Gutenberg – Printing press inventors
Ad Majorem Dei Gloria
The Medieval World
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The Medieval World, 416-1450
Latin is the language of the church and the educated
Political background
Religious, landed and legal power rested in the church; later
segregated to feudal lords and guilds.
Theatre closed by church
Tertullian, DE Spectaculis 196 – 212
Theatre had already declined and audience interest was waning
Theatre returned to respectability at 950 C.E.
Church brings Theatre back
Major Influences
Wide spread famine and plague Hierarchism
Feudalism, the church, grab a hold of astrology and numerology,
calendar for the church and year, and liturgical size
Quem Queritis
Discussion Questions
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What do you think it was like to live in the Medieval World?
Who was in control of the Middle world?
Who is Joan of Arc and what did she do?
Who invented the printing press?
When did universities open?
Where the people illiterate or were they learning how to read?
Biblical Drama
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A trope, or interruptions, in the mass
The church developed
Liturgical drama
Mystery (Mystere)/ Cycle plays
Also called miracle or morality plays
Pageants and secrets
Episodic plots begin
1240 – 1576 guilds became producers
municipal governments and private
organizations
Purpose of Cycle Plays
Glorify God, the Bible, and the Church
Instruct the illiterate in the faith
Advertise for guilds
Compete with spring festivals
People move back to the cities
Men and boys only allowed to act in England
Women and Men Act in Cycle plays in
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Spain
France
Italy
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Patterns of the plays
Series (cycle) of 15 – 20 minutes long
Written in vernacular
Presented in sequence
Performed on trestle stage or series of stages
Some stages on wheels (pageant wagons)
Some stages were stationary
“The Second Shepherds Play”
York Cycle Plays
Bishop Ethelwald
Pageant wagons
Discussion Questions
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What is a Cycle Play?
Who was allowed to act in Biblical Drama in Britain, Spain, France,
and Italy?
Who was Bishop Ethelwald?
What is the graphic picture on this page a representative of?
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The Age of Enlightenment
The Renaissance
Italy and Spain
The Italian Renaissance
A matter of
 Perspective
 Stenography
 stage craft
The Renaissance Mind – Humanism
Royallance idea of governance
Bringing back Greek and Roman Philosophy
People are getting educated
University open
Art is at its high
Gothic Architecture
Plague ends – Pregnant form pictures like the one on the title page
Biblical Drama dies off – plays are brought back from
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Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
The finding of Pompeii
Martin Luther
The Protestant Reformation
The Church Reformation happens – bring people back to the Catholic Church
3 graphics on questions page mean
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Triangulation
Pawn
Spotlight – lime light
The Renaissance cont’d
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The Spanish Golden Age
It was part of the Roman Empire until 711
Moors from Northern Africa invaded the country in 711 C.E.
Moors controlled most of Spain
Lasing effect, the Moorish had, even after the Catholic Church retook the country
Spain – Roman Catholic Monarchies
King Fernando and Isabel took control over all Spain, after their marriage in 1469
Their heirs became the monarch of Casitle and León
1492 – Columbus sailed under the Spanish Flag discovers American – North, South
and Central for Spain
Became a world power under King Fernando and Isabel
Successful with trade, conquest, commerce, and arts
Came to be known as the Spanish Golden Age
In 1588, the Aramada was defeated by England
End of unquestioned dominance for Spain – as a sea power and continued to be a
major factor in Europe for much of the 16th century
Drama flourished too
Discussion Questions
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What happened in Italy during the Renaissance?
What happed to the Church?
What do the symbols below have to do with the Italian
Renaissance?
What happen to reunite Spain?
Who is Christopher Columbus?
Italian Theatre
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Intermezzi and Pastorals
2 popular dramatic forms
Developed in the Renaissance
Influenced by classical subject matter and dramatic techniques
Intermezzi
Pastorals
Opera – reflects classic subject matters
Pastorals – imitation of Greek Satyr plays – romance not sexual connotation
Commedia Dell’Arte
A popular theatrical form
Type of pure theatre
Commedia dell’arte – Italian for play for professional artists
Companies consisted of 10 performers – 7 male and 3 female
Some may have been traveling troupes possible the successors of Greek and Roman mimes
Associated with comedy
Thrived in Italy from 1550-1750
Consisted of Improv presentations
Scenarios
Short scripts without dialogue written by a company member
Scripts proved an outline for a plot
Performers had no set text but invented the words and actions as they went along
Actions moved along through improv
Most popular figures
Were lecherous, misery old Venetian, Pantalone
A foolish pedant who was always involved in his neighbors affairs, Dottore
A cowardly, braggart soldier, Capitano
Servants – zanni
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Who were sometimes sly, Arlecchino
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Who were sometimes foolish, Harlequin
Italian Stage Design
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Sebastian Serlio 1475-1554
Architettura - 1545
3 universal sets
Tragic, comic, and satyric
Laid out identically
Street CS
3 “houses” SL & SR
Backdrop
Inspired by Teatro Olimpico 1580-1584
The Teatro Olimpico is the oldest surviving Renaissance playhouse combination of a Palladian – design
Scaenae frons and perspective vistas designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi 1552-1616
The Teatro Franese 1616 or 1618
First permanent proscenium arch theatre, capacity 3000 audience members
Completed by Giovanni Aleotti
Perspective scenery
Racked stage
Wings, borders and backdrops
Stenography
Italian scene changing
Periaktoi
Wings and groove system – Giambattista Aleotti
Chariot and Pole system – Giacomo Tovelli
The Glories
Severe rake
Limited lighting
Scene – changing in view of the audience
Abast ye, IATSE boy! – The first stage hands were sailors
Floor – deck
Pipe – batten
Gid rid of – strike
Elaborate knot system
Rope – line
Spanish Theatre
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Religious drama: Autos Sacramentales
Originally produced inside churches and cathedrals
Part of the church service
Written for Corpus Christi, festive held in late May or June, usually two months after
Easter
Came to be known as Autos Sacramental, name given to any play presented at
Corpus Christi
Combined elements of medieval morality and mystery plays
Based on secular/religious ideas
Underscore church teachings
Finest dramas written by Calderón, 1647-1681
Prohibited in 1765
Secular / professional theatre flourished
Playwrights created dramatic works for both theatres
2 were equally professional without regard to other aspects
 acting
 production
Trace it through the career of Lope de Rueda
Spanish Theatre cont’d
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The Corrales
Corrales – public theatres
constructed in existing courtyards
Open –air spaces with galleries and boxes protected by a roof
2 of the most famous in Madrid
- Corral de la Cruz 1579
- Corral del Principe 1583
The stage
platform erected opposite the entrance to the courtyard
also several other entrances ways for other seating areas
The yard
 primarily an area for standing
Groundlings were known as mosqueteros or musketeers
A corral held 2,000
 1,000 for men
 350 for women
 And the rest reserved boxes and other accommodations for govt. officials and clergy
Proscenium – arch theatre/stage only used at court
First proscenium – arch theatre in Spain
 Coliseo at the King’s Palace
 The Buen Retiro in Madrid
Designed by Italian Cosme Lotti (d. 1643) and completed in 1640
Influenced by the Italian opera and intermezzi
 Zarzuela – a stylized musical drama with a story based on mythology and ornate scenic art/effects
Scenery, the stage and Costumes
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Similar conventions in Spain to those in England
Basic scene elements
2 or 3 story stage house constructed behind the platform stage
A curtain, props, and flats might be used in conjunction with the façade of the stage house
3 openings for entrances, exists and reveals and one or two upper playhouses
The façade served the same function as the Elizabethan tiring house
“Spoken door” – dialogue indicating locale
The stage
Platform raised above the patio
Separated dressing rooms were behind a central curtain that led into the stage house
Doorway or each side of the curtain
Most famous Celos Aun del Aire Matan 1660
Costuming
Similar to England’s Renaissance
Playwrights
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Lope de Rueda
 Secular drama – comedies
 2 best known
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Lope de Vega
 Calderón de la Borca
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Many others include:
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Guillén de Castro 1569 – 1631
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His play The Cid is a source for a famous French Play
 Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza – 1580 – 1639
 Born in Mexico, wrote plays in Madrid
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Tirso de Molina 1584 – 1648
 Said to have written 400 plays
 He wrote the 1st known play about Don Juan
 Often compared to Lope de Calderón
Discussion Questions
What did the theatre of Italy look like?
 What did the theatre of Spain look like?
 When did Biblical drama end in Spain?
 What is Commedia Dell’Arte?
 Who is Lope de Rueda?
 Who is the first playwright to write about
Don Juan?
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References
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1700spanish. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.costumes.org/history/17thcent/womensfashplates/new/1700spa
nish.jpg
Classroom without walls. (2011). Retrieved from
http://classroomwowalls.pbworks.com/w/page/35366145/Maeve%20Jackso
n
CorralAlmagro. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://people.uleth.ca/~brent.devos/Webpage%20images/corralAlmagro.jp
g
Medieval English Religious Drama. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://department.monm.edu/theatre/Rankin/Classes/THEA171/Lectures/m
edieval%20mansions.htm
Middle Ages . (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://sphtc.org/timeline/middleages1.jpg
Wilson, E., & Goldfarb, A. (2008). History of the Theatre: Living Theatre
(5th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw Hill.