Transcript As You Like It. - Warren County Schools

The Renaissance and
Shakespeare
GHS


Cultural movement
that spanned the
periods of the 14th
through the 17th
centuries
It was not a uniform
process. Not every
country experienced
the “Rebirth” at the
same time.


Renaissance started in
Italy in the 1300’s.
Learning focused on
classical sources such
as the Romans (Latin),
Greeks, and Arabic
and Hebrew texts.


Art accelerated in
production and
quality from the
Medieval period.
Important artists of the
period= Leonardo da
Vinci and Michelangelo.


A move toward
Humanism and a
desire to seek the
“truth” about nature,
God, and man.
Christianity was not
rejected; many works
were devoted to it.


Reinfusion of ancient texts long forgotten,
including Greek Christian works that would
lead to the Protestant reformation.
The period marked a period of Church reforms
and eventually movements that would birth
the American and French Revolutions.


By the 15th and 16th centuries, European nations
had established their own native traditions,
religious dramas and farces based on Greek
and Roman plays.
Drama of the Renaissance mirrored or
reproduced classical themes.
Pastoral Drama
In this convention the purity and simplicity of shepherd
life is contrasted with the corruption and artificiality of
the court or the city.
 Intermezzo
Was a lighter, more comedic scene interpolated between
more serious scenes.
 Opera
Either comedic or serious, some dialogue but
accompanied with music. Singing used to frame and
enhance the action of the play.




Dates back to Florence, Italy in the late
Sixteenth century (1500’s).
The purpose that lead to creation of Opera was
the need to understand Greek drama and how
music was an integral part of drama.
Even Gregorian chants of the Medieval period
were a type of liturgical musical dramas, but
the Opera looked to the classical period for its
inspiration.




It imitated Greek musical drama, and
incorporated the chorus and actors together.
For two hundred years, this art form
accelerated.
The libretto, scenery, costumes, dance, music,
etc. saw vast improvements and expansion.
Orchestration, vocal virtuosity etc. expanded
the Opera to a high art form.
Opera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfyHMZWMnQ
 Intermezzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cap3qdSP
RJw
 Pastoral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cj0rly3JxY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCIx07t14j
w&feature=related





For most Renaissance Drama and Theater, the
interaction between audience and performer
were the center.
The plays and performances were meant to
engage the audience in a different manner than
we see today.
Sometimes, it was difficult to distinguish the
actor from the spectator.
Yet, depending on location (country, etc.) the
drama and theater experience would vary.




There was a desire to imitate classical Greek
and Roman theater.
The theaters were meant to resemble ancient
Roman edifices.
Wooden pillars would be painted to imitate
marble, with even the trained eye having
difficulty determining it was not real marble.
This desire to imitate classical theater lead to
the development of many play houses that had
obvious Roman and Greek elements.





Scripts were used, although they were not as
important when compared to modern theater.
They played minor role in a production.
The spectacle of singing, dancing and the
interaction between the audience and the
performers took president.
Renaissance theater would differ from country
to country and region to region, but the basic
elements were present.
The rebirth of classical themes feed the art form
and helped it to evolve into more modern
forms of theater.




As stated before, plays were meant for
entertainment, however.
There were plays that had overtly political,
religious, and patriotic themes that appealed to
many audiences.
Downsides were that those in power would
often get “upset” by the plays that were meant
to be “allegories” of the current political
structure.
Mystery, miracle and morality plays were still
produced but their popularity waned.



Sometimes this period is referred to as the
Early Modern period.
The ideas of humanism and the search for
man’s place in the world would inspire man
great works of literature and drama during the
entire Renaissance era.
Some believe that the English Renaissance
represents some of the best this era has to offer.






Baroque Period started in the 1600’s
It was a period that exaggerated artistic ideals
It was a period of high art, drama and music
that was supported by the Church and the
Aristocracy
This drama had multiple plot turns and a
variety of situations.
Baroque theater was a multimedia experience
Much of the technology used in Broadway and
commercial plays were invented and
developed during this era.




The Elizabethan Period marked the beginning
of the Renaissance in England
It lasted 45 yrs, or the reign of Queen Elizabeth
I (1558-1603).
The first English theater was The Red Lion.
During this period all Arts blossomed, but
Drama and Theater excelled like no other.


The Medieval Period had been primarily been a
vehicle for religious and moral messages.
The Elizabethan Period, including plays by
Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe and
others, marked a radical departure from this
model.




The new plays presented colorful and complex
characters, love, hate, jealousy, lust for power,
and revenge.
Under the rein of Queen Elizabeth I, it was a
social unifying experience.
It was a very popular form of entertainment:
both common people and nobility alike
enjoyed it as a pastime.
However, the town officials and clergy
considered it tawdry and actors as vagabonds.




Elizabethan theater was an interactive event.
Audiences commonly talked back to the actors
and even through fruit when displeased with
performances.
Women were not allowed to enter the
profession, so men played all parts including
female parts.
Adolescent boys would play female parts.



Acting companies functioned on the repertory
system unlike modern productions that can run
for months to years on end.
Many plays would be performed for 2 to 3 days
and then would close.
Thomas Middleton’s A Game at Chess ran for 9
straight days before being closed by the
authorities—due to overly political tone of the
play.




Many of the public theater houses would
perform plays 6 days a week
The theater groups would not perform the
same play two days in a row and rarely the
same place twice a week.
Costumes were often bright in color and
visually entrancing.
Costumes were very expensive so many actors
would were contemporary clothing regardless
of the era that play was supposed to be.




Scenery was minimal in many productions.
Costumes would be recycled and used in many
production before being discarded
The lead characters would were the most
elaborate costume while supporting characters
would wear contemporary clothing.
Language and the poetry of the plays were the
centerpiece of a great production, so costumes
would only be a smaller part of the entire
production.




Tragedy=most popular
Comedy=a common style
City Comedy=a satirical look at life in London
Pastoral and Morality plays still existed and
often were popular alternatives to Tragedies
and Comedies



After 1610, the new style of tragic-comedy
become increasing popular,
An the masque, a courtly form of
entertainment that included music, dancing
with elaborate staging and costumes. Masks
were often a part of the presentation.
Public masques were a pageant, a procession
(like a parade) with both secular and religious
rituals. Usually celebrating the ruler or the
new ruler.



It was a piece of dramatic mime
The Dumbshow was a masque-like interlude of
silent pantomime usually with allegorical
content.
Would be performed before the play, and
would allude to the content the audience
would see in the play.



Why do you think his works are important?
Which works of his do you remember?
Why should we study them?



His father, John Shakespeare, was successful in the
leather business during Shakespeare's early childhood
but later met with financial difficulties.
During his prosperous years his father was also
involved in municipal affairs, holding the offices of
alderman and bailiff during the 1560s.
While little is known of Shakespeare's boyhood, he
probably attended the grammar school in Stratford,
where he would have been educated in the classics,
particularly Latin grammar and literature.


In 1594 Shakespeare became an actor and
playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Men,
the company that later became the King's Men
under James I.
Until the end of his London career Shakespeare
remained with the company; it is thought that
as an actor he played old men's roles, such as
the ghost in Hamlet and Old Adam in As You
Like It.



In 1596 he obtained a coat of arms, and by 1597 he was
prosperous enough to buy New Place in Stratford,
which later was the home of his retirement years.
In 1599 he became a partner in the ownership of the
Globe theatre, and in 1608 he was part owner of the
Blackfriars theater.
Shakespeare retired and returned to Stratford c.1613.
He undoubtedly enjoyed a comfortable living
throughout his career and in retirement, although he
was never a wealthy man.


Some of his Plays include: Romeo and Juliet, A
Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, Much Ado About
Nothing, As You like it, just to name a few.
Poetry: The Passionate Pilgrim, Love’s
Labour’s Lost, and many sonnets.
Hamlet
To be or not to be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ksNbCHUns
Much Ado About Nothing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV66ODrT
RG4
