Transcript ITALIAN THEATRE

The HISTORY
of the
ITALIAN THEATRE
ITALIAN THEATRE
Life and Theatre can become two
The
presentwhich
workfuse
is not
meant to be
realities
together,
The
stage
has
always
been
a
magic
• a
The
stage
has
always
been
a
magic
place,
complete
analysis
of
the
history
of
mingling,
interchanging
and
place,
where
reality
mingles
with aims
the
Italian
Theatre
but
it
rather
where
reality
mingles
with
fantasy,
overlapping
their
identities,
two
INTRODUCTION
at
providing
a and
brief
survey
of its
fantasy,
arousing
strong
involving
and
arousing
strong
emotions,
close
andinvolving
complementary
dimensions
development,
from
origins
to
the
and linking
the
author,
the
public
the
emotions,
linking
the
author,
the
whereand
the
ideasthe
wear
theand
20th
century,
a
period
which
appears
characters’
costumes
and
find
the
actors
in and
a unique
experience.
public
the
actors
in
a
unique
particularly
rich in word
historical
and
power
of theexperience.
spoken
with the
social changes
inevitably
converging in
immediacy
of scenic
communication.
dramatic production.
THE ORIGINS
The
origins
of
Italian
Performances
drama lie in Greek had a merely
and Roman Theatre.
entertaining
aim
and
initially
The Greeks were the
first
in Europe
they
weretonot staged in
stage theatrical
performances.
stable
and proper buildings,
Aeschylus,
but
rather on movable
Euripides,
Sophocles
stages.
Only
established
the later were the
forms of tragedy
theatres
and comedybuilt,
which in imitation of
still maintain
their
the
Greek
ones.
strength and appeal
today.
Medieval Theatre
LITURGICAL DRAMA
The theatres
as buildings
It was thus
that thedisappeared
“Sacred
and
all types
public manifestation
During
theofMiddle
the
Representations”,
orAges
Medieval
were banned. But oddly enough a new
Theatre
as
it iscondemned
properly
known,
Theatre
was
form
of theatrical
expression,
theby
started,
continued
by amateurs,
the Church
which
wasthe
Liturgical
Drama,
stemmed
from
since
the
hostility
of
the
Church
Church
itself
with
the
aim
of
spreading
utterly
against
the
pagan
towards
this message
form of in
expression
the Christian
the form ofhad
issues
of
and
theof
dialogue,
sung
in disappearance
Latin and
called
resulted
intragedies
the
“tropia”.
The church
was the
licentious
quality
ofvenue
professional
figures
andfirst
even
the
forfemale
these sacred
representations,
which
roles
were
played
by
men.
comedies.
later
movedin
out
to the
squares
where to
thego
Women,
fact,
were
forbidden
first wooden stages were built.
onto the stage.
Fare clic per modificare lo stile
Court Jesters
del titolo
• Fare Juxtaposed
clic per modificare
gli stiliDrama
del testo
with the Liturgical
Theafigure
ofform
the jester
has been
was
popular
of entertainment
dello
schema
reassessedcarried
by Italian
out playwright
by jesters.Dario Fo,
winner
of were
Nobeltravelling
Prize forplayers
Literature
Jesters
who in
• They
Secondo
livello
were
negatively
thought
ofdefined
by the Church
which
considered
1997,
who
has
even
himself
a juggling,
moved
from
town
to
town
and
were
Their performances
included
acting,
singing,
dancing,
their songs
obscene.
jester.
Fo
believes
that
medieval
jesters
often
employed
by
royal
courts
or
acrobatics, clowning
and miming.
• Terzoshowed
livello
a kind
of might
political
palaces.
They
becommitment
university
to the
established
power.
dropouts,
monks
thrown out
of
• Quartoopposed
livello
priories, jongleurs with exceptional
• Quinto verbal
livelloability or physical dexterity,
poets, musicians, or they might be any
laymen or apprentices whose fooling
might have amused a nobleman.
6
Comedy of Art
Pulcinella
--- a-maid
with
a long
crimson
nose
and
dressed
in
•The
Captain
-hunchback
arich
boasting
soldier
but
aHarlequin.
coward
underneath.
Columbina
Doctor
Harlequin
Ballanzone
servant.
servant
- an
Illiterate,
old
and
pedantlawyer
lover
always
of
dressed
or doctor,enormously
inRather
afond
patchwork
•Pantalone
a
merchant
from
Venice,
of
food
Brighella
- self-made man of humble origin, often a partner of
a
dark
cloak.
intelligent,
conceited.
costume.
she
is usually involved
in intrigues.
This
kind Harlequin
of
theatre
had a long
life in Italy, but it
and
pretty
women.
flourished especially in the 16th and 17th
centuries.
It was
professional
improvised
These
typical stage
characters
at least
fourcomedy
centuries
The
characters
wore
Masks,enjoyed
grotesque
visards,
and of
where the
actors influence
performed
unwritten
plays
popularity
and costumes
exerted
on many
dramatists
of their
conventional
to
heighten
the
comic
effect.
Zanni
: usually
the parts
servant
an confident
a principal
time.
improvising
their
starting
from a of
vague
plot.
Gradually
they
tended
to
assume
aconsidered
stereotyped
habit
The
companies
of
Comedy
of
Art
were
immoral
byand
the
character.
His
main
function
was
to
rouse
laughter
Histrionic abilities, unknown to the medieval stage,
and
name.
most
popular
wereand
: the unconventional
Church
for The
theall
presence
of actresses
entertain
at
costs.
were required to make the tears flow or the
performances.
The most
zannis were:
laughter
ring. common
Since laughter
was the end and aim
of this kind of entertainment, the plays were
about love intrigues, clever tricks to get money,
misinterpretations of orders with laughable
results, puns, satire.
Carlo Goldoni
By the beginning of
the 18th century
the Comedy of Art
had begun to
decline and the
stage production
was slowly
undergoing deep
changes.
Carlo Goldoni (1707 – 1793),
considered the founder of
modern Italian comedy,
conceived the idea of
reforming the Italian stage
by eliminating the masks and
buffooneries of the Comedy
of Art. He was the first to
write regular plays, with a
complete script and not with
improvised dialogues.He
wrote comedies in the manner
of French dramatist Molière,
but based on Italian
characters and life. His 160
plays sprang from his
capacity of observing life
and from his understanding
of human emotions. His main
characters, which belong to
the middle class, are round
characters with a complex
personality. They are neither
examples of human virtue nor
examples of human vice.
The moral and
civil values that
Goldoni holds to
be of utmost
importance in his
plays are those
of rationality,
civility,
humanism, the
importance of
the rising middle
class, honour
and honesty.
Vittorio Alfieri
To a different kind of
theatre belong Vittorio
Alfieri’s tragedies.
Vittorio Alfieri (1749 –
1803) believed that
Italian drama could be
purified most effectively
through a re-introduction
of the classic modes,
therefore he took one,
and only one, thread of
action, discarding
underplots and
concentrating on the
advancement of the plot.
The characters of his
plays do not grow but
remain the same from
the beginning to the
end, and in almost
every play he revealed
his detestation of
tyranny and his passion
for liberty, which he
regarded as the
dearest thing in life.
Most of his plays, in
fact, deal with the
struggle against
tyranny. In their fight
for liberty, his heroes
are sort of Titans.
Within this political context the
The
echoes
of the
French
revolution
Italian
Drama
could
only
develop
and
the rise
of Napoleon
aroused
thanks
to few
companies
of actors
ideals
of freedom,
independence
and
financed
by local
authorities and
hopes
a new
based
on
In thefor
first
partsociety
of 19th
century
Italy
linked
to important
theatres
in
Milan,
democratic
principles.
But
soon
these
wentand
through
deep
social
and
Turin
Florence.
Their
main
CHARACTERISTICS
OF
hopes
were
disappointed
and
the
historical
changes
within
its
repertoire was almost exclusively
DRAMA
IN
19th
French
Emperor
was
later
regarded
fragmentary
political
situation.
made up of comedies by Goldoni
and
CENTURY
as a foreign
oppressor.
HisAdownfall
tragedies
by Alfieri.
few
was
well accepted
by many
people who
intellectuals
turned
to classical
welcomed
restoration
of old
tragedy,the
which
is an accurate
and
forms
of political
elevated
form authority.
of verse drama.
Though his tragedies ( Il Conte di Carmagnola
The
best poet
whodeal
“lent”
and Adelchi)
basically
with his
deepgenius
religious
toexperiences,
drama was
Alessandro
Manzoni
Manzoni
was far from
any
pretension of didacticism
and moralism, and
(1785-1873).
also opposed to the Christian moralists’
The
mainview
event
which
characterized
common
of art
as potentially
immoral.
Both
referenceswas
to the
all
histragedies
artistichave
production
his
Italian contemporary political situation. In
conversion to Catholicism. He
Adelchi , for example, the Franks and the
considered
the supremacy
Church as
the
real
Lombards dispute
over
Italy.
Likewise, France
and Austria
were fighting
champion
of equality,
brotherhood,
for
supremacy
Italy attherefore
Manzoni’s time.
justice
and over
freedom;
the
There is , so, an underlying message of
rise ofand
the
humble people,
astowell
liberty
independence
addressed
the
aspeople.The
the righthigh
of people
to
Italian
poetical quality,
however, makes these
worksas
better
independence
is seen
parttoofbea
read than be performed.
ALESSANDRO MANZONI
Christian programme.
THE MIDDLE
CLASS
THEATRE
The development of prose theatre
Soon
another
influence
was
With
the French
factual
failure
ofto be
was
mainly
linked
to
the actors’
felt in almost
every
of art:
Naturalism.
ability
andfield
little
bythe
little
Manzoni’s
works,
Evenphysical
in Theatre attractiveness
production the main
aim for
and
dramatic
production
in
Italy
the
authors
was
to
disappear,
letting
sonority of voice were highly
followed
another
trend,
characters
and things
themselves,
appreciated
in
thelive
jobby
of
actors;
with no
intrusion
or comment.
closer
to the
middleSome
class
the
itinerant
feature
of authors,
the
instead,
resented
naturalistic
companies
of the
actors
went
spirit.
The Italian
public
tendencies,
andall
started
to
mirror
the middle
through
the
19th
century
turned
to
lyric
operas
with
class
world
at the
endaof
the century. The
and
there
was
widespread
major
interest,
also love
traditional
theme
ofthe
a contrasted
was
complain
for
scarcity
and
replaced
by a recurrent
new topic:
supported
by the
workthe
weakness
of great
national
triangle
of adultery,
symbol
of the
possible
which
led
many
byproduction,
Rossini,
Bellini,
Donizetti,
severe
crisis ofto
a strong
moral
code.
companies
rely
on
French
Verdi,
real
musical
geniuses.
repertoire or on its imitation.
DRAMA IN THE 20TH
CENTURY
Italian Drama expressed its greatest
playwrights in the 20th century.
Those who
best
represent
the
Obviously,
each
of them
differs
from
Italian
production
are Luigi
the stage
others
as for theatrical
Pirandello,
Eduardo
De Filippo
and
techniques,
language,
themes.
Dario Fo.
Most writers took inspiration from
reality and their plays can be
considered a mirror of the
changes occurred in Italy in the
historical, political and social
fields.
LUIGI PIRANDELLO
Most
of his novels
and
plays
dealthe
with
the
Luigi
Pirandello
( 1867
– 1936
) was
greatest
relationship
between of
man
and
society.
Pirandello
Italian playwright
his
time,
and he
has left a
lasting
on allconventions,
the playwrights
that have
believes
thatmark
the social
prejudices
and
followed
him.
hypocrisies imprison
human
life and men are
Henry
IV
He
was
born
in
Sicily,
studied
in
therefore compelled to play aRome
role and
and Germany.
wear a
He
was
awarded
the
Nobel
Prize
for
Literature
Six
Characters
in Search
ofthinks
an Author
“mask”.
Man is not
whathis
he
he is,falling
but instead
The protagonist
loses
mind after
from is
a
in
1934.
Pirandello
wrote
plays,
novels
and
short
stories,
“horse
one
, no
one
and
a hundred
thousand
” within
according
during
a masquerade
in
which he
was dressed
With
his technique
of the
“theatre
the to
and his” literary
production
is very
big.
The
characters
of
an
unfinished
have
been
how
to
the
others.
Soplay
the
central
theme
theatre
he
became
an important
innovator
in
Works
uphe
asappears
the medieval
German
emperor
Henry IV.
He
His
masterpieces
are
two plays:
rejected
byis
their
author.
Wishing
toto
live
the life
modern
drama.
of
hisbelieves
works
the
search
distinguish
now
he
is shattering
Henry
IV but
when years
later he
denied
to
them
by
their
creator,
they
materialize
between
reality
illusion.he
We
perceiveto
reality
not
recovers
from and
his insanity
continues
pretend
on
invading
the rehearsal
of another our
play
as stage
it is but
as it appears
to us,
depending
madness
because
he prefers
this
world ofon
illusion
and interfering
with
its
structure
until it breaks
education,
mentality,
or
the
situation
to the
real
world. we are in. And
downwhat
into aisseries
comic
andistragic
since
takenof
for
reality
only afragments.
series of
illusions, truth is not achievable.
In his theory of the illusory nature of existence and
isolation of man he anticipates such writers as
Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco and Harold Pinter.
Eduardo De Filippo
Although he deals with
Eduardo De Filippo (1900 – 1984), or
Neapolitan
people,
his
stories
simply
Eduardo
as
the
Italians
call
Many
of
his
comedies
achieved
have
universal
significance
him,
was
both
an
actor
andSome
a
success
also
abroad.
of
and
can
be
considered
a
playwright.
them have
been
made into
portrait
of
the
traditional
Eduardo was born
in Naples from a
films.
Italian
middlefamily
class
show-business
andsociety.
he made
He
wrote
nearly
all
his
plays
His
best
plays
are
Natale
his stage debut at age 5. At 32 hein
set
in his
Neapolitan
dialect
and
up
own stage company
his
casa
Cupiello,
Non tiwith
pago,
Naples
Neapolitan
people
brother and
Peppino
and sister Questi
Tina.
Napoli
Milionaria!,
are the protagonists
of his
fantasmi!,
Filumena Maturano,
works.
Le voci di dentro,
Sabato,
Domenica e lunedì.
Dario Fo
Fo’s
production
is very
big, more
Prolific
playwright,
actor,
mime than
artist
manager-director,
Dario
( 1926
70and
works.
The following are
onlyFosome
- )is
wellgive
known
for hisofsatirical
plays.
that
best
a picture
the Italian
He was
awarded
the
Nobel Prize for
society
from
the ‘60s
on:
Literature
in 1997
Works
Mistero
Buffo;
Gli with
Arcangeli
non
He works
closely
his actress-wife
giocano
flipper;
Morte
accidentale
Francaa Rame
and
together
with herdihe
un has
anarchico;
Non
si paga?
Non
si paga!;
founded
many
theatre
companies
written many
Mamma! Iand
Sanculotti;
Tuttaplays.
casa, letto
e chiesa….
A
committed artist, Fo has used art as a
weapon against the conservative
establishment of Italy’s political,
religious and social scene.
THE END.