THE WORLD OF THE THEATRE

The Comic Genres During the reign of Queen Elizabeth the travelling companies continued to provide entertainment: Commedia dell’arte Commedia dell’arte = a cast of masked stock characters (the miserly old man, the young wife, the ardent seducer) INTERLUDESThe medieval INTERLUDES

INNYARD Many of these inns had tiers of galleries all round the yard

The Great Hall of noble places

DISADVANTAGES the Players always had to rely on the hospitality of inn-keepers or of the noblemen they had no storage space, so they had to carry all their properties and costumes with them. the biggest disadvantage of all was that the City of London authorities were hostile to them.

In the Renaissance  performances in the courtyards were banned so public outdoor playhouses were build.  In the second half of the 16th and in the 17th c. Drama flourished.  This period was characterized by the performance of thousands of plays, most of them free re- elaboration by the major playwrights since there was no copyright law.

ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND Country unified, trade and commerce flourished Age of exploration Expanding with confidence and reflecting in it the drama of the period England became a dominant force under Elizabeth I ( ) London largest city in Europe. Population 200, Doubles again in 50 years.

when Shakespeare was only eleven In 1575 the City authorities imposed a Code of Practice upon the Players which so displeased them that they decided to withdraw outside the City boundaries. Thus it was that in the following year, 1576, the first London theatre, called 'The Theatre' was built in Finsbury Fields and the next year, 1577, The Curtain was built in the same area

These two theatres were so successful that ten years later other buildings were built but this time across the river on Bankside, which gradually became a theatre centre. In 1587 The Rose in 1595 The Swan in 1599 The Globe in 1600 The Fortune, all in the same vicinity.

ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND The Theatres in London were not on the “better” side of the River Thames Surrounded by brothels, pubs and gaming houses Bear baiting, cock fights and tournaments were being held in the same space that the original theatre was performed

London’s permanent theatres It was a break with the past

THEATRE: A COMMERCIAL VENTURE No longer state or church 6 days a week (NO Sundays) In the afternoon,(2-5)No lights Changed plays often to keep the people coming They announced what kind of play was showing with flags: Black-Tragedy,White-comedy, Red-History One play could be performed up to ten times in a season New plays in constant demand

The Globe was built by the Burbage Brothers after 1599, Shakespeare's company, at that time called the Chamberlain's Men, performed his plays inafter 1599, Shakespeare's company, at that time called the Chamberlain's Men, performed his plays in THE GLOBE THEATRE THE GLOBE THEATRE

the first was burned down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII.

It was rebuilt in 1614

the Blackfriars was taken over for winter performances by Shakespeare's company, which since the accession of James I in 1603 had been known as the King's Company

The architecture of theatres The playhouses: round or octagonal in shaperound or octagonal in shape were 12 metres high were 12 metres high made of wood made of wood

It was an open-air theatre the building surrounded an open yard (like the old Inn –Yards ) the galleries, however, were thatchedthe galleries, however, were thatched

THE STAGE It was divided in three parts:It was divided in three parts: outer outer inner inner upper stage upper stage

It was rectangular

the stage was jutting out into the audience

There were numerous trapdoors on the stage

The main stage had doors on each side at the back and between these doors was a small curtained recess: the inner stage ( dressing room)

galleriesRound three sides of the yard ( PIT) were three tiers of galleries where the wealthier or superior members of the audience sat the rest of the audience stood in the open yard around the stage : 'the Groundlings'

SCENERY on set,  It relied very little on set, but heavily on author’s ability to tell the tale  The scenery was very little: simple objects simbolized a place or the role of an actor (e.g., a table stood for a room.)

a thatched roof over the back part of the stage the front of the stage was open to the elements; if it rained the actors, like the groundlings, got wet.

the upper stage with a balcony and perhaps a small gallery above the upper stage.

THE GROUNDLINGS The GROUNDLINGS paid for their entertainment. It cost a penny to get into the theatre "two penny gallery" on the top tier

The Actors

 The condition of the actors changed with the rise of the popularity. According to the law they were classified as “ vagabonds” so they needed protection, they put themselves under the protection of noblemen or the king/ queen. ( Lord Chamberlain’s Men- The king’s men)

The actors  The female roles were performed by boys disguised as women  They had to vary their repertoire  They had no more than two weeks to prepare a new play They often found themselves playing several roles in the same performance . They often found themselves playing several roles in the same performance  They should have excellent memory

LOOK AT THE VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE GLOBE

rough peasant whose language counterbalanced other characters’ heroic or romantic language professional jester dressed in motley, cap and bells The clown and the fool The clown The fool

Elizabethan Drama was influenced by: Italian humanism Translation of Italian works, it became a literary work, with a dramatic narrative, a story ( not only songs, dancing and pantomime) Italian Commedia dell’Arte travelling companies Seneca’s plays

 horrific and bloody incidents  revenge- vengeance  omnipotence of destiny  Supernatural  cruel tyrant  where the protagonist comments on his own situation  rhetorical and declamatory style  monologue or soliloquy  lively dialogues

The theatre had to mirror the society Society had to mirror the divine order of the Universe ( the macrocosm), inside which man ( the microcosm) had to respect a precise hierarchy. God is at the top.

Drama derived from the breaking of this order every action disturbing the balance is “ dramatic” criminal actions brought chaos and anarchy to society the strict relationship between the laws of man and the laws of nature were emphasized: prodigious phenomena were presented as consequence or presage of criminal actions man full of passion and doubts replaced the old allegorical character

In the Elizabethan Drama: Fate and destiny were replaced by free and personal choice Still conflict between good and evil No observation of the 3 units : Time ( no more than 24 hours), place ( setting never changes), action ( no subplots)

Why did Drama reach such a popularity? Because it was: Open and understandable by everyone. The cost of the tickets depended on the seat. The language was alive and direct Talented playwrights Theatre-going habit as entertainment

Language  The language, alive and direct, was affected by the concept of hierarchy  Being in verse, the Elizabethan theatre borrowed from poetry the use of metaphors and the blank verse  Blank verse, similar to real living speech ( written to be performed ) written in lines of iambic pentameter, but does NOT use end rhyme.

Audience  All social classes went to the theatre: nobles, commoners, citizens, lawyers… people with different tastes and cultural background  The audience were involved in the performance, since they were in direct comunication with the actors

The audience The audience The spectators ate and drank during the performance The spectators ate and drank during the performance They freely expressed their emotions with laughter or tears They freely expressed their emotions with laughter or tears Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love directed by John Madden, 1998

Authors and works  C. Marlowe ( ) - Tamburlane the Great - Doctor Faustus - The Jew of Malta  B. Jonson ( ) - Volpone - Bartholomew Fair  W. Shakespeare ( ) - Hamlet - Romeo and Juliet - King Lear...

Jacobian Age ( James I ) Theatres no more for all classes, no more part of the same audience; there was a division between PUBLIC OUTDOOR theatres and PRIVATE INDOOR theatres The middle class started to consider theatres as a place of perdition More refined plays, like masques, were held in noblemen’s palaces Language more elaborated ( similar to what happened in poetry with the Metaphysical poets) Structure more complex ( subplots ) Content reflected the scepticism and melancholy of the age Subject: often dogmas and taboos were challenged ( sexuality, religion)

The most important Jacobean Dramatists John Webster : The Duchess of Malfi Thomas Middleton A Game at chess.

PURITAN AGE Theatre became such a powerful vehicle for entertainment, satire and controversial ideas that one of the first things that the rising Puritan movement did was to close down all theatres, thus putting a stop to something they considered scandalous and socially dangerous. Theatres remained closed until the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

Early Tudor Costume

Late Tudor Costume

Restoration drama General features  After the Republican period ( ), the theatres were re-opened (1660) and people began to attend playhouses again  Drama was the branch of literature which best mirrored the society; it was affected by the new spirit of the time: imagination was replaced by reason

Restoration drama Structure  The new theatres were indoor and smaller than the Elizabethan ones  The old platform stage was eliminated:only the back and the front stages remained and a scenery, painted in perspective, began to be used  The audience was sitting in the dark, separated from the stage that was brightly lit and no longer bare

Restoration drama Themes  Drama included three main genres: heroic play, tragedy and comedy and turned to France (style) and Spain (plot) for inspiration; nevertheless it was able to preserve a national character  The best expression of the new spirit of the time, however, was comedy: people went to the theatre mainly to be amused; they wanted humour, sex, wit and elegance  Marriage was one of the main ingredients for creating intrigue, piquant situation or simply a conventional happy ending to the play

Restoration drama Language  The change in taste affected the language, too: playwrights used five-foot rhymed couplets for heroic plays, blank verse for the tragedies and prose in comedies  The brillance and perfection of the prose resulted from the witty sparkling dialogues, which were also the chief means of portraying the characters

Restoration drama Audience  As the Restoration privileged private rather than public theatres, the audience, mainly formed by courtiers, aristocrats and the upper middle class, became more and more socially restricted and homogeneous  Drama became more and more a class drama and the national and popular character of thee Elizabethan theatre disappeared forever

Restoration drama Authors and works  John Dryden  John Dryden ( ) - The conquest of Granada - All for love  William Congreve  William Congreve ( ) - The Way of the World - Love for Love

Realistic Drama, the Modern Stage, and Beyond Realism = plays that drop some of the dramatic conventions in an attempt to portray real life more accurately Expressionism = dreamlike atmospheres Theater of the absurd = depicts a world without meaning where everything seems ridiculous