History of Drama

1. History of Drama Medieval and Renaissance Drama

2. Medieval Drama • Earliest evidence of theatre in the Middle Ages is the Liturgical Drama. • These Roman Catholic “plays” were performed on Easter and sung in Latin.

3. Medieval Drama • Performers included priests, choirboys, and nuns. • As popularity rose, the playswere also performed on Christmas, and they were translated into many different languages.

4. Medieval Drama • Liturgical dramas branched off into Saint Plays and Mystery Plays. • Saint plays are based on legends of the saints. • Mystery Plays are based on biblical history.

5. Medieval Drama • Early plays were staged in churches, on platforms called mansions. • Eventually, the plays left the church and were performed in town squares.

6. Medieval Drama • By the late 14th Century, the medieval craft guilds had taken over the presentation of liturgical drama. • Toured the country and presented plays on pageant wagons, which were stages on wheels.

7. Medieval Drama • The upper level was a platform stage. • The lower level was a dressing room. • Each wagon was decorated according to which play was being presented.

8. Medieval Drama • Secular dramas, known as folk dramas, also developed quickly. • Usually performed at festivals during planting time, harvest time, and Christmas. • Include famous stories such as Robin Hood.

9. Medieval Drama • Soon the church also began producing plays not meant for a specific holiday celebration. • These Morality Plays taught right from wrong by taking on the form of allegories. • Symbolic characters represented abstract qualities, such as hate, sin, lust, etc. • Everyman is the only Morality Play that is still performed.

10. The Renaissance in Italy • The greatest theatrical contribution from the Italian Renaissance was the opera. • Attempted to revive the simplicity and humanism of Greek Drama. • Emphasized a solo vocal line and simple instrumentalaccompaniment.

11. The Renaissance in Italy • Commedia dell’arte or comedy of the profession was also performed. • This was a specialized type of drama based on comic improvisation. • There were no completed scripts—only plot outlines. • Most plays dealt with fathers putting obstacles in the way of their children falling in love.

12. The Renaissance in England • Christopher Marlowe was the first playwright to write in unrhymed verse. • His plays, including Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, and Edward IIpresent the glory and horror of the age.

13. The Renaissance in England • His most famous production, however, is Doctor Faustus. • Story of a man who sells his soul. • Bridges the gap between the medieval age and the Renaissance.

14. The Renaissance in England • Ben Jonson was a master of English comedy. • Wrote Volpene, The Alchemist, and Every Man in his Humour. • Widened the scope of humor so that any strong personality trait made a character laughable

15. The Renaissance in England • William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. • The plays were meant to be seen by a boisterous audience accustomed to shouting approval and hissing displeasure.

16. The Renaissance in England • The plays kept the audience’s attention by being exciting, moving, and violent. • Therefore, they are better seen instead of read.

17. The Renaissance in England • The characters form the central interest of Shakespeare’s plays, and personalities were almost immediately defined. • Since there were no programs, he used soliloquies to delineate characters. • These are speeches delivered by an actor alone on stage that reveal the character’s most inner thoughts. • Ben Jonson is known to have said, “Shakespeare was not of an age, but for all time.”

18. The Renaissance Playhouse • In Renaissance theatres, the audience stood around a platform stage. • The playhouses were many-sided buildings with two levels for acting and three for seating.

19. The Renaissance Playhouse • Since the stage was in the center of the room, little to no scenery was ever used. • Behind one side of the stage wasthe tiring house, which functioned as the actors’ dressing room. • Underneath the stage was a cellar and trapdoor that allowed actors to disappear in the middle of a scene.

20. The Renaissance Playhouse • Above the stage was the Heavens, or a roof supported by two ornate columns. • Painted on the underside were the sun, moon, stars, clouds, and zodiac signs. • Actors often spoke of heaven and earth, and would point to these symbols to create the illusion of a microscopic universe.

21. The Renaissance Playhouse • Above the Heavens was a very small house known as the scenery hut. • This structure housed the machinery that raised and lowered actors to the stage. • When a play was about to start, a trumpeter played in the tower above the scenery hut and on the days of performances, a flag was flown.

22. The Renaissance Playhouse • Because there was no electricity at the time, the area surrounding the stage, known as the pit, was open for the sky to supply sunlight. • The members who paid a penny to sit in the pit were known as groundlings. • These people were generally apprentices, soldiers, sailors, country folk, and “cut-purses” or “pick-pocketers.” • The pit consisted of ash, sand, and hazelnut shells, because the audience frequently ate during a play.

23. The Renaissance Playhouse • The more refined audience members occupied gallery seats at an additional fee. • The most expensive seats were next to, above, or even on the stage.

24. The Renaissance Playhouse • The first public playhouse in England was built in 1576 by James Burbage. • Referred to simply as the Theatre and located just outside of London. • Later, in 1599, the most famous Renaissance Theatre, named the Globe Theatre was built.

25. The Renaissance Playhouse • It was named as such because of its round shape. • It was here that Shakespeare produced most of his plays. • However, in 1613 it burned to the ground.

26. The Renaissance Playhouse • It was immediately rebuilt and operated until 1642, when all English theatres were closed by the Puritans. • A modern reconstruction of the theatre, renamed Shakespeare’s Globe opened in 1997.