The Renaissance and Elizabethan Theatre

1. The Renaissance and Elizabethan Theatre

2. The Early Renaissance • The arts became an essential part of learning and literary culture. • For the first time, it seemed possible not merely to imitate the works of the classical world, but to surpass them.

3. Theatre: The Early Renaissance • The early Renaissance was almost exclusively a time of visual art and architecture. • Niccolo Machiavelli used the newly developed science of visual perspective to achieve amazing scenic accomplishments. • Machiavelli • Known for writing The Prince

4. Renaissance • Renaissance began in Italy (rebirth) • Theater moved indoors; better methods for lighting stage, 3-D scenery • Commedia dell’arte – wandering troupes of actors/actresses who improvised lines as they traveled the countryside

5. Troupes used the same characters called stock characters in each play • Harlequin- a clever servant known for his costume which looked like a patchwork quilt • Pantalone- foolish old man who wore baggy trousers

6. Commedia Dell’arte • This theatrical form developed in Italy and featured the actor rather than the script. • Commedia dell’arte could be identified by four specific aspects: • Improvisation: plots and sub-plots; dialogue was completely improvised. • Stock Characters: young lovers, old fathers, braggart soldiers, and comic servants. • Use of Mime and Pantomime: all characters except the lovers and the maid wore masks; attitudes were communicated through gestures. • Traveled in Companies: each member played the same role over and over.

7. Commedia Dell’arte • A few works were serious, and some pastoral, but most were comic. • The acting appears to have been natural though the actors needed good entrance and exit lines as well as repartee. • Actors required great skill, physical dexterity, and timing, since much of humor was visual. • Actors in commedia also had to dance, sing, and do acrobatics. • Commedia dell’arte introduced women into the theatre as equals.

8. Drama: The High Renaissance • Italian playwrights chose mostly to write tender, sentimental, pastoral comedies, in a graceful, witty, and polished style. • Dramas were produced with elaborate set decoration and usually at court for the nobility. • No permanent theatre buildings existed at this time; the surviving Roman theatre buildings were unstable.

9. Renaissance gradually spread to other countries • Came to England during the Elizabethan Age (reign of Queen Elizabeth I) • Fame was overshadowed by greatest English playwright of all time, William Shakespeare

10. Elizabethan Theatre1558-1603 • Against common aristocrats’ view – Elizabeth I loved theatre • Outside London: • 1st public playhouse • The Theatre (1576) • The Fortune • The Globe • Theatres were like wooden O’s – round or octagonal

11. 3 Big Playwrights Christopher Marlow (1564-1593) • Dr. Faustus • Protagonists sells his soul to the devil

12. Ben Johnson (1573-1637) • Followed Aristotelian Unities • Humorous satire • Valpone

13. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) • Considered the greatest English dramatist • Wrote histories, comedies, tragedies, poems

14. Greatness of Shakespeare • Skill with plot balance • Universality • Use of language • Memorable characters

15. Political unrest after Charles I • Civil War • Puritan Oliver Cromwell gained control • Theatres = “Dens if inequity” – closed in 1642 • Theatre dies in England until 1660