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Theatre History

Theatre History. Renaissance . What is the Renaissance Theatre. English Renaissance theatre is English drama written between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642. Called “ early modern English theatre” or “Elizabethan Theatre” .

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Theatre History

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  1. Theatre History Renaissance

  2. What is the Renaissance Theatre • English Renaissance theatre is English drama written between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642. • Called “early modern English theatre” or “Elizabethan Theatre”. • It includes the drama of William Shakespeare along with many other famous dramatists.

  3. The Transition? • Renaissance theatre derived from several medieval theatre traditions, such as the mystery plays that formed a part of religious festivals in England and other parts of Europe during the Middle Ages. • Companies of players attached to households of leading noblemen: foundation for the professional players that performed on the Elizabethan stage. • The tours of these players gradually replaced the performances of the mystery and morality plays • 1572 a law eliminated the remaining companies lacking formal patronage by labeling them vagabonds.

  4. We should always look at our past to make sense of our future…… in EVERYTHING

  5. The Transition? • Beginning in Italy, spreading to Europe by the 16th century • influence affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. • Renaissance scholars employed humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art. • Money and art went hand in hand. Artists depended totally on patrons

  6. Some History? • The term "Elizabethan theatre", however, covers only the plays written and performed publicly in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558–1603). • Jacobean theatre (associated with the reign of King James I, 1603–1625) • Caroline theatre (associated with King Charles I, 1625 until the closure of the theatres in 1642). • "English Renaissance theatre" or "early modern theatre" refers to all three

  7. The Progression… • Under Elizabeth, the drama was a unified expression as far as social class was concerned: the Court watched the same plays the commoners saw in the public playhouses. • With the development of the private theatres, drama became more oriented toward the tastes and values of an upper-class audience. • By the later part of the reign of Charles I, few new plays were being written for the public theatres, which sustained themselves on the accumulated works of the previous decades

  8. Sneaky Sneaks: • The City of London authorities were hostile to public performances • Hostility was overmatched by the Queen's taste for plays • Theatres sprang up in suburbs, across the Thames beyond the authority's control. • The companies maintained the pretence that their public performances were mere rehearsals for the frequent performances before the Queen • Queen Performance = prestige, • Public Performance = real source of the income professional players required.

  9. A 1596 sketch of a performance in progress on the thrust stage of The Swan, a typical circular Elizabethan open-roof playhouse. Theaters…

  10. Public Theaters… • The establishment of large and profitable public theatres was an essential enabling factor in the success of English • Public theaters were responsible for housing the historically popular works.

  11. Public Theaters… • The crucial initiating development was the building of The Theatre by James Burbage and John Brayne in Shoreditch in 1576. • “The Theatre” was rapidly followed by: • The Curtain Theatre (1577) • the Rose (1587) • the Swan (1595) • the Globe (1599) • the Fortune (1600) • the Red Bull (1604) Fun Fact: All the theaters were built ROUND except for the FIRST “Fortune” and the “Redbull”

  12. Public Theaters… • Three stories high, built around an open space at the centre. • Usually polygonal in plan to give an overall rounded effect • Three levels of inward-facing galleries overlooked the open center • Thrust Stage • The upper level behind the stage could be used as a balcony, as in Romeo and Juliet

  13. Public Theaters… • Theaters were built using: • Timber • Lath and plaster • Thatched roofs (vulnerable to fire) • The Globe burned down in June 1613, it was rebuilt with a tile roof • The Fortune burned down in December 1621, it was rebuilt in brick (and apparently was no longer square).

  14. Private Theaters… • A different model was developed with the Blackfriars Theatre, which came into regular use on a long term basis in 1599 • Next came…… • The Whitefriars (1608) • The Cockpit (1617)

  15. Private Theaters…. • Small in comparison to the earlier theatres • Roofed rather than open to the sky it • Resembled a modern theater • Usually housed NEW-Avant Garde work

  16. Theater Facts  • 1580: The Theatre and the Curtain together (when full) would hold around 5000 spectators – people could see a show for 1 penny. • By 1610: As more theaters were built, that grew to 10,000 – people could still see a show for 1 penny • Private theaters charged 5 to 6 times the amount.

  17. Performances… • The acting companies functioned on a repertory system • Only males. Female parts were played by adolescent boy players in women's costume. • Rarely acted the same play two days in a row • Consider this…

  18. 1592 season of Lord Strange's Men at the Rose Theatre • Between Feb. 19 and June 23 (4 months & some change) • The company played six days a week, minus Good Friday and two other days. • They performed 23 different plays, some only once • They never played the same play two days in a row, and rarely the same play twice in a week. • The workload on the actors, especially the leading performers like Edward Alleyn, must have been tremendous.

  19. Playing Companies…. • Some of the companies of the time: • The Admiral's Men • The King's Men • The Lord Chamberlain's Men • Oxford's Boys

  20. Staging… • Elizabethan theatre did not make use of lavish scenery • The stage was largely bare with a few key props

  21. Costumes… • The main visual appeal on stage was in the costumes. • Costumes were often bright in color and visually entrancing. • Expensive • Players wore contemporary clothing regardless of the time period of the play. • Occasionally, a lead character would wear more historically accurate garb • Secondary characters would nonetheless remain in contemporary clothing.

  22. Writers…. • Only men, primarily self-made men from modest backgrounds • No women were professional dramatists in this era who wrote these plays were. • Some educated at either Oxford or Cambridge, but many were not. • Typically not performers/actors – however: William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were actors Ben Jonson: Killed an actor in a tavern brawl

  23. Writers… • Playwrights were normally paid in increments during the writing process • If their play was accepted, they would also receive the proceeds from one day's performance. • They had no ownership of the plays they wrote. • Once a play was sold to a company, the company owned it • The playwright had no control over casting, performance, revision or publication.

  24. Writers…. • 1600: Henslowe paid as little as £6 or £7 per play • A playwright, working alone, could generally produce two plays a year at most • Shakespeare produced fewer than 40 solo plays in a career that spanned more than two decades; • He was financially successful because he was an actor and a shareholder in the company for which he acted and in the theatres they used

  25. Writers… • Playwrights dealt with the natural limitation on their productivity by combining into teams of two, three, four, and even five to generate play texts • The majority of plays written in this era were collaborations. • (Jonson and Shakespeare were exceptions to the rule) • A solo artist usually needed months to write a play • A team could write in 2 – 3 weeks

  26. Writers…. • Christopher Marlowe • 26 February 1564–30 May 1593 • A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May 1593. People think it was because of an anti-government script he wrote. He was stabbed to death 10 days after his trial. • Alleged to have been a government spy • The Jew of Malta (c.1589) • The Massacre at Paris (c.1593)

  27. Writers…. • Thomas Dekker • 1570-1632 • Dekker was a prolific writer, having part in some 50 plays over his career, frequently in debt. • The Shoemaker's Holiday  (1599) • The Honest Whore, Part II  (1630)

  28. Writers…. • Ben Jonson (funny man) • 11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637 • not successful as an actor, valuable to the company as a writer • C0-Wrote “Isle of Dogs” and was imprisoned "Leude and mutynous behavior” • 1598 – killed another actor in a duel and was imprisoned again – he was let off thanks to the “Neck Verse” • Bartholomew Fair, comedy (performed 31 October 1614; printed 1631) • The Devil is an Ass, comedy (performed 1616; printed 1631)

  29. Writers… • Thomas Killigrew • 7 February 1612 – 19 March 1683 • Killigrew was one of twelve children. • He became a page to King Charles I at about the age of thirteen. • He used to volunteer as an extra, or "devil," at the Red Bull Theatre, so that he could see the plays for free. • Limited formal education; the Court and the playhouse were his schoolroom. • The Prisoners (written 1632-5 in London; printed 1641) • The Princess, or Love at First Sight (c. 1636; Naples)

  30. Theatrical Entrepreneur…. • James Burbage • 1531–1597 • He built “The Theatre”, the first permanent dedicated theatre built in England since Roman times • Later “Curtain Theatre”, and “the Blackfriars” • James Burbage's son Richard Burbage became one of the most celebrated actors of his era

  31. Theatrical Entrepreneur…. • Philip Henslowe • 1550 – 6 January 1616 • Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his "Diary", a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London. • In 1584 purchased a property known as The Little Rose, rose gardens and a brothel • He was part of building The Rose • From 1591, partnered with the Admiral's Men after that company split with “The Theatre's” James Burbage

  32. Genres….. • History Play • English or European history. Shakespeare’s plays about the lives of kings, such as Richard III and Henry V, belong to this category, as do Christopher Marlowe's Edward II • Tragedy (R&J, Othello) • Very Popular • Marlowe's tragedies were exceptionally popular, The Jew of Malta. • Comedy (Taming Shrew) • A sub-genre developed in this period was the city comedy, looks satirically at life in London. • Examples are Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday and Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside.

  33. The End • The rising Puritan movement was hostile to theatre, which the Puritans thought promoted immorality. • One of their most common complaints was the practice of boys dressing as women to play female roles. • Politically, playwrights and actors worked for the monarchy and aristocracy, so supported the Royalist cause.

  34. The End • The Puritan faction, long powerful in London, gained control of the city early in the English Civil War, and on September 2, 1642 ordered the closure of the London theatres. • The theatres remained closed for most of the next eighteen years, re-opening after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

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