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17 th Century French Theatre

17 th Century French Theatre. Evolved from medieval religious dramas and touring comedia dell’arte. Representative Theatre. Hotel de Bourgogne. Hotel du Bourgogne. Located in the center of Paris L-Shaped building- one wing was made up of shops Standing space in the pits

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17 th Century French Theatre

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  1. 17th Century French Theatre

  2. Evolved from medieval religious dramas and touring comedia dell’arte

  3. Representative Theatre Hotel de Bourgogne

  4. Hotel du Bourgogne • Located in the center of Paris • L-Shaped building- one wing was made up of shops • Standing space in the pits • Candelabras hung for light • Vendors sold cake/wine • 2 or more galleries on 3 sides • Seats later put on stage

  5. Background • Blossoming occurred at time of war with Italy • New models of architecture, painting and sculpture • During war power shifted to the Atlantic • 90% of people lived off the land • People with land flourished • Everything was centered around order and reason

  6. Management • 8-12 actors (most experienced was manager) • Actors used different names • Company rented a theatre • All plays to be done by nightfall • Actors shared all profits • Contracts drawn up (company/theatre and actors/company)

  7. Repertory • Serious and Farcical appeared on the same program • Opened with a prologue, then a tragedy and then a farce • Musicians entertained between the 2 plays • Farces eventually became less popular due to vulgarity

  8. Acting Company • 8men/4women – By 1607 women were allowed • The members elected extras and personnel • Voted on new plays and who to cast • Actors were praised for their faces and striking voices

  9. Visual Elements

  10. Scenery • Mansions and simultaneous setting • Painted perspective and movable scenery • Mansions were placed in a semi circle (most important placed in center) • Curtains hid mansion until needed • Machines to fly goddesses and clouds

  11. Lighting • Candelabras over stage and auditorium • Represented night scenes with candles, torches etc.

  12. Costumes • Both contemporary and symbolic • Actors provided their own costumes • Comedies were plain while tragedies were symbolic • Began to see professional designers

  13. Special Effects • Clouds, fire, smoke, and sound fx • Furniture was restricted to an occasional throne, stool, chair or desk

  14. Music and Dance • 2 or 3 musicians played before and during • 2 violinists and a 3rd with flute and drum • Placed in wings or on stage (later moved to front of stage) • Also performed masques that were explained by a spokesperson and were pantomimed

  15. Playwrights

  16. Alexandre Hardy • Wrote 500 plays (only 34 survived) • Wrote potboilers (combined neoclassical with suspense and violence) • Made tragedies and comedies

  17. Pierre Corneille • Credited with establishing neoclassical era • Retired after his plays were attacked for not following the rules of tragedies (variety of merchants, happy ending and did not follow decorum) • Due to this writers began to make the plots more simple with more complex characters

  18. Rehearsing • Would often be written into plays • During it would show writer advising on characterization, line reading, stage business, makeup and movement

  19. Audience • A cross section of society • Noisy and ill mannered would crowd into the pit • 1000 in the pit and 1000 in the galleries • Women did not attend theatre

  20. Dramatic Convention

  21. Genre • Tragedies: Drew characters from rulers/nobles, stories dealt with affairs of the state and downfall of rulers. Endings were unhappy and the style was poetic • Comedies: Characters were middle/lower class. Stories dealt with domestic affairs. Endings wee happy and the style was ordinary speech

  22. The plays should have no subplots and time should equal the play (definitely no longer than 24 hours could pass) • Events had to happened in a single location

  23. Language • Artificial world populated by kings and queens where language was not common • Wrote in 12 syllabic lines • Language brought inner reality into external world • No action or thought took place without being expressed

  24. Decorum • Appropriateness of character to their situation and language • Characters ranked according to age, group, social class, profession and gender • Characters restricted to kings/queens • Comedic characters requested to middle/lower class (merchants, children, servants, friends and wives)

  25. Messenger Reports • Used to report offstage events • Also found characters who had not been seen before to resolve a situation • Had to teach a moral lesson, to show people how they should act

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