The History of Theatre According to Dr Jack: An Outline of Theatre History: Origins through English Restoration

The Origins of Theatre

storytelling

mimesis

ritual

Egypt: Abydos Passion Play - Ikhernofret Stone 1868 B.C.

Greece: Festival of Dionysu: from dithyramb to tragedy

The Theatre of Ancient Greece

Social and Historical Background

a “Golden Age” in Athens:

democratic government

philosophy

art & architecture

theatre

Thespis and the City Dionysia (534 B.C.E.)

Plays and Playwrights: Tragedy

Aeschylus (c. 523 -- 456 B.C.)

Prometheus Bound

The Oresteia -- trilogy (458 B.C.) Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides

Aeschylus introduces 2nd actor

reduces size of chorus

incorporates spectacle (possibly introducing scene painting)

Sophocles (c. 496 -- 406 B.C.)

Oedipus Rex (c. 430 -- 425 B.C.)

Antigone (c. 441 B.C.)

Oedipus at Colonus (406 B.C.)

Sophocles introduces 3rd actor

focuses on individual plays

introduces psychologically complex characters

“introduces” scene painting, according to Aristotle)

Euripides (c. 480 -- c. 406 B.C.)

Medea (431 B.C.)

The Bacchae (406 B.C.)

Euripides questions traditional values

includes elements of tragicomedy, melodrama

writes episodic plots

employs deus ex machina

The theory of tragedy

Aristotle (c 384 -- 322 B.C.) Poetics (c 335 -- 323 B.C.)

the elements of tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, music, spectacle

the structure of tragedy

prologue

parados

episodes

choral odes (stasima)

exodos

Plays and Playwrights: Comedy:

Old Comedy Aristophanes (c 448 -- c. 380 B.C.)

Lysistrata (411 B.C.)

The Birds (414 B.C.)

Aristophanes addresses & lampoons political issues, in a sexy, bawdy tone

structure of Old Comedy:

prologue

entrance of the chorus

the "happy idea"

agon

parabasis

loosely connected scenes

komos

Middle Comedy (404 -- 336 B.C.) Aristophanes, Plutus (388 B.C.)

Aristophanes pulls back from political, satirical Old Comedy

New Comedy (after 336 B.C.): Menander (342 -- 291 B.C.)

The Grouch (Dyskolos)

Menander shifts subjects to domestic issues, family, love

Menander’s plays were models for Roman and later comedy

The Festivals, the Theatres, & the Players

A possible calendar of the City Dionysia:

proagon

parade

dithyramb contest

tragedy contest

satyr play

comedy contest

prizes and celebration

The organization of the City Dionysia

one full week in early spring

archon

choregos

Theatre spaces in 5^th Century B.C. Greece

major elements include

orkestra

thymele

theatron

skene

paradoi

Scenic machines and devices:

ekkyklema

mechane

pinakes

periaktoi

Later Greek theatre spaces

first stone theatres built c. 325 B.C.

Hellenistic theatres

emphasis on stage

logeion

proskenion

episkenion

thyromata

Actors, the Chorus, and Mimes

author supervises and performs

three-actor limit

all actors wear masks

males only perform at City Dionysia and other festivals

"Artists of Dionysus"

the chorus

12-15 in the tragic chorus

24 in the comic chorus

sets mood, acts as character, sets ethical frame

sets rhythm and provides spectacle

music and dance integral to the theatrical event

Mimes

itinerant troupes

women perform along with men

phlyakes

vases, players, plays

found in Southern Italy

The Theatre of Ancient Rome

Social and historical background

753 B.C. marks legendary beginning (Romulus & Remus)

expands rapidly

moves from Republic (509 B.C.) to Empire (27 B.C.)

Etruscan influence

festivals

variety entertainments

Plays and Playwrights: Roman Comedy

Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 -- c. 184 B.C.)

Miles Gloriosus

Pot of Gold

The Menaechmi

all plays written between 205 and 184 B.C.

farce, centered on tricky plot

"parasite"

Publius Terentius Afer, commonly called Terence (195 -- 159 B.C.)

Andria (166 B.C.)

The Mother-in-Law (165 B.C.)

Eunuch (161 B.C.)

sentimental comedy, character-based

Plays and Playwrights: Roman Tragedy

Seneca (5 B.C. -- 65 C.)

Thyestes (unclear as to date)

Oedipus (unclear as to date)

Characteristics include

lengthy soliloquies

violence and horror

ghosts

revenge

"closet drama"

Dramatic Theory:

Horace (65 -- 8 B.C.) Ars Poetica

five-act structure

genres of comedy and tragedy should not be mixed together

drama should "teach and delight"

Other Theatrical Forms:

Atellan farce - stock characters: Bucco, Pappus, Maccus, Dossenus

mime

similar to Greek mime troupes

women perform in this genre

Theodora (c. 500 B.C. – 548 B.C.) and the Emperor Justinian

pantomime

solo performer

spectacle

naumachia

Roman Theatre Spaces

Theatre of Pompey (55 B.C.)

Vitruvius (flourished 1^st century B.C.) De Architectura

Major elements of a Roman theatre include

cavea

orchestra

vomitoria

pulpitum

scaena

scaenae frons

periaktoi

curtains

auleum

siparium

Roman Actors

histriones

Roscius (131 -- 63 A.D.)

The Fall of Rome and its theatre

rise of Christianity

Council of Carthage (398 A.D.)

“barbarians” - Rome sacked again & again, finally in 476 A.D.

The Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire

capital moved to east to Constantinople, 330 A.D.

division of eastern and western empires in 395 A.D.

preservation of classical Greek Manuscripts

The Medieval Theatre

Social and historical background

feudalism

the Catholic Church

"mimi, histriones, ioculatores"

Charlemagne

Liturgical drama

tropes

"Quem quaeritis?"

Regularis Concordia (966 – 975) - compiled by Bishop Ethelwold of Winchester

visitatio plays

the staging of liturgical drama

mansion

platea

Two unique playwrights

Hroswitha (c. 935 -- 973) Dulcitius – modeled on Terence

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 -- 1179) Ordo Virtutum (The Play of Virtues)

Vernacular religious drama

The Play of Adam (c. 1150) - theatre moves outside the church

Cycle plays

the Feast of Corpus Christi (incorporated 1264 by Pope Urban IV)

English cycles

York, Chester, Wakefield, Coventry (Ludus Coventriae), many others

cycles throughout Europe

Lucerne, Valenciennes, Bourges, Rome, many others

the staging of cycle plays

mansion and platea as basis

movable staging - pageant wagons

fixed staging

ancient Roman amphitheatres

"rounds"

public squares

Lucerne Passion Play

Valenciennes Passion Play

the pageant master – an early director? "Martyrdom of St. Apollonia"

Kinds of religious plays

Mystery (maistrie, mastery) play, aka cycle play

presented by trade guilds and religious confraternities

The Second Shepherd's Play (Wakefield Cycle)

Miracle plays - Miracles de Notre-Dame, St. Meriasek

Morality Plays - Everyman (c. 1500)

Secular drama in the Medieval Era

Farce – crude, physical, “low” comedy

Pierre Patelin (c. 1470) – the trickster tricked

Hans Sachs (1494 -- 1570) The Wandering Scholar and Exorcist

John Heywood (c. 1497 -- c. 1580) Johan, Johan (1533)

Folk Plays - pastoral themes, settings

Adam de la Halle (1240 -- 1288)

The Play of the Greenwood (1276 -- 77)

The Play of Robin and Marion (c. 1283)

Staging and performing secular drama

trestle (booth) stage

interludes

rise of the professional player

rectangular shape of later theatres

The decline of medieval drama

the banning of religious plays

the beginnings of theatre for profit

The Theatre of the Italian Renaissance

Social and historical background:

collapse of feudal system

emergence of a "middle" class

invention of the printing press

fall of Constantinople in 1453 -- ancient manuscripts brought west

new interest in the classical world

humanism

new discoveries

Italy is central

geography

the Church

Neoclassicism

theory has origins in

Horace: "to teach and delight"

Aristotle, somewhat misread

Renaissance theorists include: Scaliger, Castelvetro, Minturno

primary rule: verisimilitude

three "unities" (time, place, action)

decorum

confidante

Plays and Playwrights: Neoclassical drama

Ariosto (1474 -- 1533) La Cassaria (1508)

Machiavelli (1469 -- 1527) The Mandrake (1513 -- 1520)

Trissino (1478 -- 1550) Sofonisba (1515)

Cynthio (1504 -- 1574), The Orbecche (1541)

the pastoral play

Tasso, Aminta (1573)

Guarini, The Faithful Shepherd (1590)

intermezzi

Buontalenti (1536 -- 1608) designs the first intermezzi, in Florence, for the Medici

emphasis on spectacle

Opera

born in courts of Florence, Mantua

Jacopo Peri & Ottavio Rinuccini, Dafne (1594)

Monteverdi (1567 -- 1643) Orfeo (1607)

Italian Scenic Spectacle, Stage Design, and Theatre Architecture

Vitruvius re-examined (1486)

perspective

Serlio (1475 -- 1554) Architettura (1545)

single vanishing point -- illusion of depth on stage

three scenes: comic, tragic, pastoral

changeable scenery

periaktoi

fixed wing

wing and groove

chariot and pole

devised by Giacomo Torelli (1608 -- 1678)

features a vista scene changes

staging devices

Sabbattini (1574 -- 1654) publishes manual (1638)

flying, trap doors, machinery, candles

Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza (1580 -- 84)

Teatro Farnese, Parma (1618)

first permanent proscenium arch

Venetian public opera houses

San Cassiano, 1637

pit, box, and gallery

Commedia dell'Arte (approx. 1550 -- 1750)

Possible origins in Atellan Farce, plays of Plautus & Terence

Characteristics

improvisation

highly physical action

stock characters

soggetti -- scenarios

concetti -- stock speeches

lazzi -- comic physical business

zanni -- clowns

Commedia troupes

I Gelosi - Isabella (1562 -- 1604) and Francesco Andreini (1548 -- 1624)

I Fideli, I Confidenti, other troupes

Representative commedia characters:

lovers: Innamorata (-o)

blocking characters:

Pantalone

Dottore

Capitano

comic servants:

Arlecchino (Harlequin)

Columbina

Pulcinella

Brighella

Scapino

The Theatre of Elizabethan England

Social and Historical Background

creation of Church of England

defeat of Spanish Armada

Elizabeth I strengthens the central government

the concept of “Fortune

Restrictions on plays and players

Religious drama banned 1559

Master of Revels appointed 1574

legitimacy of professional actors, in recognized troupes

Plays and Playwrights

school plays

mix of medieval and neoclassical styles

Nicholas Udall (1505 -- 1566) Ralph Roister-Doister (1553 -- 54?)

Mr. S. (?) Gammer Gurton's Needle (acted between 1552 and 1563)

Thomas Preston (1537 -- 1598) Cambises (c. 1561)

Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton, Gorboduc (1561)

the University Wits

Robert Greene (1560 -- 1592), Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (c. 1589)

uses blank verse in his writing

John Lyly (c. 1554 -- 1606), Endimion (1588)

writes English pastorals

Thomas Kyd (1558 -- 1594), The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1587)

exploits Senecan-style revenge tragedy

Christopher Marlowe (1564 -- 1593)

Doctor Faustus (1588)

The Jew of Malta (1589)

Edward II (1592)

writes psychologically complex characters

perfects blank verse form

William Shakespeare (1564 -- 1616)

First Folio

History plays

Richard II (1595-96), Henry IV 1 & 2, Henry V (1597-99)

Henry VI 1, 2 & 3 (1590 -- 92), Richard III (1592 -- 93)

episodic, loose structure, largest casts

Tragedies

Hamlet (1599 -- 1601)

Othello (1604 -- 05)

Macbeth (1605 -- 06)

King Lear (1605 -- 06)

matters of public importance, love, inner conflict

Comedies

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-96)

Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)

As You Like It (1599)

Twelfth Night (1600 -- 01)

private matters, love & obstacles to it

"problem plays"

All's Well That Ends Well (1602 -- 03)

Measure for Measure (1604 -- 05)

dark comedies, disturbingly modern

“romances”

A Winter's Tale (1610 -- 11)

The Tempest (1611 -- 12)

late plays, strangeness, adventure, magic

structure of the plays - strong plots AND strong characters

early point of attack

clever foreshadowing

at climax a "coup de theatre"

other Elizabethan playwrights

Ben Jonson (1572 -- 1637) Volpone (1606), The Alchemist (1610)

"humours" comedy -- Every Man in his Humour (1598)

publication

poet laureate

anonymous, The Revenger's Tragedy (c. 1606)

Thomas Middleton (1580 -- 1627) & William Rowley (c. 1558 -- 1625)

The Changeling (1622)

Jacobean and Caroline playwrights

Francis Beaumont (c. 1584 -- 1616) & John Fletcher (1579 -- 1625)

The Maid's Tragedy (between 1608 -- 1613)

A King and No King (between 1608 -- 1613)

John Webster (c. 1580 -- c.1630) The Duchess of Malfi (1613 -- 14)

John Ford (1586 -- c.1639) Tis Pity She's a Whore (1629 -- 33)

Philip Massinger (1583 -- 1639/40) A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1622)

James Shirley (1596 -- 1666) The Lady of Pleasure (1635)

Elizabethan Public Theatres

beginnings in innyards, bull and bear-baiting arenas

attempt to recreate ancient Roman theatres

The Theatre, 1576 - foundations discovered 2008

The Rose, 1587 -- c. 1606

Philip Henslowe (c. 1550 – 1616) as producer

foundations discovered 1989

The Swan, 1595 -- c. 1632

only pictorial evidence of interior--DeWitt/Von Buchell sketch

The Globe, 1599 -- 1613, burned down, second Globe 1614 – 1644

Lord Chamberlain’s (later King’s) Men

Richard and Cuthbert Burbage

William Shakespeare

The Fortune, 1600 -- 1621, 1621 -- 1661

another Henslowe theatre

only rectangular public theatre

The Hope 1613 – 1617 - removable stage for bear baiting on alternate nights

others – The Red Lion, The Curtain, The Newington Butts, The Red Bull

Features of public theatres:

polygonal

three galleries

yard

roof (shadow, heavens)

raised wooden platform stage

trap door

two stage doors

tiring house

2nd level

3rd level

“discovery” space

Elizabethan Private Theatres

more expensive ticket prices than in public theatres

indoors

stage seating

lit by candles

benches in pit

2 galleries

located in “liberties"

Blackfriars -- boy companies to 1608, then professional

Scenery and costumes in public and private theatres

evidence

Master of Revels' accounts

Henslowe's list

medieval influence--mansion & platea style staging

the text and “spoken décor”

costumes - contemporary Elizabethan clothes, except for:

ancient, fanciful, traditional, racial emblems

Peacham’s drawing of Titus Andronicus (1595?)

Elizabethan audiences – wide variety, from all classes

Elizabethan acting companies

Lord Chamberlain’s Men (after 1603, King’s Men)

Shakespeare and the Burbages

Structure - shareholders, hirelings, apprentices

Lord Admiral’s Men

Philip Henslowe as sole producer

Edward Alleyn (1566 -- 1626) as lead actor

The Stuart Court Masque

intent: to show an ideal vision of the monarchy, bringing order from disorder

masquing dances as center of action

scenically splendid…and expensive

Ben Jonson, primary writer

Inigo Jones (1573 -- 1652), primary designer

introduces the Italian scenic ideal to England

Salmacida Spolia (1640)

Spanish Theatre of the Golden Age

Social and historical background

defeat of Moors

Spanish Inquisition (1480)

Spain as major world power

Religious drama

cofradias

autos sacramentales

carros

Plays and Playwrights

Fernando Rojas (c. 1465 – 1541, La Celestina (1492)

Juan del Encina (1469 -- 1529)

Pastorals & religious drama, El triunfo del amor (The Triumph of Love, 1497)

Lope de Rueda (c. 1510 -- c 1565), early professional actor/manager

The Frauds (1552 -- 1558)

pasos -- The Olives

Miguel de Cervantes (1547 -- 1616)

Siege of Numancia (written between 1580 and 1587)

Entremese

Lope de Vega (1562 -- 1635)

colorful biography

religious and secular plays

comedia nueva

capa y espada

Fuentovejuna (c. 1614)

Lope’s attitude towards rules

Guillen de Castro (1569 -- 1631)

Las Mocedades del Cid (1612 -- 1618)

Tirso de Molina (c. 1584 -- 1648)

El Burlador de Sevilla (1616 -- 30)

Calderon de la Barca (1600 -- 1681)

deep philosophical issues

religious and secular plays

Life is a Dream (c. 1636)

Spanish Theatre Spaces

Corrales: Corral de la Cruz (1579), Corral de Principe (1585)

auditorium

patio

taburetes

mosqueteros

alojero

gradas

aposentos

desvanes

cazuela

tertullia

stage

bare platform

2nd level

scenic and costuming practices similar to those in England

actors

shareholders

women on stage

Court Theatres

Alcazar

Buen Retiro, Madrid -- after 1633

Cosme Lotti (1571? -- 1643)

The Greatest Enchantment is Love (1635)

Spanish theatre the first western theatre in the Americas, from 1567

religious and secular plays presented

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651 -- 1695)

The Second Celestina (1675) co-author, Augustin Salazar y Torres

The Trials of a Noble House (1683)

The French Theatre in the Seventeenth Century

pre-17th century theatrical, social and political background

French Catholics and the Huguenots

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre 1572

Henry IV of Navarre

Early Theatrical Efforts

the Pléiade: Cleopatre Captive, by Etienne Jodelle

mix of classical and medieval elements

ballet de cour

French farce and commedia dell’arte

the early professional theatre in Paris

religious drama banned in 1548

Confrérie de la Passion

Hôtel de Bourgogne

Plays and Playwrights

Alexandre Hardy (c. 1572 -- 1632)

Valleran le Comte (fl. 1592 -- 1613), Les Comédiens du Roi

French Neoclassicism

Cardinal Richelieu (1586 -- 1642)

The French Academy

Pierre Corneille (1606 -- 1684)

Le Cid (1636-37)

Horace (1640)

simple characters, complex plots

L’Illusion Comique (The Theatrical Illusion) 1636

tragicomedy

Jean Racine (1639 -- 1699)

Andromaque (1667)

Bérénice (1670)

Phèdre (1677)

simple plots, complex characters

Alexandrine

caesura

Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622 -- 1673)

The Illustrious Theatre

the Béjart family (Madeleine & Armande)

Molière as actor/manager

Molière’s farces and comedies of manners

raissoneur

School for Wives (1662)

The Miser (1668)

Tartuffe (1664. 1667. 1669)

The Misanthrope (1666)

The Imaginary Invalid (1673)

comédies-ballets

Molière’s death

Comédie Française (founded 1680)

French Theatre Spaces and Spectacle

Hôtel de Bourgogne

pit (parterre)

boxes (loges), galleries

paradis

simultaneous settings

Laurent Mahelot, Le Mémoire

jeu du paume

Théâtre du Marais

neutral settings

un chambre a quatre portes

palais a volonte

Palais Cardinal, later Palais Royal

Giacomo Torelli (1608 -- 1678)

converts Salle du Petit Bourbon (1645), Palais Royal (1646)

creates Italian style scene changes via chariot and pole

Gaspare Vigarani (1586 -- 1663)

creates the Salle des Machines

inaugural production: Ercole Amante (Hercules in Love) in 1662

Gaspare’s son Carlo Vigarani

Jean Berain the elder (1638 – 1711); Jean Berain the younger (1678 – 1726)

father and son team, first major French-born designers

Actors and Theatrical Troupes

frequent changes of venue for acting companies

after Molière’s death, several mergers of theatre troupes

Comédie Française, founded 1680 by decree of Louis XIV

sociétaire

pensionaire

Montdory (1594 -- 1654)

Madeleine Béjart (1618 -- 1672)

Armande Béjart (1642 -- 1700)

Mlle du Parc (1633 -- 1668)

Mlle Champmeslé (1642 -- 1698)

Michel Baron (1653 -- 1729)

Costumes

habit à la Romaine

The Theatre in Restoration England

Social and Historical Background

Civil War (1642 -- 1649)

theatres closed by Parliament, many torn down

Commonwealth (1642 -- 1649)

“drolls”

Origins of English opera

The Siege of Rhodes (1656)

produced by William Davenant (1606 -- 1668)

Charles II restored to the throne 1660

from Puritanism to pleasure

James II 1685

William of Orange 1688

The restoration of the theatre

a new, largely upper-crust audience

French influence

Plays and Playwrights

Revivals of

Beaumont and Fletcher

Shakespeare "improved"

Nahum Tate’s King Lear (1681)

Samuel Pepys (1633 -- 1703) and the theatre

Serious drama in the Restoration:

heroic tragedy - John Dryden (1631 -- 1700), The Indian Queen (1664)

Restoration tragedy

Dryden, All for Love (1677)

Neoclassical unities loosened

blank verse used

Thomas Otway (1652 -- 1685), Venice Preserv'd (1682)

Restoration comedy

comedy of intrigue - Aphra Behn (1640 -- 1689) The Rover (1677-80)

other women writers include

Catherine Trotter (1679 -- 1749)

Delarivier Manley (c. 1672 -- 1724)

Mary Pix (1666 -- 1706)

Susannah Centlivre (c. 1670 -- 1723) The Busybody (1709)

comedy of manners

the format:

all deal with the leisure class.

sexual seduction is the goal.

playing the game is important

women are as good at the game as men

marriage is a joke!

Sir George Etherege (c.1634 -- 1691)

The Man of Mode; or, Sir Fopling Flutter (1676)

William Wycherley (1640 -- 1715) The Country Wife (1675)

William Congreve (1670 -- 1729) The Way of the World (1700)

decline of Restoration-style Comedy

Jeremy Collier, “A Short View on the Immorality and

Profaneness of the English Stage” (1698)

invokes Horace’s “teach & delight

Restoration Theatre Companies

Royal patents to

William Davenant (1606 -- 1668) (Duke's Company)

Thomas Killigrew (1612 -- 1683) (King's Company)

the two companies merge in 1682

Christopher Rich as producer

Betterton rebels and forms company in 1695

the “business” of the theatre

profit motive

three nights a week

bill of fare

benefit

Restoration Theatre Spaces and Design

Davenant's co.: from Lisle's Tennis Court to Lincoln's Inn Fields (1661)

to Dorset Garden (1671)

Killigrew's co.: from Gibbon's Tennis Court to Theatre Royal, Bridges

Street (1663) to Drury Lane (1674)

theatre interiors

pit, box, gallery system

a raked pit with benches

proscenium arch stage

forestage

scenic stage

wing and groove retained

candlelight

keepers of the candles

footlights

costumes

habit à la Romaine

Restoration Actors…and Actresses

women take the stage

social and sexual side effects

Nell Gwynn (1650 -- 1687)

Elizabeth Barry (1658 -- 1713)

Ann Bracegirdle (c.1663 -- 1748)

and a few famous men:

Charles Hart (c. 1630 -- 1683)

Edward Kynaston (1643 -- 1712)

Thomas Betterton (c. 1635 – 1710) first major actor/manager

An Outline of Theatre History: Origins through English Restoration

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