History of DramaMedieval and Renaissance Drama

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.

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.

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.

Medieval Drama Early plays were staged in churches, on

platforms called mansions.

Eventually, the plays left the church and were performed in town squares.

Medieval DramaBy 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 II present the glory and horror of the age.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.