Download Medieval Theater

Middle Ages:
Medieval Drama
476 A.D.-13th century
History of Drama
Middle Ages/Dark
Ages/Medieval?? Which one?
Same time period
Medieval—used as an adjective
Dark ages—no cultural activity
Most people were illiterate
Little travel=no exchange of ideas
Medieval Drama
Fall of Rome—
Renaissance
Black Plague
For 400 years, no
drama except
Several folk
festivals
Wandering jugglers
and minstrels
Troupe
Church introduced short dramas during masses,
called troupes.
Ironic because the church banned drama
Troupes began in France, then soon spread
throughout the continent.
Helped people understand the Bible stories
Began to educate the illiterate, 1st acted in Latin
then the common vernacular so everyone could
understand.
Acted out by priests and choirboys
Mansions
Scenes were so popular that whole stories
emerged
Small platforms, mansions, were erected in
the church
Crowds moved from mansion to mansion
until they saw the entire story
A nun, Hrosvitha, wrote a religious comedy
that was performed on mansions in the 10th
century.
The 5 M’s
Mummings
Earliest style of Medieval Drama
Pagan roots
Not politically correct
Public processions
Include summer/winter solstices and autumn
equinoxes
The 5 M’s
Mystery Play
Community effort
Used the tops of wagons for a stage
Women could act
Scripture stories
The 5 M’s
Morality Play
Allegorical
Taught right from wrong
Entertaining
Focus on death (Everyone
goes with death
eventually)
Post plague
Characters personified
abstract qualities
Ex: Everyman
The 5 M’s
Miracle Play
Dramatized the
lives of saints
Not always realistic
The 5 M’s
Manners
Late Medieval
Focus on social and
secular instead of
religious
Depicted people
acting socially
inappropriate
Medieval Comedy
13th or 14th century –
productions focused
on comedy so they
moved from church to
marketplace
Theater once again
secular
Bible stories became
comical
Staging Devices
Hell’s Mouth – dragon jaw that would
open with smoke and flames; sometimes
showed tortured souls
Presentation Style
Some towns, mansions would provide a
backdrop for heaven at one end and hell
would be portrayed at another location with
parts of the story in between
Crowds would move to see the action.
Marketplace stages, situated around the
square
England, France, and Netherlands
developed the Pageant Wagon
Medieval Pageant Wagon
Double-decker
Lower story for
costume changes
Action on upper stage
and around the street.
Similar to parade
floats.
Passion Play
Late middle ages, the passion play
developed.
Depicted Christ’s life through resurrection
Passion play in Oberammergau, Germany
Residents of Bavarian village vowed that to be
spared from the Black Plague, they would put
on a passion play every 10 years
Village was spared, began performances in
1633
Still performing today, every 10 years.
Only year not performed: 1940
Secular Plays
Several non-religious
plays were developed
in Medieval times
Most notable are the
Robin Hood Plays and
Master Pierre Patelin
Impact of Medieval Drama
Main Impact: Because the actors got much
closer to their audience, acting became
more important than dialogue.
Also…Mixed comedy and seriousness,
which transitioned into Italian and
Elizabethan drama.
Italian and Spanish
Renaissance
Italian Renaissance 1400-1600
Ancient writers were rediscovered
Rebirth of learning led to in-depth look at arts and
sciences
Movement toward literacy: Invention of printing
press
Began in Italy
Leonardo da Vinci
Petrarch
Michelangelo
Machiavelli
Commedia dell’Arte: Comedy of
Professional Players
Very popular by 1550
Professional, improv. comedy performed in streets
Usually 7 men and 3 women company
Ad-lib action, dialogue, songs, and dance
Plot revolved around love and intrigue
Actors wore half masks
Popularity spread through France, influenced
Moliere
Different from IMPROV: followed a storyline,
performers made bits from storyline
New Stock Characters
Harlequin: wore
diamond patches,
foolish servant
Pierrot: Lovelorn and
moody
Columbine: flirtatious
and beautiful
Pantalone: the old
man, a fool
Dottore-the doctor, a
drunk or glutton
Pseudo-Classicism
Combination of commedia
of the common man and
drama of Italian nobility.
Copy of ancient Roman
drama
Dramatic noblemen built
private indoor theaters
with beautiful arches
First permanent theater
built in 1618 (Theater
Farnese)
Opera
Opera substituted popular plays
Huge theaters created
Audience sat in tiers of narrow horseshoeshaped galleries
Beautiful auditorium for socializing
Detailed scenery used
Stage floors were built on a rake
Upstage sloping towards audience
Spanish Renaissance
Focused on drama
1550-1680 flourish of
theater
Influenced by
Commedia dell’Arte
and Italian court
staging
Spanish Playwrights
Cervantes 1574-1616
30 plays including Don
Quixote
Tragedies, comedies,
“cape & sword”
Lope de Vega 15621635
2000 poetic and
romantic plays!
Calderon 1600-1681
200 plays of spiritual
emphasis and poetry
Spanish Playwrights cont.
Established original art form
Free from classical rules of Italian and
French writers
Ignored time and place unities
Used beautiful, flowing dialogue
Action around “Cape and sword”
Adventure
Romance
chivalry
Spanish Playhouses
Similar to Medieval stages (mansions)
Stages erected at end of open courtyard
Later, permanent buildings were built, with
the audience sitting in front of the raised
stage
Balcony with side boxes reserved for the
nobility
More Spanish Theatre
Elaborate scenery
Rich costuming
Women could act
40 theaters existed in
Madrid during Golden
Age of Spanish
Theater