Download Chapter 7: The Renaissance Italian Theatre is divided into 2 types

Chapter 7: The Renaissance
I. Italian Theatre is divided into 2 types:
______________________________________________
______________________________________________________
___________________________________ : Physical, highly improvisational style of
theatre that originated in Italy in the 1500s. Most commedia troupes had 10-12 members,
both male and female performers, which used colorful costumes & masks. There were a few
tragedies, but most are comedies that didn’t rely on scenery, and could be performed
anywhere.
__________________ : (scenarios): plot outlines that served as the scripts for commedia
plays. The scenario gives a summary of the story lines, certain complications faced by
protagonist(s) and how the story should end. The rest, including all of the dialogue, was
improvised by the actors.
II. Comedy Tonight!
___________________________: unscripted form of theatre where the actors “make it up as
they go,” feeding off of the crowd.
________________: standardized comic bits used in a commedia performance. (example:
The Three Stooges)
________________________________: The same familiar characters who appear in the
various commedia scenarios. There were three categories: lovers, masters, and servants.
________________________________: didn’t wear masks, wore the latest fashions, usually
the children of the masters who didn’t want them (the children) to fall in love. Usually asked
their servants to help them meet or elope. (Ex. Romeo and Juliet)
________________________________: There are 3 common types of masters
________________________________: a lawyer or doctor who liked to show off how smart
he was by speaking in Latin (his pronunciation and grammar were usually terrible).
________________________________: an old man with mask that had a large, hooked nose
and a scraggly grey beard. (This is how Uncle Sam and Santa Claus developed.) They
usually wore red.
________________________________: a braggart who was really a coward. He wore a
cape, sword, and a large, feathered headdress.
________________________________: usually called the ____________, from which we
get the word “__________”. There were usually 2 servants in each company (one clever and
one stupid). One of the most popular servants was ____________________ (Harlequin) who
was a mixture of cunning and stupidity. Wore a clown-like suit with a black mask and carried
a ________________.
________________________________: a device made out of 2 pieces of wood hinged
together. When the two pieces came together with force it would make a loud slapping
sound. Commedia characters often beat one another with these sticks. It is from this simple
prop that we get the modern term slapstick comedy.
III. Comeddia Literature
________________________________: A book published in 1699, this is
____________________________________ firsthand account of how a commedia dell’arte
troupe operated.
________________________________: ________________________________’s 1545
account of how to create a performance space within an existing room.
________________________________: by the early 16th century, the surviving plays of the
great Greek and Roman playwrights had been rediscovered, translated, and published in
Italian. This movement strove desperately to recreate the style, staging, and structure of
classic Greek and Roman Theatre.
IV. Invented by Italians
________________________________: a form of three dimensional scenic painting that is
still extremely common today.
________________________________:on a raked stage, the stage floor gets higher as it
moves away from the audience so that the back of the stage is actually taller than the front.
________________________________:the most common form of stage. The audience faces
the stage from only one direction and the performance area is framed by a large arch (much
like a picture frame). Much of our modern stage terminology comes from the proscenium.
________________________________: Spanish liturgical dramas performed on the pageant
wagons and platform stages popular in medieval times.
V. Elizabethan Theatre
________________________________: (blank verse): style of verse which Shakespeare
wrote in. Blank verse lines contain ten syllables, with light and strong stresses alternating,
five light and five strong.
________________________________: A student theatre group that wrote plays in the style
of the ancient Greeks and Romans. ________________________________ and
________________________________ were both members of this group.
___________: in the theatres of Elizabethan England, this was a standing room only section
on the ground in the center of the theatre, where approximately 800 people could stand and
watch the play. (used in the thrust stages)
___________________: notoriously rowdy patrons who watch Elizabethan plays from the
yard.
________________________________: in a thrust stage, the audience is seated on three
sides and tends to be nearer the action than in a proscenium staging, but since one wall is
available for scenic elements, there can be more use of spectacle than in the arena. The
runways used at fashion shows are a type of thrust stage.
________________________________: perhaps the best known Elizabethan theatre. It was
the original staging ground for some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.
________________________________: convention of the Elizabethan stage where the
actors described a play’s different locations to the audience.
VI. Theatrical Terms
___________________: modern term for the part an actor plays. It comes from the
Elizabethan Practice of handling the actor his lines on a roll of paper.
___________________: a modern term for the character an actor plays in a production. It
comes from the Elizabethan practice of only giving the actor the part of the play he was in,
rather than an entire script.
___________________: Lavish productions, usually staged in banquet halls for the monarch
and an invited audience.
VII.
Time for Some French
___________________: _________________________, Louis XIII’s prime minister wants
France as cultural center of Europe. They adopt perspective theatre and proscenium arch
theatre from___________. Richelieu wrote rigid interpretation of Aristotle’s writing on
theatre as the “____________________________________”.
________________________________________: A series of rigid rules for theatrical
______________ and _______________________ based on the humanist interpretation of
___________________’ s writings on theater. The neoclassical ideal came to dominate most
of European theatres for centuries
Neoclassical rules:
Only ___ legitimate forms of drama: ______________________ & ________________,
never to be mixed together in one play.
Tragedy had to be stories about ______________ and ______________.
Comedy should feature the ___________________ & ___________________ classes.
All plays must contain __________ acts.
Play must uphold the concept of “____________________________”. The bad character
punished and good rewarded.
Three Unities: The neoclassicist believed that all plays should adhere to the unities of time
(_____________________________________________________________________), play
(_____________________________________________________________________), and
the action
(____________________________________________________________________).
France’s Big 3 Playwrights
_______________________ (1606-1684): a tragedian, best known for his 1637 play, Le Cid;
was later attacked by critics for not following the “rules” of French theatre.
_______________________ (1639-1699): wrote many adaptations of Sophocles and
Euripides. Most popular is Phaedra, a tragedy; strict follower of neoclassical rules and
unities.
_______________________ (1622-1673): considered the greatest French playwright of all
time. Joined a traveling theatre troupe at 21; studied and mastered the techniques of Italy’s
commedia dell’arte; huge influence on his writing. Most famous for his comedies; many of
his plays were satire on __________________________ & ________________________,
causing controversy.
French Staging Innovations:
Both audience and stage sit for the entire performance.
Seating of audience on the stage.
Women as well as men in acting companies with equal rights.
Totally______________ theatre – experimenting with variety of candles & oil lamps for
lighting the stage. Used _________________________ for increased illumination.
End Chapter 7
Chapter 8: The Rich: England’s Restoration Theatre
I. End of English Renaissance Theatre
______________________ after _____________________ not as prolific or well written;
quality declines
_________________________________________ quarrel leads to English Civil War in
1642.
_____________________ close the theatre; a few companies attempt to have clandestine
productions but are stopped by Puritans in control of the government.
Popular support for the Puritan cause declines after death of their leader
_________________________________ in 1655.
In 1656, ________________________________, a former writer of court masques, openly
produces the opera ______________________________________ in his own residence.
This is the first opera ever performed in England.
II. Restoration Theatre
In 1660, Parliament invited the ruler _______________________ to return from exile in
France to assume the throne.
Charles II issued royal permits known as “______________________” to William Davenant
and __________________________________ to open theatres.
First of the new theatres were converted _________________________.
__________________________________________________: constructed in 1674 by
_________________________, this is one of the oldest theatres still in existence as a
functioning theatre today. It is also said to be on of the most haunted theatres in the world.
_________________________________: another name for Restoration Comedy, it was both
witty and raunchy, providing us with an accurate snapshot of life among the nobility after the
Restoration of the King.
Plots were amoral to the extreme: sexual conquests, marriage for gain (financial or social) &
characters that nothing shocked; fast and clever verbal exchanges; tended to be stereotypes
similar to Moliere & the commedia dell arte.
_________________________: A common character in Restoration comedy. The fop is a
vain young man who tries to be feminine in an attempt to seduce women.
Shape of the theatre today was determined at this period.
_______________________ stage replaced by the _____________________ stage, copying
France and Italy.
___________________________ stage promoted use of wing & drop scenery unlike
previous era.
______________________________________: one set for tragedy and another for comedy.
_______________ stage, acting area used was the apron area reached through doors built
into the _____________________________________________.
Space beyond the proscenium used strictly for
______________________________________.
_____________________ added to the apron for ________________________.
_______________________ lit by large ______________________.
The “pit” and “yard” of Elizabethan Theatre replaced by
___________________________________.
________________ and _____________boxes became preferred seating for the wealthy;
seating became more defined to reflect rigid class structures.
_______________ roles now being played by ______________.
End of Chapter 8