DRAM 115 Quiz 2
Commediea dell'Arte
"Comedy performed by professionals" Developed by traveling troupes in Italy and based on roman comedy Based on improvised plots with stock characters All stock characters were masked, except for young lovers who were not Lots of physical comedy Comic routines called "lazzi" Influenced Moliere's concept of characterization through using stock characters: Foolish old father, wily servant, young lovers
Renaissance
"rebirth" of classical thinking Move away from medieval thinking- Embrace of classical learning Celebration of human achievement - most closely associated with the rise of humanism Printing press enabled people to read plays and Aristotle Exploration of the New World and other cultures Scientific advances - changing relationship of earth and space through the telescope Teatro Olimpico designed
neoclassicism
A legacy from the Renaissance - it attempted to establish a code of theatrical rules that would emulate the Classical Greek and Roman drama Emphasized making the theater believable
Shakespeare directs
Actors and audiences learn about the characters by how they speak He gave clues by the words and structure that they're said in Shared lines of verse (keep pace going), lines that are easy to say (smooth); words that are hard to say (stop and slow down and listen to what's happening); incomplete lines of verse (take the pause - leaves room for what if's); trochaic tetrameter (emphasize difference between witches and regular humans); love sonnets (signifies true love) Directs by how he writes the scene
Roman comedy
Atellan farce Plautus and Terence
Theater in Europe during Renaissance
Auditorium Pit Standing area - partire Benches Raked benches - raise up as it goes further back Even seating on stage (Being seen at the theater) Who attended? King, middle, upper classes Acting companies: 10-15 members that performed 3-4 times per week at around 5pm Public theater that was lit by candles with no differentiation between audience and stage
Everyman
Believed to have been possibly translated from a Flemish play written by an anonymous priest - A lot of medieval art was anonymous (reflecting the emphasis on the group and collective in the Medieval rather than the individual in the Renaissance) Audience believed life was short and hard (Black plague) Life is a moral test and you have to prove yourself worthy Different in terms of morality plays - most showed the individual, everyman as being tested and tempted through earthly vices and temptations, but this one takes place later so we don't see temptation and it is apparently after he has succumb to temptation as every person does because we're human Contemporary drama - not just a historical story from the OT presented by a theater group of professionals - not just once a year
humanism
Celebration of human achievement and capacity to live life and enjoy life Idea that people had worth and value and that lives in this time were as valuable as that life to come Wasn't antireligious, in addition to faith it didn't discount man
What Shakespeare is known for
Complexity of verse, insight to human nature, and talent for capturing the anxieties, energies, and hopes of his time
Why use iambic pentameter?
Copied form from Italian poets (who were imitating Classical authors) Helps actors speak images in text Help the audience hear images in text Rhythm serves climactic nature of the English language Echoes the human heartbeat
Plautus and Terence
Eliminated the chorus, added more music so that the plays were almost like musicals Known for establishing comic devices like mistaken identities, eavesdropping, farce/physical humor The menaechmi - two twin brothers and twin servants - by Plautus
Shakespeare's expressions
Expression only works for a short amount of time - it becomes out of fashion, but his still exist today Ex: Wild goose chase, good riddance, to play fast and loose, into thin air, elbow room, kill with kindness
Tennis courts and theaters
First theaters were adapted and changed from tennis courts and put into a theater Perfect because it was a big rectangle and it already had seating rising up from the stage (court)
Time around Shakespeare entering theater
Great theater happens when there is stability England had just defeated the Spanish Armada; so the victory affords leisure time and money Voyages to the New World Sir Walter Raleigh coming to NC and Sir Francis Drake to Cali Being an actor becomes illegal, so if you didn't have some rich person sponsoring you, you could be arrested force d all companies to have legitimate patronage to support Globe Theater was built with the old wood from the old theater that was torn down and it was built outside the official city limits of the city Besides court and doing plays for the queen on command, monasteries became indoor theaters (weren't subject to the law)
Shows at the Globe theater
Had 16 shows they could play Had great capacity to follow dialogue because they were oral and aural society - most were illiterate so they would have to be able to memorize - Were a visual society Had 5 days of rehearsal and you didn't even get the whole script - only got their part Prompter with a full script if needed Constant need for companies to come up with new material (around 200,000 people in London and around 2,000-3,000 could come each night) - Companies would steal your stuff sometimes
Tartuffe continued
He didn't appear until Act 3 because he wanted the audience to know through the stock characters Cleante: voice of reason - functioning similar to the chorus to balance Tartuffe and his extreme behavior along with Orgon Dorine: wiley servant - can see clearly
Shakespeare's rhetoric
He puts words in opposition to each other (antithesis) Ex: I have wasted time and now doth time waste me. Richard: fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have some patient leisures to EXCUSE myself. Anne: fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make no excuse current but to HANG thyself.
goods
He starts to learn his lesson - he sees that he gave to God rather than to Goods; if you would have loved Goods moderately, he wouldn't have been blind to everything else - he says his condition is man's soul to kill; He kills man after man after man - He has an emotional investment in goods but a lack of return
fellowship
He turns to Fellowship that promises even if he goes to hell, he'd be there with him but ultimately backs out
kindred and cousin
He turns to his family who says they would never turn their back but they won't go either Cousin gets a toe cramp Kindred says to take his wife
Proscenium Arch
Helped to establish a single perspective on the drama's locale by framing the play in space Teatro Ranese, Pamra - first permanent proscenium arch
Globe theater
Looks like a wooden O from the inside of the building 3 balconies for sitting in a penny more Pay a penny, you could stand in front of the stage Roofed area covered the balconies and stage, but individuals on the floor would be exposed to the elements Ceiling was painted with stars and zodiac signs and pillars were decorated but there was no attempt at realistic representation of the plays set didn't change - Establish with language Few props, but spent money on ornate costumes (no masks) - still men and boys, no women Did have trap doors Doors used for entrances and stage was 5 ft high
Shakespear's language
Modern english came into being during Shakespeare's time Based on Old English (from the Germanic Angles and Saxons), Latin (Roman church), scandinavian (the Vikings), and French (after the norman conquest of 1066) He invented words Ex: hostile, manager, obscene, addiction, investment, assassinate, hint, reliance The first instance of about 1500 words is in one of Shakespeare's plays 15,000 words in an educated vocabulary; he used 30,000 in his lexicons
medieval stage
Platforms outside the church - called "mansions" Pageant wagons: with a changing area and elaborate costumes Special effects: "hell-mouths" with smoke and fire for sinners or "heaven gates" Rising professionalism - actors , plays, music, spectacle Audience goes to the theatre again
No religious sanction to theater
Plays turn to secular subject Classical texts offer "new" forms -From the printing press National drama can now develop (France, England, Spain, etc. could develop their own vernaculars) No civic support - theater must now be commercial and must sell tickets Relationship to society is now completely different It had been ceremonial and occasional and considered significant to all, but in the 1500's it had to wage its fight on purely commercial and artistic ground (make theater that people actually wanted to see)
Theater in Europe
Puritans got rid of theater along with the monarchy King Charles's son fled to France and hung out with King Louis until it was safe to come back during the Restoration Charles II opened up the theater again in England - now England mimicked theater of all of Europe Women added to theater Perspective Painting Proscenium Arch Tennis courts converted to theaters
Perspective painting
Renaissance theater Using a "vanishing point" perspective, which seems to transfer to a flat, 2-dimensional surface the illusion of depth One-point perspective drawing: anything you draw in front of the point and then draw it back to the point to create illusion of depth Used as backdrops for sets rather than flat Roman backdrop -Created multiple types of backdrops
Roman Tragedy
Seneca Horace
Moliere
Social environment in which he pokes fun at dignitaries that were there Took Moliere as a stage name because he didn't want to embarrass his family by going into the theater Had exposure to plays during education Graduated with a law degree - but he never practiced Fell in love with a woman and joined her acting company - Dad had to bail them out of debt Once out of debt, the acting company toured around Paris and figured out what people was good theater (learned by practicing)
Everyman Plot
Takes place as God is calling everyman to him - Language of reckoning - due to the rise of the middle class in Europe (accounts payable and reckoning would make a lot of sense) Messenger explains what's about to happen to Everyman. God calls on Death to bring on a reckoning because he's forgotten about it. Death comes along to reckon with Everyman and he tries to bribe him and asks for 12 years to get his affairs in order. He knows he can't take all of these people with him but he holds onto it. He asks if he can bring someone with him and Death tells him yes. His response: wish I had never been born Doctor: doctor of knowledge or professor
purity in form
Tragedy - royalty and nobility as characters with large, grand, poetic language and stories of large problems or myths with a tragedy Comedy - lower classes; employ everyday speech and have stories of everyday domestic issues and have happy endings Written in five acts; Written of Alexandrines (12-syllable line)
Iambic Pentameter
Type of poetry that Shakespeare wrote in Five-foot line of verse (rhymed or blank) with the feet being iambs (two syllables), with the first one unstressed and the second stressed Example: If music be the food of love play on First person to successfully write in this was Christopher Marlowe - Shakespeare heard it from him Form helps to make us more eloquent and greater than we are Marlowe's mighty line - he rarely broke from iambic pentameter
Tartuffe
While women were allowed on stage, they thought having a man dress up as an old woman was funny "Lord of Misrule" - looks back to 12th night; medieval societies allow for some disruption in community where those who were at the lower echelon at the social ladder could act out a little bit and could make fun of those in charge -She senses the servants and family are all resisting Orgon's decision to bring Tartuffe into the home Orgon sees this destitute guy praying at the church and he brings Tartuffe in as an act of charity, but the whole household seems to realize that the guy is a phony and that Orgon is the only one who doesn't realize it along with his mom Dorine speaking about Daphne is alluding to what he thought of some of the people attending his plays - why he made a lot of enemies (Daphne's in the audience - now that her beauty's gone, she's bitter) The entire play was written in rhyming couplets: Makes it pleasurable, shows art, adds flow to words because each line sets up an expectation of how the rhyme will be fulfilled, Lazzi - p. 518 - act 1, scene 4 Characters that share lines of verse Comic routine with repetition shows how extreme Orgon is being in his behavior while providing fun (Extreme behavior is punished in a comedy)
feminine ending
an "extra" syllable in the last foot that is weak and not stressed - 11th syllable To (be) or (not) to (be) that (is) the (quest)/ion Signifies that there's something that has to break out of the form of the line
Tropes
elaboration or embellishment of the Christian liturgy Beginning of drama coming back into play after the gap from 500-800's "Quem Quaeritis?" The angels talking to the three Marys at the tomb of Jesus - 925 B.C.E Priests decided to dramatize that part of the Bible By the 12th century, tropes became entire plays taking place outside of the liturgy but still within the church itself
Feast of Corpus Christi
festival to help the people realize that the host representing Jesus' body is real and it doesn't just represent - it is the body Procession through the town with actor dressed as Jesus on a donkey Started producing plays from the OT in the Bible to go along with the festival about the reality for the host
trochee
foot with two syllables, the first stressed and the second unstressed (Feed) on her (dam)ask (cheek). She (pined) in (thought). (Give) me ex(cess) of (it) that (surf)ei(ting). How to tell if you're in poetry- first letter capitalized and the lines not wrapped
orchestra
halved now for the audience - actors now on the raised stage where rich people and dignitaries sat
Ludi Romani
held every September as opposed to Spring in Athens Held honoring Jupiter Theatre was just one of the entertainments at the festivals Gladatorials, animal baiting, etc the theatre were not permanent - they were built and torn down each year First permanent one: pompei Favored comedies - weren't super into tragedies
Atellan farce
improvised sketches based on "stock characters" - the "blonde", "jock", "wily servant", "silly old man" - these stock characters don't change
Seneca
is plays were written just to be read - but were still influential to Renaissance writers (Shakespeare) received his writings through the printing press Wrote "closet dramas" because they weren't performed or produced Subject/treatment: violent, bloody, featuring revenge, ghosts, magic and the supernatural Used a five-act form Focus on psychological motivation - introspective writing of the featured characters talking on-stage about their feelings and what they're thinking (helps communicate to the audience what the problems of the characters are) Use of soliloquies
knowledge
knowledge of the sacraments and what you have to do to prepare yourself for heaven -Tells him he must have contrition, give to the poor, take the sacraments, scourge himself
5 wits, Strength, Beauty, Discretion
leave him at the grave because they are what is your human faculties: He begins to panic because all of his senses are leaving and he cries out again but Good Deeds tells him he will never forsake him
stage house
like the scaena elaborate, formal background with 2-5 doorways that enclosed the audience view
plausibility and propriety
making theatrical believable No chorus/soliloquies - not normal Rise in a friend character to the main character so that they could establish exposition and for the person to explain their problem No violence on stage Unity of time, place and action (One main storyline to take place in the time it takes to watch it and it should have one location) Goal: to teach and to please (Pleasing play with morally uplifting message)
Roman theater: actors
men only (Greek and Roman theatre) Wore masks but were hired professionals as opposed to talented amateurs as they were in Greek theatre Playwrights acted in their own plays in Greek theatre
Roman theater building
now an enclosed, artificial environment with the seats stage house stage roof frons scaenae orchestra puliptum
Teatro Olimpico
oldest indoor theater based on classical Roman design
Morality plays
people loved them because they were about themselves Performed by traveling professionals Plays featuring the moral testing of a contemporary, Christian "everyman" - stand-in characters for the audience Used distinctive form of allegory where abstract ideas (death, greed sloth, good deeds, etc) are given personal form (an actual dramatic character)
mystery plays
performed by trade/craft guilds (guilds were called mysteries) - also called cycle plays or craft plays OT plays performed at the Feast of Corpus Christi - craft guilds did stories from the Bible - like community theatre in a sense that each guild had a play they produced and took pride in their specific story Organized into "cycles" of up to 48 plays that took days to perform Civic as well as religious function Revived interest in drama again Fostered a growing professionalism that would lead to eventual theatre companies in England and throughout Europe once religious sanctions were lifted from theatre Written in local languages - not Latin and put together on floats like in a parade
rules of neoclassicism
purity in form plausibility and propriety if it didn't follow these rules, it couldn't be shown
pulpitum
raised stage separate from the orchestra At least three-five doorway that function as "buildings" - action in these plays took place on a street and outside Freestanding buildings rather than being built onto the hillside
"Good Deeds" in Everyman
says she will go, but she is too weak; will is there, but no strength - To strengthen her, he has to go to knowledge only one who goes with him into death
Plays at the monastarie
slightly more exclusive because it cost more indoors- lit by candlelight
Roman theater: History
the Christian church grew and Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal and by the end of the century it was illegal to be in other religion the church looked down on entertainments in the Rome so theatre became associated with immorality and they excommunicated people involved with plays 500's-800's: large gap in drama - without central control of Roman Empire there wasn't enough stability to have time for drama and entertainment, but role of the church continued to grow European languages began to develop as Latin began to decline
Feet variations used by Shakespeare
trochee feminine ending blank verse (rhymed or unrhymed) prose (all plays had some verse)
Horace
wrote "Ars Poetica" (the Art of Poetry), like Aristotle, influential to Renaissance authors Recommended that theatre should have a moral purpose as well as to entertain It should teach and please