Renaissance Theater The Reconstructed Globe Theater in London.
Renaissance theatre England. Sources English theater during the Renaissance draws on two distinctly...
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Renaissance theatre
England
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Sources
• English theater during the Renaissance draws on two distinctly different traditions– Medieval theater• Religious dramas
– The revival of classical Roman theater (remember that Renaissance refers to the “rebirth” of classical culture)• Classical culture is filtered through Rome – little direct
access to Greek theater
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Medieval Theater
• No extant theatrical rituals from “dark ages” – 5th C to ~ 11th C– All memories of classical Roman dramas that may have
been performed in Roman Briton before the 5th C are lost
– Medieval drama begins with Church ritual – the mass is a dramatization / ritual re-enactment of the Last Supper
– First “drama” probably 11th C re-enactment of Mary Magdalen finding the risen Christ on Easter morning – performed at Easter matins by Benedictine nuns/monks
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Medieval Dramas staged . . .
• Courtyards outside churches• Village greens / town squares– Each year on “Corpus Christi” – June – the
medieval English churches would celebrate for three “no work – all play and feasting days” and put on three days of plays to re-enact important Biblical stories from Genesis to Revelations
– Each guild in town had its own “story” re-done every year
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Mystery Play Setting
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Corpus Christi plays
• Rural folks came into the towns to watch the town-folks perform these Biblical stories (~ 30 mins each story)
• Remember how few people were literate, so this provides the only access to Biblical stories for many medieval folks
• Plays were set up on wagons or carts – movable stages, and the audience moved from cart to cart to follow the action
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Later medieval plays
• Medieval folks branched out a bit from the Bible and began dramatizing– Saints’ lives – origin of the Saint Nicholas myth is
found in plays about St Nicholas saving girls from lives of prostitution by throwing a sack of coins down the chimney (a dowry to buy a husband)
– “Everyman” plots in which an ordinary man lives an ordinary sinful life and then repents and is saved (Morality plays)
– Folk hero plays – Robin Hood, etc.
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Dramas / Masques / Dances
• All these became aristocratic entertainment as well as popular entertainment.
• Plays staged in “great halls” of castles• Plays staged for barristers at the Inns of Court
in London (these guys loved to pay for food, drink and entertainment – a sort of “eating club” mentality)
• Some staged in courtyards of inns for less well-to-do patrons.
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Banquet Hall at Inns of Court in London
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Medieval inn’s courtyard
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Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
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Another picture of the Globe
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One last Globe . . .
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Renaissance plays -- seasonal
• Outdoor / partially roofed theaters in large cities – stand in the weather – cheaply – sit under some shelter – more costly
• Indoor great hall performances for the wealthy
• Shakespeare wrote for both venues
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Great Hall