Styles of Italian Renaissance Theatre

Renaissance means rebirth or reawakening

14th and 16th centuries drama developed in Italy and marked an end to medieval practices

Theater's rebirth was stage design and the introduction of Opera and Commedia Dell'arte

In 1485 Italian rulers funded Roman plays which influenced writing

Neoclassical writing became popular

Fantasy and supernatural were avoided in neoclassical plays

Key Figures

Giacomo Torelli 1608 – 1678 was an Italian stage designer, engineer, and architect. His work in stage design, particularly his designs of machinery for creating spectacular scenery changes and other special effects, was extensively engraved and hence survives as the most complete record of mid-to-late seventeenth century set design. Already known as it with ingenious machines, including a revolving stage and the chariot-and-pole system for changing scenery. His inventions amazed 17th-century Europe and earned for him the title il gran stregone (“the great wizard”).

Key figures continued...

Serlio, Sebastiano, 1475–1554, Italian Renaissance architect and theoreticianSerlio's contribution to theatre of his time has transcended the centuries and affects us today. He took what he was seeing in the visual art that had begun a few hundred years before.

An artist of this period, Baldassare Peruzzi, had used the idea of perspective in his work.

Gian Giorgio Trissino, 1478-1550, literary theorist, philologist, dramatist, and poet, an important innovator in Italian drama. 1st tragedy written in Italian - Sofonisba (1515) by Giangiorgio TRISSINO. He followed the Greek formula.

Surviving Works

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595), whose Aminta became the most influential drama of this type. It was first performed in 1573 at the court of the dukes of Ferrara.

The Mandrake Root (1517) written by Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)

Il Pastor Fido (The Faithful Shepherd), written by Battista Guarini

Theatre Space

In italy staging was made popular by using perspective architecture and painting

-Books by “Barozzi da Vignola” and “Nicola Sabbattini’s"

- Between 1580 and 1584 “Teatro"

Italianrenaissancetheater.weebley.com

http://www.theatredatabase.com/medieval/women_and_the_stage.html

Source: http://italianrenaissancetheatre.weebly.com/giacomo-torelli.html

Styles of Italian

 Renaissance 

Theatre

There are two major forms of drama in the era; The commedia dell'arte and the commedia d'erudita

Commedia dell’Arte-  (which means “theatre of the professional”) began in Italy in the early 16th Century and quickly spread throughout Europe, creating a lasting influence on Shakespeare, Molière, opera, vaudeville, contemporary musical theatre, sit-coms, and improv comedy.

Commedia d'erudita are Italian comedies written for the enjoyment of scholars in the sixteenth century. They were meant to mimic and emulate the works of Terrence and Plautus.

Audiences could expect plentiful use of monologues, asides, over-hearing, misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and disguise. The comedy is derived at the expense of authority figures behaving foolishly or amorous young men. The audience were also entertained by the performers that helped create the carnivalesque atmosphere.

Role of Women

Italy was the next country after Spain where women appeared on the stage, about the middle of the sixteenth century. After following in the footsteps of Philip II, the pope,forbade their appearance. But, notwithstanding the pope's decree, the substitution of woman for man in female parts became a feature of the Italian theater.

Italian Renaissance Theatre

Jimmerlee W. Abigail S. Nyeem V. Yousif A. Nick