Early Renaissance Theatre

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Early Renaissance Theatre
How it all began!
By Sears
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Introduction to the Renaissance in Literature

• A rebirth and awakening of learning that
  separated the middle ages from the modern world.

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What were the characteristics that differed from
the Middle Ages?

• A period of intellectual liberation
• A shift from the Latin to the vernacular
• Experiments with new literary forms
• Interests in secular (from the church) subjects
• Increase in non-fiction writings
• Curiosity led to voyages of discovery to unknown
  lands by explorers who wrote vivid accounts of
  their travels

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Flourishing of Literature occurs because

• End of the War of the Rose in 1485 the End of
  the 100 Years War earlier in the century brought
  peace and stability under the Tudor monarchy.
• Reformation reaches England because Henry VIII
  wanted and divorce
• Decline of the influence of the Catholic Church
  gave rise to more individualism and secular
  literature

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Influencing Factors

• Decline of feudal system
• Dev. Of a prosperous middle class
• Movement into larger cities
• Dev. Of the printing press made books more
  available and literacy rises
• Social changes
• Arrival of manuscripts from the fall of
  Constantinople in 1453.

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Manuscripts from Constantinople

• Applied classical standards to written works in
  the vernacular (common language)
• English humanists took interest in creating a new
  concept of a good life that was based on
  classical ethics
• Brought the need to feel a higher form of
  literature

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Misc.

• By the 16th C. the English language was filled
  with exciting new words
• Writers now have a language that was a fit and
  flexible instrument for the creation of great
  literature.
• Shakespeare could not have written his plays
  before the 16th C. because until that time the
  English language did not possess the variety and
  flexibility needed for his great tragedies and
  comedies.

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Early English Theatre

• Borrowing from the Greeks (whose plays were for
  the worship of the god Dionysus), English plays
  were called MIRACLE or MYSTERY plays
• Miracle/Mystery plays were based on Bible stories
  and performed in churches
• Later, these plays (because of secular themes)
  were in church yards and then later in the streets

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Morality Plays

• Based on religious themes, but NOT of the Bible
• Were allegories of moral behavior
• 1st known is called EVERYMAN (15th C.)
• Performed on wagons by wandering actors
• Later performed in courts of great houses

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Interludes

• These were short farcical plays offered as relief
  from the fire and brimstone of the moral and
  religious plays
• They were the beginnings of modern comedies

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Surviving Comedies

• Most during the early period were based on the
  Latin models
• Ralph Roister Doister c 1553 by Nicholas Vdall
• Grammer Gurtons Needle c. 1533
• These are some of the first known.

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Surviving Tragedies

• Gorboduc c. 1561 by Thomas Sackville Thomas
  Norton were written in the newly imported from
  Italy BLANK VERSE
• This play and the 2 comedies were for amateur
  performances by schoolboys or university students

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The Theatres on the Rise

• Because inns and great houses became too small,
  the next step was to construct a theatre
• 1st theatre was built by James Burbage and
  creatively named The Theatre.(1576)
• Globe Theatre (1599)
• Blackfriars Theatre (1608)

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Globe Theatre

• Hexagonal
• Unroofed
• Stage and pit circular
• Three levels of galleries

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Characteristics of the Theatre

• All male actorsthuslove scenes had to be
  characterized by language alone rather than
  contact
• Only performed in the daylight hours
• Costumes were elaborate, but scenery minimal
• Language had to take care of the scenesdarkness,
  death, etc.

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More theatre characteristics

• Quick scene changes were no problem because of
  the lack of sceneryso the 42 scenes in Antony
  Cleopatra were no problem to negotiate.

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Who Influence Will?

• Christopher Marlowe
• Thomas Kyd
• Robert Greene
• John Webster
• Ben Jonson
• Thomas Dekter
• Beaumont/Fletcher

• Marlowe in Particular!
• He was dead _at_29, so he had not enough life to
  outdo Will.
• Wrote Edward II (history play), Tamburlaine, The
  Jew of Malta, Dr. Faustus (plays focusing on an
  individual with overreaching ambitions for which
  he was willing to die)
• Wrote in BLANK VERSE!