Chapter 15 Renaissance Italy Italian theatre set the path toward illusionism The 3 contributions 1. neoclassical ideal in playwriting and criticism 2. Italianate system of staging and architecture 3. A popular theatre known as commedia dellarte
Neoclassism: new classicism Verisimilitude and decorum
Purity of genres Three unities Five-act form Two-fold purpose: teach and please Verisimilitude Truth seeming Truth resided in the essential, general, typical
and class not particular, individual or unique Get rid of what was temporary or accidental to showcase fundamental and unchanging Truth meant truth Elimination of events that could not be reasonable to happen in real life Language-monologues and soliloquies were
eliminate in favor of dialogue to confidants. Characters conducted self with decorum Indecorous characters drove the plots God ruled the world Dramatic action according to moral principles: good was rewarded and evil punished Purity of Genres
Verisimilitude meant no mixing of comic and tragic elements. Tragedy Comedy The Three Unities
Time Place Action Plays needed to unfold within reasonable time and place
Five-Act Form Five acts as probably influenced by Horace and Seneca Suggested five sections separated by choruses To Teach and To Please Teach morality while entertaining an audience
Dual purpose of drama Playwrights made sure they both purposes were incorporated The five points influenced European theatre for the next two hundred years (from late 1500s to late 1700s) Illusionism
Vitruvius (Roman) influenced Italian understanding of theatre architecture Linear perspective-representing spatial depth on a two-dimensional surface Perspective-artistic revolution in Italy Sebastiano Serlio- Dell Architecturainterpretation of Vitruvius Problems: Roman theatre was outdoors and
round, modern theatre was indoors and rectangular Tearto Olimpico-5 onstage doorways-each doorway had its own vanishing pt. Serlio provided tips for colored lighting, fire effects, fanciful costumes and pasteboard figures Italianate Staging
Single-point perspective Wings-the paired flats farther way from audience that were slanted upstage toward the vanishing pt Backdrop-the vanishing point Shutter-wings pushed together or opened to reveal deeper perspective Raked Stage-slanted upward from front to back
Copyright 2011, 2008, 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights Reserved. Slide 13 Movable set-chariot-and-pole system to move the flats on stage (created by Torelli)
Commedia DellArte
professional playing Included both male and female Stock characters Whos Line Sharing companies, 10-12 people in a troupe Ephemeral- lasted for the moment but not didnt leave records
No Credit for the Italians While they greatly influenced European (especially English and French theatre), they faded into the background Opera-most famous for England and France surpassed Italian theatre
