1. The Theatre of the Italian Renaissance6
The Theatre of the
Italian Renaissance
(photos12.com-ARJ)

2. Background: The Renaissance in Italy
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

3. Fall of Byzantine Empire
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4. Jaume Serra
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5. © 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

6. © 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

7. Humanism
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

8. Printing Press
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9. Italian Theatre Drama Tragedies and Comedies Intermezzi and Pastorals
THE MANDRAKE
(© Erin Beth Donnelly)
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

10. Intermezzi Short mythical plays shown between acts. Very visual
Became more popular than the plays
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

11. Italian Theatre (continued)
Opera
Only theatrical form of the Italian Renaissance to survive
Scarlatti
Mozart
Wagner
Verdi
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

12. Italian Theatre (continued)
Commedia dell’Arte: A Popular Theatrical Form
Improvised scenarios
Masks
Stock Characters
Zanni
Lazzi – Comic bits
(© Christie’s Images/Corbis)
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

13. The Stock Characters of Commedia dell’Arte
(© Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

14. Italian Theatre Architecture
Theatre Buildings
Teatro Farnese and the Proscenium Stage
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

15. Teatro Olimpico
(© Dennis Marsico/Corbis)
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

16. The Theatre at Sabbioneta
(© Scala/Art Resource, NY)
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

17. Teatro Farnese and the Proscenium Stage
(© Ruggero Vanni/Corbis)
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

18. Italian Dramatic Criticism
The Neoclassical Ideals
Decorum and Verisimilitude
The Unities: Time, Place, and Action
Genre and Other Rules
The Neoclassicists’ Influence
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

19. Decorum
Characters should behave according to their status (age, sex, profession, rank, etc)
Marriage of Figaro
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

20. Verisimilitude Drama should be true to life
No ghosts or supernatural events
Not realism but more stock situations and characters.
Recognizable types
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

21. Italian Dramatic Criticism (continued)
Issues of Dramatic Criticism
The Nature of Criticism:
Descriptive – what has happened before
Ex. Mourning Becomes Electra – O’Neill
Prescriptive Criticism – rules and formulas
The Nature of Drama: Should Theatre Be Didactic? Should plays teach or should art exist for art’s sake.
Horace?
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

22. Neoclassical Structure
3 Unities
© 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

23. The Legacy of the Italian Renaissance
Almost all western theatre was eventually influenced by Italian dramatic criticism and advances of the Italian Renaissance
© 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

24. © 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.