Renaissance theatre

England

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

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

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

Mystery Play Setting

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

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.

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.

Banquet Hall at Inns of Court in London

Medieval inn’s courtyard

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

Another picture of the Globe

One last Globe . . .

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

Great Hall