Essay On The Italian Renaissance Theatre

The Italian Renaissance marked a pivotal time for theatre, as well as art in general. It spanned roughly from the year 1400-1600 CE. This era took place following the barbarous Middle Ages, or “Dark Ages”. It was at the end of the 14th Century that a vast group of scholars decided that they had entered a new “rebirth” era of learning, literature, and culture. Many factors contributed to the Italian Renaissance, both geopolitical and economic. During this time, the power of the church was weakening, which made it easier for artists such as playwrights to be more expressive with their work. Additionally, people found themselves in better financial situations because of the Black Death, with killed approximately one third of the population. This

The arch would act as a picture frame, with the audience looking at the stage from one side. The theatres of the time were designed to give certain seats the best view, such as the King or the theatre’s patron. The very first proscenium arch stage was built at the Teatro Farnese in Parma, Italy, 1618. The oldest surviving Italian Renaissance theatre, while lacking a proscenium arch, is the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy, 1584. One concept that revolutionized sets in the theatre was Filippo Brunelleschi’s development of painting using linear perspective. This gave the perception of the space to recede into the frame or stage. This technique was adopted to make flats and shutters appear to have more depth than they actually had. One of the most prominent inventions of the Italian Renaissance was the pole-and-chariot system, invented by Giacomo Torelli. This was an innovative contraption that allowed for the easy and fast movement of sets on stage. The mechanism by which it worked was a set of grooves in the floor of the stage that would house wheeled chariots. The sets would ride on these chariots. Below the stage, poles that connected to the chariots would be maneuvered by a pulley system, ultimately moving the sets across the stage in a fluid manner. This invention was the basis for how many theatres across the world move set pieces

They still utilized a cast of only 15 people, and those ideas remained throughout most of that time period. Eventually, playwrights began writing more non-secular material as the church’s influence began to weaken. It was at this point in time that the first Renaissance Tragedy was written, which was Achilles, in 1390. One of the most popular forms of Italian Renaissance theatre that is still used today is opera. The first operas were always stories that stressed moral lessons on the audience. Opera ultimately became the most popular theatre form in Italy. The first opera performed was Dafne, written in 1594. Another prominent theatre genre was Commedia Dell’arte, which means “comedy of professional players” or “comedy of the profession”. The two fundamental characteristics that made up Commedia Dell’arte were improvisation and the use of stock characters. The characters that were most common to arise were the young lovers, the masters, and the servants. The young lovers would often be the “relatable” characters who were seen as normal people experiencing the odd behaviours and happenings of the other characters. They were also the only two characters that did not usually wear masks. Some of the more notable masters were Dottore (a doctor and usually the master of a household), Pantalone (a wealthy older man), and Capitano (a military man). The servants were usually