RENAISSANCE THEATRE ARCHITECTURE

1
RENAISSANCE THEATRE ARCHITECTURE

• by Virginia R. Francisco

2
Italian Practice is Major Influence

• productions began 1470
• but only on special occasions
• in temporary theatres

3
Emphasis on Scenery

• even Serlio assumes no permanent building
• a theatre burned in Ferrara 1532
• but not known to be permanent

4
Temporary Theatres in Halls

• stadium-like seating around an orchestra
• used to seat royal party
• raised stage at ruler's eye level
• front stage flat for actors
• rear raked for scenery

5
Scenery Not Meant to be Changed

• Serlios 3 scenes were to be enough for all plays

6
Development of Permanent Theatres

• after 1550 the Baroque Era
• new concern for authority
• return to orthodoxy
• under growing pressure from Protestantism

7
Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza

• oldest surviving permanent theatre in Europe
• built 1585 by Olympic Academy, founded 1555
• specialized in Greek dramas
• formerly produced on temporary stages

8
Teatro Olimpico Designed by Palladio

• a member of the Olympic Academy
• student of Vetruvius and of Roman ruins

9
Teatro Olimpico

• in existing building
• necessarily semi-elliptical seating
• around a small orchestra
• http//www.vicenzanews.it/APT_PRO/MUSEI/teatro_oli
  mpico.htm

10
Stage and Scenery

• rectangular stage
• fixed facade with 5 openings
• modified by Scamozzi
• street scenes in perspective

11
Teatro at Sabbionetta

• designed by Scamozzi, 1588
• first purpose-built theatre building
• designed as one unit

12
The Proscenium Arch

• purpose is masking scene changes
• served by downstage angle wings and border
• early proscenium arches were temporary
• oldest extant evidence is drawing
• Bartolomeo Neroni, 1560

13
Permanent Proscenium Arches

• early at Uffizi court theatre, Florence, 1586
• designed by Bartolomeo Neroni
• destroyed in c. 18

14
Teatro Farnese at Parma

• designed by Giovani Battista Aleotti, 1618
• first used 1628
• first surviving theatre with permanent proscenium
  arch
• two more arches upstage
• Auditorium Like Other Court Theatres
• U-shaped stadium seating
• large open orchestra

15
Box, Pit, and Gallery Auditoria

• used in middle ages in temporary theatres
• used in London (1567), Paris (1558), Madrid
  (1579) public theatres

16
Corrales in Spain

• Madrid, several temporary, 1570s
• http//www.coh.arizona.edu/spanish/comedia/graphic
  s/principe1.jpg
• Almagro, n.d., now restored
• http//www.coh.arizona.edu/spanish/comedia/graphic
  s/almagro.html

17
Standardized by Public Opera Houses

• and professional opera troupes
• first public theatre, San Cassiano, Venice, 1565
• Opera of SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1639
• plan is first extant evidence of bpg auditorium
• five levels of galleries
• first two divided into boxes
• parterre

18
Venice Public Opera House

• Box, pit, and gallery auditorium
• Proscenium arch stage
• Wing, drop, and border scenery
• La Fenice, 1789
• http//www.teatrolafenice.it/fenice/storia/frindpr
  .htm

19
Surviving Renaissance Theatres

• Drottingholms Slottsteater, 1766, Sweden
• http//www.drottningholmsteatern.dtm.se/engelsk/ef
  rames_index.htm
• Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
• 1680, reconstructed and equipped 1765
• http//www.ckrumlov.cz/uk/zamek/5nadvori/i_bd.htm