Middle Ages Theatre History

Closet Drama

Plays meant to be read not performed

Liturgical Drama

to honor Christ, performed to worship in church, religious

Cycle Drama

whole Christian universe (creation—>last judgement), performed by trade guilds, aka mystery plays, performed over multiple days

Medieval

From the latin words medium (middle) + aevum (age), literally middle of the age

Renaissance

rebirth, particularly of art + interest in the how and why

Regularis Concordia

by Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester, rulebook for benedictine monasteries (medieval poetics), codified Quem Quaertis

Quem Quaertis

“whom do you seek”, story of easter, all sung call & response (antiphonal), purpose to worship

Passion Plays

depicting the passion of christ, type of cyclical dramas

Miracle Plays

about the lives of saints

Humanism

interest in human beings, art = means for human experience

Patronage

noble/wealthy person who funds the arts, could also get them opportunities, prestige, and protection

Treatise de Architectura

Poetics of stagecraft, 3D looking backdrops, rudimentary lighting and spectacle, 1521

Commedia dell’arte

professional actors, stock characters + situations, scenario + improv, slapstick comedy, descendent of the Atellan farce

Lazzi

standard comic bits

Master of Revels

would close theatres for lewdness and unshamefacedness, and the plague

The Earl of Leichester’s Men

formed by James Burbage, first of the player troupes, 1572

Lord Chamberlein’s Men

shakespeare + richard burbagge + will kempe formed it, later called the King’s Men, 1594

Tetrology

a series of 4, shakespeare had two during the war of the roses

first written, Henry VI P1,2,4 + Richard III

later published prequel, Richard II, Henry IV P1,2, Henry V

War of the Roses

time frame of Shakespeare’s history plays, dramatized versions of the civil wars

Plautus

main adapter of Menander, mistaken identity, stock relationships, thwarted lovers, latin

Terence

does menander better than Menander + plautus, favored complex/double plots, more romcom/sentimental, vernacular not verse

Seneca

king of the closet drama, mentored Nero, 5 act structure, 9 extant tragedies, obsession, revenge, magic/supernatural, asides + soliloquies, sensational deaths

Horace

author of the ars poetica, purpose of theater is to teach and to please

Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester

wrote the Regularis Concordia, medieval poetics

Hrosvitha of Gandersheim

earliest female playwright, 10th century canoness, 6 plays of terence, comedia sacrae, closet drama, Dulcitius most well-known work

Hildegarde of Bingen

sacred monophony, first extant morality play Ordo Virtutum, first female composer

Johannes Gutenburg

inventor of the printing press, 1440

Medici Family

very wealthy italian family, original patrons of the arts

James Burbage

created the Leicester’s Men, carpenter, 1st to form a troupe

Richard Burbage

son of james burbage, og member of Chamberlein’s men with shakespeare

Robert Greene

calls shakespeare an “upstart crow”, one of the university wits

Christopher Marlowe

contemporary of Shakespeare, star mobiles, master of blank verse, dies in 1593

Ned Alleyn

huge player (Rob Pat of his time), Marlowe’s star

Shakespeare’s Christening (date)

1564

Shakespeare’s Death (date)

1616

Vagabonds Act (date)

1572

First time Shakespeare’s appears in Print (date)

1592

Formation of Lord Chamberlain’s Men (date)

1594

Opening of the Globe (date)

1599

First Performance of Hamlet (date)

1600