5 Theatre History Midterm Study Guide

Commedia dell'Arte

Professional Italian theatre of the 16th-18th centuries, from "comedy of the profession." Traveling troupes performed from outlines rather than fully written scripts, using improvisation, stock characters, and often masks. It strongly influenced later European comedy.

Gelosi Troupe

One of the most famous commedia troupes, formed around 1568. It toured Italy and France, performed for nobles and kings, and was led by Francesco Andreini and Flaminio Scala. Its star was Isabella Andreini, and it broke up after her death in 1604.

Scenario

A plot outline listing the sequence of scenes, entrances, and basic action, posted backstage. Actors improvised the dialogue and business within it. Flaminio Scala published a collection of fifty in 1611.

Lazzi

Rehearsed comic routines or bits of stage business that actors inserted into a scenario, such as chasing a fly or a clowning fall. The singular is lazzo.

Zanni

The servant characters, usually clowns and tricksters, who often drive the plot. Arlecchino (Harlequin) and Brighella are examples. The word "zany" comes from the name.

Vecchi

"The old men," the authority figures such as Pantalone and the Doctor, who are often foolish, greedy, or pretentious.

Innamorati

The young lovers, usually unmasked, who speak in refined and poetic language. The plot revolves around obstacles to their union.

Pantalone

An old Venetian merchant who is miserly and lecherous, often the father or guardian of the lovers. He is traditionally shown in red with a hooked nose.

Capitano

A braggart soldier who boasts of his valor but runs from danger. He derives from the Roman miles gloriosus and reflects the Spanish presence in Italy.

Slapstick

Physical comedy with exaggerated blows and pratfalls. The name comes from the batacchio, a double paddle that made a loud crack when it hit.

Isabella Andreini

(1562-1604) Leading actress of the Gelosi, and one of the first widely celebrated professional actresses. She was also a poet and writer, played the lover Isabella, and was admired for her learning and virtue. Her stage name became a standard name for the innamorata.

Spanish Golden Age

The Siglo de Oro, roughly the late 16th through 17th centuries, when Spain's arts and literature flourished under the wealth and power of the Habsburg empire. It includes Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderón.

Reconquista

The centuries-long Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule, ending in 1492 with the fall of Granada. It helped create a unified, Catholic Spain, and themes of faith, honor, and monarchy appear throughout Golden Age drama.

Autos Sacramentales

One-act allegorical religious plays honoring the Eucharist, performed for the feast of Corpus Christi. They are Spain's counterpart to the medieval religious drama seen elsewhere in Europe, and lasted until banned in 1765.

Pedro Calderón de la Barca

(1600-1681) The leading Spanish playwright after Lope de Vega, known for philosophical and poetic drama such as Life Is a Dream and for his autos, including The Great Theatre of the World. He also wrote spectacular court plays.

Carros

The wagon stages on which autos sacramentales were performed in Corpus Christi processions. They were elaborately built and decorated, similar to English pageant wagons.

Lope de Vega

(1562-1635) An extremely prolific playwright who claimed to have written over 1,500 plays (several hundred survive). His works include Fuenteovejuna. In The New Art of Writing Plays (1609), he defended mixing tragedy and comedy and writing to please popular audiences.

Comedias

Full-length Spanish plays in verse, usually in three acts. Despite the name, they were not necessarily comic, and often mixed serious and comic elements, including a gracioso (comic servant).

Corrales

Public playhouses in Spanish cities, set in courtyards surrounded by buildings. Audience members stood in the open patio or sat on benches and in galleries, and women had a separate section. Profits often went to charitable hospitals. The Corral de la Cruz and Corral del Príncipe in Madrid are famous examples.

Capa y Espada

"Cloak and sword" comedies, about intrigue among the gentry in contemporary city settings. They feature romance, honor, disguise, mistaken identity, and duels.

Entremeses

Short comic interludes performed between the acts of a comedia, often about lower-class characters and everyday situations. Cervantes wrote several.