An Introduction To The

Renaissance

Religion/Beliefs•Alchemy

- Great Chain of Being•Reformation - Protestant/Catholic•Individualism

-Be yourself – you can shape your own destiny

•Humanism-Humans are the center - of the universe and the

"measure of all things."

Values• Associated themselves

with the values of “classical antiquity”, particularly as expressed in the newly rediscovered classics of literature, history and moral philosophy.

Great Chain

• Everything existing within the universe has it’s place in a divinely planned hierarchy.

• It is based on a scaled “Spirit : Mass” ratio. Body consists of 4 substances, called “Humoors”

Political and Social Reforms

• Feudalism ends, and a central form of Government arises

• England and France sees a rise of national monarchies, while Italy sees a rise of city-states, headed by wealthy oligarchic families

• A shift from “contemplative” to “active” living.– Involvement in public life, in

moral/political/military actions– Personal and Intellectual aspirations arise

Costumes OF the Period

Formal Clothing

Theatrical Clothing

Actor Movements

• As you can see from the costumes, there was very little room for realistic movements. This led to broader extensions of an actor’s arm, and very exaggerated gestures.

A Look Into The Elizabethan Era:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qbBVbktxjg

The Globe Theatre

• The Globe was built in a similar style to the Coliseum, but on a smaller scale - other Elizabethan Theatres followed this style of architecture which were called amphitheatres.

• The motto of the Globe theatre was "Totus mundus agit histrionem" ( the whole world is a playhouse ). The phrase was slightly re-worded in the William Shakespeare play As You Like It - "All the world’s a stage" which was performed at the Globe Theatre

• Different colored flags were used to advertise the themes of plays which were to be performed at the Globe Theatre. A black flag indicated a tragedy, a white flag indicated a comedy and a red flag indicated a History

• The Globe Theatre was demolished by the Puritans. On 15th April 1644 landowner Sir Matthew Brend demolished the playhouse and built tenement houses on the site

The Globe Theatre (Cont.)

Black Friars

The Rose

The Red BullThe Swan

The Fortune

Other Theatres

Theater Conventions

• Two major theater design innovations came during the Renaissance in Italy:– the proscenium arch

that frames and divides the stage from the audience

– the art of painting cloths as backdrops for scenery

Another major introduction/continuation was the commedia dell’ arte, which means comedy of the profession. It was an improvised, quick-witted performance by wandering players. They wore masks to portray a regular cast of characters and made up their lines as they went along. The daughters and wives of the players were some of the first women to perform in theater.

Theater Conventions

• Dance played a vital role in Renaissance theater. In Italy, troupes of Commedia dell' Arte performers relied on songs and dances to break up the action of their improvised comedies.

• Dances and musical interludes became a feature of the intermissions of the early professional theaters common in Europe's largest cities during the sixteenth century.

• The surviving sources, though, give little information about the kinds of dances that were performed in these circumstances.

• In aristocratic society, by contrast, dance flourished as an important component of court spectacles and was well recorded in the documents of the period.

Theater Conventions

• Madrigals: Secular (Church) Musichttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctci_zhGhvY

• Dance:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45PBlB-nrH4

Music And Dance