Page 27 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

Religious leaders were now more
relaxed about subject matter. Clerics
were known to attend and laugh at Above: The interior of the Olimpico at
performances of Plautus's bawdy tales. Vicenza: ornate surroundings that will be
The man who would become Pope Pius reproduced again in the early 20th
II even wrote a suggestive comedy in century.
the Plautus manner. Right: The approach to the theatre.
Early Renaissance Theatres
Noblemen were known to adapt halls
into showplaces by installing a scaffold
stage, perhaps with a proscenium frame, Others display four divisions of the Possibly inspired by the Roman theatre
which was dismantled after the background, comparable to the classical at Orange in France (see CR 55), it
performance. Alberti is said to have stage wall pierced with doors, or the contains thirteen rows of seats in the
created a theatrum in the Vatican palace frons scaenae (stage wall) of the shape of an ellipse, rather than a semi-
of Nicholas V in 1452. However, Romans. The illustrations also show a circle, providing better sight lines and
theatrum does not refer exclusively to a medieval influence. Each doorway greater intimacy. There is a flat
playhouse. It can also be used more represents a house with a name above orchestra floor for the chorus. A raised
generally to describe a place of it. However, only four identical houses and raked stage is backed by a long
exhibition. are used in the setting, as compared to wall with three doorways, flanked by
A theatre built at Ferrara in 1532 is possibly forty that might have been two shorter ones, each with a single
believed to have been based on expected in a Mystery play of the opening. The central opening is in the
illustrations by the Roman architect Middle Ages. form of a Roman triumphal arch.
Vitruvius (c.16-13 BC) whose work Notable Theatres Palladio died before the theatre was
was published in 1511. The principles Arisoto’s theatre at Ferrara was completed. New architect Vicenzo
of late Hellenic and Roman architecture followed by the first real playhouse Scamozzi built short street vistas
began to be applied to Italian buildings, built in Italy since the fall of Rome, the behind the five doorways. The theatre
including theatres. The sprawling Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. Andrea opened in 1585 with a cast of 108 in a
theatre setting of the religious play was Palladio designed it for the Olympic performance of Sophocles’ Oedipus
not relevant to the Renaissance theatre Academy of Vicenza. Construction Rex. The theatre was admired for the
architect. began in 1580 and it was completed in ‘exquisite beauty of its proportions.’ It
One set of illustrations for the 1585. Significantly, it was the work of could accommodate 3,000 persons who
revived works of Terence published in scholars and aristocrats and intended admired ‘the overall impression of
1493 and 1497, show a stage on a exclusively for theatrical production. incredible loveliness, which arises from
raised platform between classical pillars Olimpico is a model Renaissance the friezes, architraves, cornices,
and an architectural background. theatre in the academic tradition. festoons and columns with very
beautiful capitals.’

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