I am standing behind the double doors, the loudspeakers blurting out the lines I know so well. Romeo, then Tybalt, then Mercutio. Now me. It is my turn. My chance to step onto the stage and perform. My lines are going through my head. My queues appear to be laid out in front of me. I have done this show so many times. Sure I’m the youngest kid in the cast, but that doesn’t matter. It is all for squat if I blow it out there-all the work, all the practice, all for nothing. Theater is all the mind. You can conquer all the fears in the world if you have what it takes up hear. Right here….right in the brain.
Like I said above, I have done this show ten times-but for some reason, I am no less nervous then I was nine nights ago. My hand is still twitching. My palms are still sweaty. My face is still fire hot.
There it is. There is my que. Benvolio enters with knife drawn. I have my props. I have my lines. I have my ques. I have everything I need. I push through the double doors. I’m on.
Wait. Stop. Go back four hundred years.
Have you ever wondered about the history of theater? Have you been sitting in a seat watching a show, being blown away by the performance and wonder how this all happened? I know I have. In fact, when I looked at the history I noticed that the 1600s was the most influential century in terms of changing the way we view theater today. So many things that we see when we experience theater were invented in the 1600s. The language. The actors. The theater itself. So many things that today we take for granted when we see a play were invented 400 years ago.The 1600s was a critical century for theater. One of the most famous playwrights of all time wrote many of his plays in the early 1600. The first proscenium theater was built in 1618. The first example of woman being incorporated into theater occurred in 1660. Read on to learn how the 1600s shaped today’s theater.
To be or not to be. This is one of the most famous phrases in the English language. And who is more fit to have coined but the 17th century poet William Shakespeare? Shakespeare taught us so much about the art that we now call “theater.” Shakespeare taught us that language is everything. The play Hamlet first hit the theaters in the year 1601. This play is filled with many beautiful, almost musical lines cloaked in several different depths of meaning. For example, let us take the line that we talked about above. The whole passage reads: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” On the surface, this line can be read as a witty, even whimsical image of a boy prince spewing nothingness about the basic meaning of “being”. It appears to be a great example of the kind of nonsense that people today call “teenagers”. However, if you read the same passage again, on a deeper level you will find Hamlet (a teenaged prince) is contemplating whether he should live or die. “To be” is to live. In this one passage you can see how powerful language can be. Shakespeare showed us that having levels of meaning in your language can intrigue the listener. These “double entendres” are common place in theater-and so are so many other language techniques that Shakespeare taught us. Along with language, Shakespeare is known for having great characters. Each play that William Shakespeare wrote was filled with many complex characters. Let’s take the play “The Tempest.” The Tempest, first performed in the year 1611 and thought to be Shakespeare’s last play, has three kinds of characters: The evil, the good, the funny. Today, every major show have these three types of characters. Although Shakespeare wasn’t the first person to come up with the “Good, Bad, and the Funny” character technique he is one of the first to incorporate it into everyone of his shows and he is one of the people who made it famous. So, as you can see in the two examples above, Shakespeare influenced us with his language and his character styles. This is what today’s theater has learned from Shakespeare and this is one of the many things that theater has learned from the 1600s.
One of the most beautiful things in theater can be the theater itself. Many of the theaters that are being used to this day are built off of the Teatro Farnese. Teatro Farnese was built in the year 1618 by a man by the name of Giovanni Battista Aleotti. His goal was to build a baroque style theater. And that is exactly what he did. This is one of the first examples of the kind of theater that we see shows in today. The curved stage. The surrounding boxes. The ornate ceiling. All of this is part of what is today called a “proscenium” theater. To quote the website history of theater “ Teatro Farnese was an Italian baroque theater...cited as a prototype for the modern playhouse.”As was written in the above paragraph, the 1600s not only the kind of plays that are seen today, but also the kind of theaters that people would view them in. The Teatro Farnese changed the way people viewed theater. Theater (after the Teatro Farnese) became a much wealthier man’s game. It was a place where the rich would go to hang out on a Saturday weekend. The baroque style made the theater more ornate-even to the point of being fancier. This changed the entire dynamic of theater. It turned into a place where the upper class spent their time. With that said, at this point it should be clear to you that Teatro Farnese changed the entire environment of theater. Today, when you go to see “Love’s Labour’s Lost” in the local playhouse, ask the manager who built the theater. He probably won’t know that it was inspired by Giovanni Battista Aleotti, but you will.
The 1600s was a critical time for the development of theater. It changed the way we write plays, the way we direct plays, even the way we see plays. From William Shakespeare to Giovanni Battista Aleotti, the 17th century was critical for theater no matter how you look at it. All the world’s a stage, and the 1600s built it.
“Nice job man.”
“Yeah. Well done Hank. Another great show.”
“Thanks guys. Well done to all of you. Am I gonna see yall tomorrow to?” I ask.
“You know it.”
“Yeaserie!”
“All right. I’m outta here,” I say as I pack up my stuff and exit the theater.
The theater has always been a special place for me. It has always been a place where I feel pure comfort. Every fear, every problem, every crisis comes to a halt when I am up on the stage. And that’s why I love it. The stage is where I do nothing but be me.
As I look back at the 50 year old play house, I can’t help but flash back to the past. The era of Shakespeare. The decade of Aletto. The time theater was being created: The 1600s. Boy what an era! What a time to be alive.
As an actor, I am not only fascinated by what happened to theater itself in the 1600s but also immensely fortunate to be taking part in an art that was invented by some of the most humane people in the earth.
They had what it takes up here. Do I? Only time will tell.
Sources:
http://www.paesionline.it/parma/foto_dettaglio.asp?filename=2356_parma_interno_del_teatro_farnese
GWG,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. It sounds like you are big into performing. I was wondering what is your favorite play (if you have one)? Also who or what got you into theater.
Great post,
J.T
Hello Hank,
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I like how you go through every step of the theater, how you feel when you do it, and the history of it. This was very good, so I don't have a question. One thing to add is that, you might want to double space it because it is a little difficult to read.
Best Wishes!
Alex
Hey Hank,
ReplyDeleteNice post! It was really cool to learn the history of theater. At what age did you get into acting? Were you inspired to start acting by anyone? Nice job!
Thanks,
Matthew
Hey Hank,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really enjoyed reading it. It seems like you act a lot, do you have a favorite play? It was just a little hard to read, so you might want to space it out a little bit. Great job!
-Gemma