Renaissance theatre (2)

Question 1

What is the Salles des Machines?

Answer 1

Salle des Machines (1660)is the largest playhouse in Europe.

Question 2

The French were probably the first Europeans after the Romans to construct a permanent theatre building. What is the name of this theatre?

Answer 2

Hôtel de Bourgogne, completed in 1548.

Question 3

What is Masque?

Answer 3

Masques were ornate, professionally staged, mythological allegories intended
to praise the monarch; they were embellished by music and dance, and they frequently used amateur performers from the court.

Question 4

Describe the makeup of acting companies in the elizabethan theatre.

Answer 4

• Organized on a sharing plan.
• Shareholders: elite members of the company; received a percentage of the troupe’s profits as payment.
• Hirelings: actors contracted for a specific period of time and salary.
• Apprentices: young performers training for the profession; were assigned to shareholders.
• No female performers; boys or men played women’s roles.

Question 5

Describe the makeup of the acting companies in Spanish theatre.

Answer 5

• Acting troupes consisted of 16 to 20 performers.
• Included women (although the church did not support this). Female performers were banned for a time but returned to the stage when the church determined that men in women’s clothing and makeup was immoral
• Most Spanish acting troupes were compañías de parte—sharing companies, like those of
  Elizabethan England.

Question 6

Describe the makeup of the acting companies in France.

Answer 6

• Acting companies were organized under a sharing plan
• Had women members who could become shareholders.
• Acting companies were licensed by the Académie Française

Question 7

What were the movements and discoveries in the reniassance that influenced theatre?