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1475
Sebastiano Serlio was born
Sebastiano Serlio was an Italian architect and painter during the Italian Renaissance(Britannica). He was best know for his paintings and influential architectures treatise(Britannica). A few of his treatise had a big influence in the designing of many theatres during this time. It gave idea on scene design and also stage lighting. Sebastiano's treatise gave the world a base line blue print of house theatre should be designed. -
First Roof Cover Theatre Opens-The Teatro Olimpico
The first indoor theatre during the Italian Renaissance was The Teartro Olimpico. It was created in 1585, and made out of wood and plaster. It was located in-between the two Italian cities Milan and Venice(Britannica). During this time period, most theatres and opera houses were located in what today day is modern day Northern Italy(Britannica). The theatre held theater and musical productions. It was a very success theatre which lead too more theatres to be built and open up for the public. -
Arlecchino(Harlequin)
Arlecchino was a character that was a product of commedia dell'arte. Arlecchino's sole purpose was to be comedic relief. With his absurd presence, the audience would break out in laughs before he started to perform(Britannica). Commedia dell'atre was created to show the comedic side of theatre and one of the first to do it, but Arlecchino was a character that expressed what live theatre was about, and that was choreography, customs, and bring a physical element to performances(Brockett pp.122). -
The First Opera Production- Dafne
Until 1598, there were no know productions of Opera. It was not until a man named Ottavio Rinucchi wrote the first know piece that was performed, and it was called Dafne. It was based a mythical story of Apollo and Daphne(Britannica). The music from the production was not published until 1608, and the producer named Marco da Gagliano, then gave specific detail on how it should be performed(Britannica). It illustrate what opera was and all about. -
Commedia dell'Arte
Commedia dell' Arte translates to "comedy of the profession". Essentially what Commedia dell' Arte is a style of theatre that focuses on the actors improvisations skills. These acts would also have characters dressed up in colorful attire and they would perform comical acts. It set a basis of what improvisation was. The actor did not focus so much of the dialogue(Brockett pp. 120-121). It gave people a taste of what live improve performance were and how enjoyable they were. -
Giacomo Torelli was born
Giacomo Torelli was a stage designer who create some of the first theatre machinery for its time, the outline of the machinery are now a basis of modern day stage machinery. With his early advancements in theatre machinery, he was give the nickname " the great wizard"(Britannica). Some of the pieces that he invented were the revolving stage and also the chariot-and-pole system, which was used to change the backdrop during performances(Britannica). -
The Teatro Farnese was Bulit
The Teatro Farnese was a playhouse that was esthetically pleasing for one to watch performances. The theatre did not open up until 1628 by Giovanni Battisa Aleotti(Britannica). It was unique because of its rectangular shape and had a U-shaped area for dancers. It had high arches on the stage, making it easier for individuals to see the play(Italy Magazine). The Teatro Farnese was the basis of most modern theatres today. -
The First Opera House- The Teatro San Cassiano
Unlike the first opera production, this was the first public opera house open to people. It was build by a man named Francesco Bognolo, and because of his creation, it aloud opera to be heard by the world. Once the Teatro San Cassino was built, the opera industry started to boom(Nelison). What made the theatre to have great success was the location, which was Venice. During this time their were pretty wealthy merchant families, who helped support the opera house(Neilson). -
The Servant of Two Masters
The Servant of Two Masters was written by a man named Carlo Goldoni in 1743. It was written to honor an actor named Antonio Sacco. Goldoni took the improve aspect of this script, which is was considered more respectable because it did not have smutty humor(Brockett pp.124-125). Goldoni paved the way for new style of performances, which were scripted dialogues. Not only was he different from other play writes, he also became very popular amongst people, which help spread theatre across the world. -
The decline of Theatres in Italy
Through the 14th and 16th century, theatre was a big part of peoples lives during the Italian renaissance. It slowly came to an end when the countries France, Germany, and Spain began to raid parts of Italy(HISTORY). This lead to an economic downfall which made it hard for them to be able to support the arts, and that's when the Renaissance era began to die in early to mid 17th century(HISTORY). The unique attribute that the Renaissance gave, are still used in modern day theatre.