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THE MODERN

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 732 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THE See also:

MODERN See also:THEATRE During the See also:middle ages See also:miracle plays with sacred scenes were the favourite See also:kind of See also:drama; no See also:special buildings were erected for these, as they were represented either in churches or in temporary booths. In the 16th See also:century the revival of the See also:secular drama, which, in the reign of See also:Elizabeth, formed so important a See also:part of the literature of See also:England, was carried on in tents, wooden sheds, or courtyards of inns, mostly by strolling actors of a very See also:low class. It was not till towards the See also:close of the century that a permanent See also:building was constructed and licensed for dramatic representations, under the management of See also:Shakespeare and See also:Burbage. The first building specially erected in See also:London for dramatic purposes was built in 1576-77 by the actor See also:James Burbage. It was constructed of See also:timber, and stood in See also:Holywell See also:Lane, See also:Shoreditch, till 1598, when it was pulled down; it was known as " The Theatre " See also:par excellence. Of almost equally See also:early date was the " See also:Curtain " theatre, also in Shoreditch; so called from the See also:plot of ground, known as " The Curten," on which it stood. It probably continued in use till the See also:general closing of theatres by See also:order of the See also:parliament in 1642. The " Globe " theatre, famous for its association with Shakespeare, was built by James Burbage, who used the materials of " The Theatre," in the See also:year 1599. Its site was in See also:Southwark, in the Bankside, near the " See also:Bear Gardens." It was an octagonal structure of See also:wood, with See also:lath and See also:plaster between the See also:main framework. It was burnt in 1613, rebuilt, and finally pulled down and its site built over ' This theatre was not begun when See also:Pausanias wrote his See also:book See also:Attica, and was See also:complete when he wrote the Achaica (see Paus. vii. 2o). It is illustrated in Mon.

Inst. vi., See also:

plate 16. s These are shown on Graeco-See also:Roman vases of the latest type, with paintings of See also:burlesque parodies of mythological stories.in 1644. Its name was derived from its sign of See also:Atlas supporting the globe. Near it were two less important theatres, " The See also:Rose," opened in 1592 by See also:Henslowe, and " The See also:Swan " (see below), opened in 1598 and partly owned also by Henslowe; like the Globe, the latter was an octagonal wood-and-plaster building. The " Blackfriars " theatre, another of the Burbages' ventures, was built in 1596, near the old Dominican friary. The " See also:Fortune " theatre was built by See also:Edward See also:Alleyn, the actor, in 1599, at a cost, including the site, of £1320. It stood between Whitecross See also:Street and See also:Golding Lane. It stood as See also:late as 1819, when a See also:drawing of it was given by See also:Wilkinson (Londina illustrate, 1819). The " Red See also:Bull " theatre was probably originally the galleried See also:court of an See also:inn, which was adapted for dramatic purposes towards the close of Elizabeth's reign. Other early theatres were the " See also:Hope " or " See also:Paris See also:Garden " theatre, the " Whitefriars " and " See also:Salisbury Court " theatres, and the " Newington " theatre. A curious panoramic view of London, engraved by Visscher in 1616, shows the Globe, the Hope and the Swan theatres. The See also:plan of the first See also:English theatres appears to have had no connexion with those of classical times, as was the See also:case in See also:Italy: it was evidently produced in an almost accidental way by the early See also:custom of erecting a temporary See also:platform or See also:stage in the middle of the open courtyard of an inn, in which the galleries all See also:round the court formed boxes for the See also:chief spectators, while the poorer part of the See also:audience stood in the court on all sides of the central stage.

Something similar to this arrangement, unsuitable though it now seems, was reproduced even in buildings, such as the Globe, the Fortune and the Swan, which were specially designed for the drama. In these and other early theatres there was a central platform for the stage, surrounded by seats except on one See also:

side, where there was a " See also:green-See also:room " or " tireynge-howse." The upper galleries or boxes completely surrounded the stage, even the space over the green-room being occupied by boxes. This being the arrangement, it is easy to see why the octagonal plan was selected in most cases, though not in all—the Fortune theatre, for example, was square. An interesting See also:specification and See also:contract for the building of the Fortune theatre (see below) is printed by Halliwell-Phillipps (op. cit. infra, p. 164). In all its details the Fortune is specified to be like the Globe, except that it is to be square in plan, and with timbers of heavier See also:scantling. The walls are to be of wood and plaster, the roof tiled, with See also:lead gutters, the stage of See also:oak, with a " See also:shadow " or See also:cover over it, and the " tireynge-howse " to have glazed windows. Two sorts of boxes are mentioned, viz., gentlemen's roomes " and " twoopennie roomes." A woodcut showing this arrangement of the interior is given in a collection of plays edited by Kirkman in 1672. The vexed question of the construction of these theatres has been much discussed in See also:recent years. In 1888 a drawing of the Swan theatre (fig. 4), apparently copied from a rough drawing in a London See also:letter from the traveller Johannes de Witt, was discovered by Dr Karl Gaedertz in a See also:manuscript See also:volume in the See also:Utrecht University library, consisting of the See also:common-See also:place book of Arend See also:van Buchell (1565-1641). While undoubtedly See also:authentic, and probably broadly accurate, this copied See also:sketch cannot be accepted, however, as giving the See also:regular or typical plan of the contemporary theatre, as in some respects it does not fulfil the known conditions of the stage.

What that typical plan was, if (as is probable) one actually existed, has led to much learned conjecture and See also:

great difference of See also:opinion as regards the details required by the See also:interpretation of contemporary stage directions on the necessities of the See also:action in contemporary drama. The ingenious reconstruction (fig. 5), See also:drawn by W. H. See also:Godfrey in 1907, of the Fortune theatre, following the builder's specification; appears to approach very nearly to satisfying all the requirements. (See " The Elizabethan Stage," in the Quarterly See also:Review (London), See also:April 1908.) In the 16th and 17th centuries a favourite kind of theatrical See also:representation was in the See also:form of "masques," with processions of grotesquely attired actors and temporary scenic effects of great splendour and See also:mechanical ingenuity. In the reigns of James I. and See also:Charles I., See also:Ben Jenson and the architect Inigo See also:Jones worked See also:Italian See also:ballet; and in the middle of the 17th century the regular together in the See also:production of these " masques," See also:Jonson See also:writing See also:opera was introduced at Paris. the words and Inigo Jones devising the scenic effects, the latter At the end of the 18th century the theatres of See also:San Carlo being very costly and complicated, with gorgeous buildings, at See also:Naples, La Scala at See also:Milan, and La Fenice at See also:Venice were the landscapes, and clouds or mountains, which opened to display finest in See also:Europe; all these were rebuilt in the 19th century, mimic deities, thrown into See also:relief by coloured See also:lights. These masques were a form of opera, in which Ben Jonson's words were set to See also:music. Ben Jonson received no more for his libretto than Inigo Jones did for his scenic devices, and was not unnaturally annoyed at the secondary place which he was made to occupy: he therefore revenged himself by writing severe satires on Inigo Jones and the See also:system which placed the See also:literary and mechanical parts of the opera on the same footing. In an autograph MS. which still exists this satirical See also:line occurs—" See also:Painting and See also:carpentry are the soul of masque " (see Cunning-See also:ham, See also:Life of Inigo Jones, London, 1848).

In Italy, during the 16th century, the drama occupied a more important position, and several theatres were erected, professedly on the See also:

model of the classic theatre of See also:Vitruvius. One of these, the Teatro Olimpico at See also:Vicenza, still exists; it was designed by See also:Palladio, but was not completed till 1584, four years after his See also:death. It has an architectural scena, with various orders of columns, rows of statues in niches, and the three doors of the classic theatre; but the whole is painted with strong See also:perspective effects which are very unclassical in spirit. Scamozzi, Palladio's See also:pupil, who completed the Teatro Olimpico, built another pseudo-classical theatre in 1588 at Sabbionetta for the See also:duke Vespasiano See also:Gonzaga, but this does not now exist. In See also:France the miracle See also:play See also:developed into the secular drama rather earlier than in England. In the reign of See also:Louis XI., about 1467, the " See also:Brothers of the See also:Passion " had a theatre which was partly religious and partly satirical. In the 16th century See also:Catherine de' See also:Medici is said to have spent incredible sums on the dresses and scenery for the representation of the but have been eclipsed by the later theatres of London, Paris, St See also:Petersburg and other great cities of Europe and See also:America, both in See also:size and architectural splendour. On the problems connected with the construction of the Elizabethan theatre, see Dr See also:Cecil Brodmeier, See also:Die Shakespeare-Biihne nach den See also:alten Buhneranweisungen (See also:Weimar, 1904) ; Dr See also:Paul Monkemeyer, Prolegomena drier Darstellung der Englischen Volksbiihne zur Elizabeth and See also:Stuart Zeit (See also:Leipzig, 1905) ; Dr See also:Richard Wegener, Die Buhneneinrichtung See also:des Shakespeareschen Theaters nach dem zeitgenossischen drama (See also:Halle, 1907) ; See also:George F. See also:Reynolds, Some Principles of Elizabethan Staging (See also:Chicago University, 1905); E. K. See also:Chambers, " The Stage of the Globe," in vol. x. of the See also:Stratford Shakespeare (1904); See also:Victor E. See also:Albright, A Typical Shakesperian Stage (New See also:York, 1908).

(J. H. M.; H.

End of Article: THE MODERN

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