Back in France Richelieu* Pushes Theatre Development
Back in France Richelieu* Pushes Theatre Development
1629 - Cardinal Richelieu* [see p.140] (1585-1642) is made Chief Minister to the court of Louis XIII*, becoming the virtual ruler of France. He uses his position to encourage the development of French literature and the arts, especially playwrighting, and fancies himself a dramatic author. He collects five playwrights (Collete, Claude de l'Etoile, Rotrou*, Boisrobert and Corneille *), to make plays out of rough sketches he writes for them. Georges de Scudery* (1601-67), an aspiring playwright is not one of these favored few and his resentment of Corneille* will crop up later. Corneille* had written his first play back in his home town of Rouen for a strolling company. The play is titled Melite*, a comedy unlike either farce or pastoral and which will set French comedy on new path. It was successfully produced in Rouen, starring Montdory* (Guillaume Desgilberts 1594-1651) who now comes to Paris with his acting company this year after beginning his acting career in a tour of Holland in 1612. Montdory* mounts a new production of Melite* here in Paris. It is so successful that Montdory*'s company becomes one of the leading ones in Paris.
1629 - Du Ryer*, an educated government official, produces Clitophon*. He helps to establish tragedy as a popular form.
De Rotrou* adapts Spanish dramas, bringing love versus honor to the French stage. He becomes the principal dramatist to the Hotel de Bourgogne. This going to the Spanish will be very important for Corneille* later. The love and honor theme will really excite Racine*.
1629 In England Charles I* dissolves another Parliament in March and one will not meet again until 1640.
1630 - In France, concern for the actor's personal character and dignity appears. Gougenot*'s La Comedie des Comedians*, depicts a rehearsal and defends actors from the charge of immorality.
In Spain Tirso de Molina* comes out with his El Burlador de Sevilla* (The Trickster of Seville) the first theatrical work of the Don Juan* story.
1631 Over in India the Shah Jahan builds the Taj Mahal* for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to her fourteenth child.
1631 - Lope de Vega* is doing another of his better known plays, Punishment Without Revenge*.
In Spain the actors are finally allowed to form a guild like that of other trades. The Confradia
de la Novena* is still in existence and includes all theatrical people. This really helps raise the social status of the actor from being branded "infamous", a rogue and vagabond and denied church sacraments.
Ben Jonson* retires from writing masques for the court and William Davenant becomes the principal writer.
1632 - Back in France they are also concerned about the social status of actors. Georges de Scudery* (1601-67) comes out with a play with the same title as Gougenot*'s La Comedie des Comedians* also arguing that actors, like everyone else, should be judged on an individual basis. His list of qualifications to be an actor includes: appropriate facial expression, impressive bearing, unconstrained movement, absence of provincial accent, absence of posturing, a good memory, and sound judgement.
1632 Charles I* issues a charter for the colony of Maryland (named for his queen, Henrietta Maria) and puts it under the control of Lord Baltimore.
Parts
» Euripides* And The Crumbling State
» Aristophanes* - He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best
» Take The Frogs* for instance -
» Alexander And Logical Thinking
» Rome While all this is going on in the Greek-dominated Hellenistic world, the Romans* are busy
» Roman Writers c.275 BCE - c.110 BCE During The Era Of Senate Supremacy
» From Classical Light Into The Dark Ages The Fifth Century
» The End of the Western Empire in Italy
» Why Europe Isn't Very Interesting In The Sixth Century
» Islam* Enters Europe As We Enter The Eighth Century
» Vikings Move On As Does Islamic Culture
» Theatre Reappears In Bits And Pieces As We Move Onward Into The Tenth Century
» Europe Moves On Into The Eleventh Century
» As The Twelfth Century Begins Economic And Intellectual Profits
» The Third Crusade The One We All Remember
» More Crusades And A Small Renaissance As We Go Into The Thirteenth Century
» The Small Renaissance Part of the Century
» THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE SPACE IN CHURCH DRAMA -
» The Fourteenth Century And We Come To The Down Part Of The Late Middle Ages
» The Black Death* Comes To Europe
» Everything Takes Off In All Directions At Once
» The Renaissance Officially Begins
» Italian Theatrical Renaissance Gets Going
» Brief Consideration of the Range of Plays
» The Winds Of Reformation* Begin In Germany -
» Theatrical Scenery Takes Off
» Background for Spanish Theatre -
» Other Current Spanish Playwrights
» The English Renaissance 1588-1629
» Sources Of English Playwrighting
» William Shakespeare* -(1564-1616)
» English Settlements Begin In America
» Spanish Court Theatre Flourishes
» The French Theatre Finally Gets Up and Running Introduction
» Back in France Richelieu* Pushes Theatre Development
» English Religious Opposition Increases
» England Falls into Civil War
» English Restoration Theatre Begins
» Middle Class and Sentimental English Theatre
» Europe and America in Social Ferment
» Germany and the Beginnings of Romanticism
» American Revolutionary Times Begin
» Melodrama,* Popular Theatre, and Napoleon MELODRAMA*
» Realistic Elements In Production
» Political Philosophy Moves On
» The Mexican War* and Nationalism
» The 1848 Revolutions and Nationalism
» Some of his best known plays:
» 1908 - Theatre Theorists Publish
» New Connections, New Starts - 1911 -
» And After 1914-1925 Introduction
» The Russian Revolution - 1917
» America Draws Back Into Its Shell -
» Second World War and Its Aftermath
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