Figure 1.-- There is a tradition of doing Shakesperian plays at English schools. There are even productions at preparatory (private primary) schools. I'm not sure if other countries as commonly have school productions of their Renaissance plays. Here we see a producrion at a French school, although we are not sure just what is being performed. All we know about this production is that it was done in 1938.

The great drama of Renaissance Europe is concentrated in two countries--England and Spain. England is by far the most important. This leads us to wonder why theatrical plays were so much more advanced in England and why boy characters emerged in England and not in other countries. Lope de Vega, of course, was the Spanish Shakespeare, and he wrote hundreds of plays. But they are much more formal and less realistic than Shakespeare's plays, and they don't feature the same kind of comedy as we have exemplified in characters such as Falstaff. Boy characters are very rare and quite insignificant when they do occur. There was virtually no professional theatre in 16th-century Germany--only ad lib farces and knock-about comedy performed by schoolboys and town amateurs who had regular non-theatrical jobs. The French produced a rather sterile academic kind of drama based on classical models, and had almost no boy characters. The Italians went in for commedia del arte--a kind of street theatre with stock characters that was mostly improvised and didn't have set plots and certainly not written-out scripts. The English actors became famous on the continent, and we know that they travelled to Germany and performed English plays (untranslated apparently) for German audiences. But this was an exotic import rather than a native dramatic tradition. Tradition such as it was in Germany involved quite a primative sort of drama. The English theatre was by far the most advanced and sophisticated in all of Western Europe. And the tradition of sophisticated plays being performed by companies of men and boys (for the women's parts) and designed for a cross-section of the middle-class public was almost uniquely an English phenomenon as was the tradition of dramatic blank verse (sometimes intermingled with prose for the lower-class or lower-toned scenes) which developed as the medium of dialogue.

England

The great drama of Renaissance Europe is concentrated in two countries--England and Spain. England is by far the most important. England was hardly the center of the Renaissance. In fact it was still a back water of Europe. A small kingdom located on the Atlantic fringe of Chrisrendom. The English theatre, however, proved to be by far the most advanced and sophisticated in all of Western Europe. We have dramas (tragedies) and commedies with story and character development beyond that in any country. The plays are of such brilliance and so caught the essence of human character that they still ebgage us 400 years later. The tradition of sophisticated plays performed by companies of men and boys (for the women's parts) and designed for a cross-section of the middle-class public was almost uniquely an English phenomenon. Also destinctively English was the tradition of dramatic blank verse (sometimes intermingled with prose for the lower-class or lower-toned scenes) which developed as the medium of dialogue. The height of Renaissance English literature is the latter half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, rather late in the Renaissance. This period includes of course Shakespeare, but he was hardly alone. We note Donne, Milton, Spenser, Sidney, among many others. The question of course occurs, why did all this take place in England just when it did. Why were theatrical plays so much more advanced in England and why did boy characters emerge in England and not in other countries.

France

The French produced a rather sterile academic kind of drama based on classical models, and had almost no boy characters.

Germany

There was virtually no professional theatre in 16th-century Germany--only ad lib farces and knock-about comedy performed by schoolboys and town amateurs who had regular non-theatrical jobs. The English actors became famous on the continent, and we know that they travelled to Germany and performed English plays (untranslated apparently) for German audiences. But this was an exotic import rather than a native dramatic tradition. Tradition such as it was in Germany involved quite a primative sort of drama.

Italy

The Italians went in for commedia del arte--a kind of street theatre with stock characters that was mostly improvised and didn't have set plots and certainly not written-out scripts.

Spain

Spanish drama was another highlight of the Renaissance. The Spanish Renaissance drama includes Lope de Vega, who in Spain is sometimes referred to as the Spanish Shakespeare. Lope de Vega wrote hundreds of plays. But his plays were much more formal and less realistic than Shakespeare's plays, and they don't feature the same kind of comedy as we have exemplified in characters such as Falstaff. Spain also had Cervantes, Don Quixote being the most obvious example. But Philip II was too rigid in his Catholicism and too bound by Hapsburg tradition to allow for the kinds of originality and innovation that were coming alive in its Protestant rival for world hegemony. Boy characters in Spanish drama are very rare and quite insignificant when they do occur.

Created: 4:33 AM 12/5/2006
Last updated: 11:51 PM 7/19/2010