MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Renaissance theatre in England and its comparison with in the Czech Lands in the Renaissance period Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2016

Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D. Lucie Pupalová

Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

Brno, 25. března 2016 …….………………… Lucie Pupalová

Acknowledgement In the first place, I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D. for her valued help, patience and kind advice. Secondly, I would like to thank my parents as well as my dear classmates and friends for motivation and support, namely Magdalena Kyzlinková and Kateřina Zadinová.

Abstract

This Bachelor thesis focuses on the development of theatre in the period of Renaissance in England and in the Czech Lands as well as on their comparison. The thesis is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter briefly describes the theatre development in Europe prior to the Renaissance period. The following two chapters outline the theatre development of Renaissance theatre in both compared countries. The last chapter provides a comparison of these two theatre developments and seeks for similarities and differences between them.

Key words theatre, drama, Renaissance, development, history, England, Czech Lands

Anotace Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá vývojem renesančního divadla v Anglii a v Českých zemích a jejich porovnáním. Práce je rozdělena do čtyř hlavních kapitol. První kapitola stručně popisuje historický vývoj divadla v Evropě před obdobím renesance. Následující dvě kapitoly nastiňují historický vývoj divadla za období renesance v obou zemích. Poslední kapitola nabízí porovnání těchto dvou divadelních vývojů a hledá, v čem se podobaly a v čem byly naopak rozdílné.

Klíčová slova divadlo, drama, renesance, vývoj, historie, Anglie, České země

Table of contents Introduction ...... 6 1 Historical Development of European Theatre ...... 10 1.1 The theatre from the beginnings ...... 10 Ancient Greece ...... 10 Ancient Rome ...... 11 1.2 Medieval times ...... 11 2 English Renaissance Theatre ...... 14 2.1 Historical background ...... 14 Tudor rulers ...... 14 The Stuarts ...... 15 2.2 Theatre ...... 16 Theatre in schools and culture ...... 16 Elizabethan Theatre ...... 17 The first public theatre venue in London and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men ...... 18 The Globe ...... 19 Other public theatre venues ...... 20 Private theatres ...... 21 Companies of actors and the control of theatre ...... 21 (1564 – 1616) ...... 22 Drama and theatre in the era of Stuarts ...... 25 2.3 Summary of the England theatre development ...... 26 3 Czech Theatre in the period of Renaissance ...... 27 3.1 Renaissance in the Czech Lands ...... 27 Scholastic theatre ...... 28 The peak of humanistic theatre ...... 29 The overview of the humanistic theatre ...... 31 Jesuit Theatre ...... 32 Culture and theatre during the Habsburg reign ...... 33 Maximilian II ...... 34 Rudolf II ...... 34 The Battle of White Mountain ...... 35 3.2 Summary of the Czech development ...... 35 4 Comparison ...... 37 Conclusion ...... 41 Works cited...... 43

Introduction

Theatre has been a popular type of entertainment for countless years and hopefully it will be beloved by people even in the future. When reading about the theatre in the great Renaissance period in England, I realized how little is known about the Renaissance theatre development in my own country’s history. With this thought in mind, I have decided to focus on the theatre development of both countries to see, how similar the theatre development in these two countries was. As mentioned above, this thesis is concerned with the theatre development in the period of Renaissance in two European countries. More specifically, it focuses on the development of the Renaissance theatre in England, a land located on the British Isles and isolated from the European mainland by the English Channel. This shall be compared with the Czech Lands or the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, a country that is in today’s world called the Czech Republic. The work describes and outlines the Renaissance development in both of these countries, aiming to search for similar features or great differences between the theatres in these particular countries. The aim of this thesis is not only to show the comparison but mainly to portray the development in each land. To be able to describe and understand such development properly, it is also necessary to describe the historical background, as mainly the political and religious situation played an enormous role in the theatre development. The historical background reminds the reader of the rulers and the contemporary situation in these particular lands for these should be understood as the prominent factors that had a great impact on the theatre development.

The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter gives a brief description of the European theatrical development prior to the period of Renaissance. It gives the reader an insight into how the whole theatrical development began and what were the main reasons for it. Then it deals with the theatre in ancient Greece and ancient Rome as those were the most important places of early development. The last part of the chapter gives a brief summary of the theatre progress during medieval times, in order to bring a chronological order to the work. The second and third chapter each concentrate on the Renaissance period in one country. The second chapter deals with England and its development including the necessary historical background. It presents the theatrical facts of the era of reign of the House of Tudor and the

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House of Stuart and writes about the most important playwrights, theatre venues, theatre companies and other features typical for the English theatre in this period. The theatre development of the Czech Lands is presented in the following third chapter. After the description of the historical situation, the chapter explains in what forms was the theatre present in the Czech theatrical history. As the Czech theatre development went a different direction than the English one, the chapter cannot describe the same features as the chapter on English theatre. In the third chapter, readers learn about the scholastic theatre practised in Czech schools during the Renaissance period, the most common themes, authors of Czech plays and important translators of drama in that period of time. The readers will also find out that although in the Czech Lands one could find performances achieving the technical level of contemporary European theatre, these performances could not influence the common theatrical development. At the end of the second and third chapter one can find a brief summary of the situation in each country. In the last chapter I have searched for features to compare and find their similarities or differences in the historical situation as well as in theatre. The features compared in the last chapter are only the ones taken from the second and third chapter of this work.

I would like to mention a few of the books that were the most significant sources for this thesis. One of the main sources for the English theatre and the history of the theatre prior the Renaissance period was History of the theatre written by Oscar G. Brockett. It is a great book concentrated on the theatre development throughout the history starting from the very beginnings of the theatrical origins to the contemporary stage. The first version of this book was published in 1969 and since then several editions followed. I had a chance to work with the edition from 1999. Another book used for this thesis composed in a similar manner was published by a Czech author, more specifically, it was Jaromír Kazda’s Kapitoly z dějin divadla (Chapters from the theatre history). As the Renaissance in England was one of the most important periods in the country’s history, there are many sources on the topic of Renaissance to be found. But as the real beginnings of the Czech theatrical culture are considered to be seen much later in the era of Renaissance, it was not that easy to find a publication describing theatre in this particular period. Another valuable source and a great book for the Czech theatre part of the thesis was Dějiny českého divadla: I / Od počátku do sklonku osmnáctého století (History of the Czech theatre I: From the origins to the end of the 18th century) written by multiple authors. This particular

7 book focuses on the Czech theatre development till the beginning of the 18th century as the title of the book says.

It should be noted that it is not possible to describe the development of theatre without mentioning the development of drama, which is also included in this work. Before proceeding to the actual core of this work, for a better understanding, a brief explanation of the terms theatre and drama shall be included at this point.

Theatre Theatre is an art form made of a collection of people such as the actors, director, choreographer and others. These people present a theatre production based on a dramatic text to the spectators. The different genres of theatre are subject to the mood of the content (tragedy, comedy) but there are many more criteria that differentiate theatre genre. The term theatre also refers to the buildings built for the purpose of theatre performances (Brandová et al. 236). Drama Drama is supposed to be performed on a theatre stage, it contains scenic notes and is the main part of a theatre production. The common European genres of dramas are tragedies and comedies and, during the Renaissance period also tragicomedies. Furthermore, drama is one of the three literary genres (lyric, epic, drama) (Bradnová et al. 246).

Another pair of terms that needs to be explained before readers start with the actual content of the thesis is Renaissance and humanism.

Renaissance Renaissance is a time in the history with a great cultural and as well as religious bloom. It prioritizes the ideas of rationalism, individualism and humanism and follows the traditions of the ancient world. Renaissance influenced all types of arts and the beginnings of the Renaissance theatre are to be found in the Italian theatre history (Bradnová et al. 918-919).

Humanism Humanism is a movement focusing on human beings and their rights and this movement draws inspiration from the ancient world. Humanistic theatre developed mostly in the period of time from 15th century to 17th century. The term humanism can actually be used as a synonym for the word Renaissance (Bradnová et al. 403).

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Cambridge Dictionaries define humanism as: “a belief system based on the principle that people's spiritual and emotional needs can be satisfied without following a god or religion” (“Humanism”).

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1 Historical Development of European Theatre

The first chapter provides a brief description of the origins of the theatre and depicts the European theatre development in the Ancient world and the middle Ages.

1.1 The theatre from the beginnings Where is the origin of the theatre? There are a few theories on how the theatre began. The most common anthropological theory was established in 19th century and claims that the origins lay in myths or rituals. The visual representation of mythical creatures during rituals is seen as the beginnings of the theatre. These anthropologists believed in the application of Darwinism in culture. Their idea was that even the theatre went through the same development as humans - from simple to more complex. There are many identical attributes that rituals and theatre share – such as time, place, participants (actors), masks, sound effects, movement – but when did the theatre separate from ritual performances as a specific activity and why? The most logical theory used in the 20th century says that human beings like to use their fantasy and crave for an imaginary interpretation of life and see it as a way to escape the sometimes unpleasant reality. (Brockett 8-13)

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece is bound to the origins of tragedy1 and the drama in general. The origin of the word tragedy literally translates from Greek as a “goat song” (Online Etymology Dictionary). According to the tradition, the founder of drama would be Thespis, a Greek poet. However, there is a lack of proof on who the real founder was. All that is known for certain is that drama was officially recognized in 534 BC. One must associate the word Greek tragedy with three great dramatists: Aeschylus (Prometheus Bound), Sophocles (Antigone) and Euripides (Medea). All of their tragedies are based on historical events or myths and they share similar characteristics. Comedy as a genre was recognized in Greece in 487 BC or 486 BC. The centre of culture were Athens. (Brockett 28) It was a characteristic feature of Greek plays to have been performed in open-air venues, the so-called amphitheatre: accommodating up to seventeen thousand spectators. Due to the size of the amphitheatre, actors had to be more visible so that the spectators watching the performance from the greatest distance could see them properly. For that reason they had to use buskins, masks and wigs. Buskins were “thick-soled laced boots worn by the tragic actors to

1 Tragedy is “a play about death or suffering with a sad end, or this type of play generally“ (“Tragedy”).

10 gain height” (Pearsall 189). The colourful masks of the Greek actors were made of cashmere canvas, each of them with an opening for the mouth, functioning as a megaphone. Actors were changing the masks, according to the facial expression they wanted to demonstrate. Sometimes the actors used masks with two facial expressions, on each side of the face different expression (Kazda 34). Another well-known characteristic feature of ancient Greek theatre is that all the actors were of male sex, even the female characters were played by a man. Furthermore, each actor had to perform more characters in one performance. What should also be mentioned is that in the Greek theatre is that it contained a lot of signing and recitations (Brockett 37).

Ancient Rome The year 240 BC is considered to be the beginning of Roman drama, although the theatrical activity began in Ancient Rome more than 100 years before that. Roman drama was inspired by Greek drama; it even imitated the dramas from Greece. Roman theatre was, in its beginnings, influenced mainly by the Etuscans. Except for gladiator fights and other sporting competitions, it was also theatre that the Etruscans used as a form of worshiping their gods. The performances included music, dancing, acrobatics, farce2 and much more (Brockett 66; Kazda 48). It is believed that the Romans preferred comedy to tragedy. The most famous Roman comedy playwrights were Titus Maccius Plautus (The Pot of Gold) and Publius Terentius Afer (Andria), who even influenced the genre of comedy in the period of Renaissance and playwrights like Shakespeare or Molière. There were two types of comedy themes – greek theme, fabula palliata, or the less popular roman one, fabula togata (Brockett 71; Kazda 51). The biggest difference between Roman and Greek theatre was that Romans saw the theatre as a form of entertainment. One the other hand, the Greek theatre had a philosophical function (Brockett 69-70).

1.2 Medieval times After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, there was a great decline in drama. The only theatrical performers were wandering artists and they performed on festivals across Europe. Most of these performers were story tellers, acrobats, tightrope walkers or jugglers. They were called “mimes” or “histriones”. In the northern parts of Europe there were the so-called “scops”; singers and story tellers of the Germanic history. Due to the fact that the festivals they

2 Farce is “a humorous play where the characters become involved in unlikely situations“ (”Farce”).

11 performed at belonged to pagan traditions, mimes and scops were condemned by the Christian church and did not have the same rights as all common people did. Even though they lived in the margins of society, they still played an important role in the medieval culture. (Brockett 100-102; Gronemeyer 36) Drama returned to Europe for religious purposes in the 10th century when the church used theatrical features for its rituals and church services. The minority of people in medieval times were illiterate so the church wanted to educate them through drama. Scenes from the Old Testament, such as The Passion of Christ, were performed as pantomimes in church buildings. This type of drama is referred to as liturgical drama (Brockett 103-104; Barnard 22). In the Christian calendar many days are dedicated to celebrating events from the Bible. Throughout the year, these important days were celebrated by ceremonial processions or ceremonies including stage props and masks. For instance, Good Friday was celebrated by a ceremonial procession with the figure of Jesus ridding a donkey from the edge of the town to the church (Brockett 104). Although the Christian church in the early middle Ages was against drama, it was unintentionally responsible for its comeback. Due to the growing popularity of drama, the scenes had to be performed outside of the church buildings, in churchyards. That happened no later than in the 13th century. Drama was still based on religious motives and the plays were called miracle and mystery plays. In the late 14th century, the plays were performed by groups of common people, not religious officials, although the church still controlled the content of drama. The biblical stories were often performed by the guild of the profession which appeared in the story. For example, a guild of fishermen and sailors performed the story of Noah’s Ark. The guilds had also a religious value and each guild had its patron (Barnard 22; Gronemeyer 39; Brockett 117). One of the biggest changes happened between the years 1200 and 1400 and it was the change of language. In each country, the national language replaced Latin. Religious drama (mystery plays) in national languages could have been found in the whole territory of Western Europe. The plays were performed in long cycles divided in smaller episodes and became a part of town festivals. These cycles could last for days and employed up to 300 actors. The amateur actors were mainly men and were chosen from local people. In France they sometimes also employed female actresses. As it is obvious from the number of actors for each cycle, the figure of director was a necessary one. It is known that on the British Isles the plays were performed in 125 towns and there were probably no entrance fees, as there is no historical record of this. (Brockett 113-120; Gronemeyer 41).

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There was not only religious drama during the medieval times, but the non-religious version came in the 13th century, at the earliest. The oldest known surviving secular play is called Le Jeu de la Feuillée written by Adam de la Halle. A very popular genre of secular theatre was Morality plays that tried to communicate a moral lesson. Everyman (written in 15th century) is the most famous morality play. Apart from moralities, other Medieval types of entertainment include farces, interludia, tournaments and much more (Brockett 130-135; Burgess 58). Due to the many religious changes happening in Europe in the 16th century, religious drama was seen as something that caused conflicts. Therefore in most European countries, religious drama disappeared till the year of 1600. Moreover, the themes of drama changed and there was a growing interest for Greek and Roman drama. As there were no more religious themed plays, the church was not supporting theatre anymore and it was the beginning of professional theatre (Brockett 142-144).

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2 English Renaissance Theatre

The second chapter of this work describes the historical and mainly theatrical development of the country of England. At the end of the chapter is included a brief summary.

2.1 Historical background The first scent of Renaissance in England is to be found in the Tudor England, more precisely during the reign of the first Tudor Henry VII. The Renaissance and Renaissance theatre reached their peak during the reign of Elizabeth I, also known as the Elizabethan period. Elizabethan theatre is also a commonly used term (Brockett 185, 189; Barnard 24). Important during the Tudor era was a demographical change. Especially in the 14th century, England suffered a massive decrease in population due to the deadly disease of plague. But the Tudor age brought positive changes in demographics. During the reign of Tudor rulers, there was a rapid growth of population. To be precise, in 1525 the population of England was 2.26 million and in 1601 there were more than 4 million inhabitants (Morgan 223-224). During the Tudor era there was also an important change regarding the English language. London English was considered to be the proper English and the language people used even showed the differences between social classes for the first time. Literacy in England also experienced a big increase (McDowal 85).

Tudor rulers The Tudor age is a very memorable period of time in the English history. The first Tudor monarch, Henry VII, made the royal family wealthy. He expanded the international trade and he proclaimed his the lands of noble man killed in wars and he also raised taxes. Nevertheless, his son, the famous Henry VIII, made all the money his father gained disappear and was soon in a big need of new financial resources (McDowal 67-69). Henry VIII saw big financial potential in the lands owned by the Church. He had almost no power in the Catholic Church and England even had to pay taxes to the Church. Although this might have been a reason big enough for Henry to separate England from the Catholic Church, he found a different reason. When his wife Catherin of Aragon was unable to give him a male heir, he demanded a divorce. However, it was not approved by the pope and furious Henry decided to make himself the head of the Church of England, which was confirmed in the Act of Supremacy approved by the Parliament in 1534 (McDowal 69). As the head of the Church, Henry was able to divorce his first wife and he married another woman, Anne Boleyn. He closed down a huge number of monasteries and sold most of

14 the land to make profit. Despite the fact that England separated from the Catholic Church, Henry was still a Catholic believer. Throughout his life, he had six wives and left behind three children, two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and a son Edward (McDowal 69-70). Henry’s only male heir was his son Edward, how was only 9 years old at the time of his father’s death. Until he was to reach 18, a regency council ruled the country. Every member of the council was of Protestant faith and so they attempted to make England a Protestant country (McDowal 71; Morgan 248-249). It was Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, who sat on the throne after Edward VI. Edward’s poor health let to an early death and he died at 16. Mary was not a popular queen. She was a true Catholic and dealt with Protestants rather cruelly. During her short reign, she killed around three hundred of them. Another reason why she was disliked was her choice to marry the Spanish King Philip. Due to her unpopularity, her death after five years of her reign was not entirely unwelcome (McDowal 71-72; Morgan 253, 261). Next on the throne, and the most important ruler in the Renaissance theatre, was Mary’s step-sister Elizabeth, whom Mary hated for her Protestant faith. Elizabeth made going to church on Sunday obligatory by law and made the parsons very important positions. The dispute between Catholics and Protestants continued even during her reign and the Catholics were a threat for Elizabeth. There were Catholic nobles in England and the powerful Catholic countries France and Spain both toyed with the idea of England joining their country (McDowal 72). Elizabeth’s closest relative was a Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. Many Catholics, including the King Philip believed that Mary should rule England instead of Elizabeth and in 1588 Philip sent his Armada to England but the English won the battle. Regarding the Scottish Queen, Elizabeth beheaded her because of her attempt to take over the English throne. During Elizabeth’s reign, Catholicism declined in its former popularity and Protestantism was preferred (McDowal 72; Morgan 263; Brockett 188).

The Stuarts As there was no child left behind by Elizabeth, she was succeeded by the Scottish king James VI who became King James I of England and Ireland. The Stuarts had to face the growing power of the English Parliament. James truly believed that it was God’s will that he was chosen as a king and that only kings had the right to make decisions. Of course the Parliament had a different opinion on this matter and throughout his entire reign, James had constant disagreements with the Parliament. (McDowal 78, 88; Morgan 284).

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The disputes between the king and the Parliament continued even during the reign of James’s son Charles I. After many disagreements with the Parliament, Charles decided to rule without it. It worked for some time but then Charles made a poor decision: he appointed a new Archbishop of Canterbury and renewed a number of Catholic practises which were disliked by the numerous Protestants in England, especially Puritans. He also tried to apply these practises in Scotland, which would prove to be was a huge mistake. The Scots demonstrated their disapproval through the employment of their army. As Charles did not have the support of the Parliament he was sure that he would lose the battle and so agreed to the Scots having a right to choose their religion. He also had to pay a huge amount of money to them and for this reason he required help from the Parliament. They agreed to help him provided that he agreed to their conditions. He did so, but later made little effort to meet the conditions (McDowal 88-89). Consequently, religious problems between Protestants and Catholic led to a rebellion, also in Ireland where the Irish were ready to rebel against the English Parliament. During this time, Charles had his biggest fight with the Parliament and this whole issue in 1642 led to the beginning of the English Civil War between the king and the Members of the Parliament. This conflict resulted into Charles being beheaded in 1649 and Britain becoming a republic for 11 years (McDowal 90-92).

2.2 Theatre Theatre in schools and culture The 16th century was still influenced by medieval traditions. Professional artists were still wandering throughout the country and performing at town festivals. The themes of their plays were a mixture of traditional and modern topics. Example of such a play would be A Lamentable Tragedy Mixed Full of Pleasant Mirth, Containing the Life of Cambises, King of Persia, from the beginning of his Kingdom, Unto his Death, His One Good Deed of Execution, after that Many Wicked Deeds and Tyrannous Murders, Committed by and Through Him, and Last of All, his Odious Death by God’s Justice Appointed (Brockett 187). Another genre remaining from the Middle Ages and still being produced in the Tudor era were interludes. For instance, the play The Play of the Weather, a new and mery interlude of all maner of Wethers written by John Heywood features angry Jupiter. He is demanding a decision from people on which weather they prefer. The people cannot agree on one type of weather, of course, so the weather stays the same (Barnard 23). First drama with a humanistic theme was Fulgens and Lucres by Henry Medwall performed at the royal court in 1497. As the first English tragedy is considered to be Gorboduc,

16 or Ferrex and Porrex performed in 1562 in Whitehall to Queen Elizabeth and the play was very popular (Brockett 185-186). During the 16th century, new theatrical methods were being applied to the educational system by former students of Oxford University. The theatre was practised at universities of Oxford and Cambridge and at Inns of London law colleges. At Cambridge there was an annual theatre show implemented around the middle of the 16th century. Performed plays were intended for other students, teachers and invited guests and the language of those plays was mainly Latin. Even the students of law colleges in London were performing theatre plays at special occasions. The plays were being performed in the school canteens (Brockett 186; Kazda 117).

Elizabethan Theatre Even though there were scents of Renaissance to be found before this time, it is the first half of the 16th century that is considered to be the beginning of the English Renaissance theatre and it is connected with the rule of Elizabeth I. The reign of Elizabeth I lasted almost 45 years, from 1558 till 1603 when she died and was succeeded by James I. It is also one of the most important periods for the English theatre in general (McDowal 72, 78, 85). At the beginning, the Renaissance era brought an interest in ancient world and drama themes inspired by Seneca and Terentius. Later, during the reign of Elizabeth the popular themes of theatrical plays were based on English history or contemporary Italian literature. The influence of schools on theatre faded but thanks to school education, the future playwrights were educated in the field of arts and theatre (Brockett 185, 187-189; Barnard 24). Before the became Shakespeare’s, there were authors who ignited a big expansion of drama and theatre: Thomas Kyd, the author of The Spanish Comedy, which was one of the inspirations of Shakespeare’s with the theme of murder and its revenge. John Lyly, who wrote for aristocratic circles, was famous for his literary style. Christopher Marlowe, another big name of the Elizabethan era, wrote plays for the theatre company called Admiral’s Men, which belonged to the most important theatre companies of the era. In his short life, Marlowe managed to influence the English drama with his plays, for instance Doctor Faustus or Edward II. Marlowe might have proven to be Shakespeare’s competitor in playwriting, but unfortunately he was murdered in 1593. The last writer to mention and the one who hated Shakespeare, is Robert Greene, author of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (Brockett 189-190; Kazda 111; Barnard 28-30).

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After Shakespeare, the second most famous playwright would be . As well as Shakespeare he started his career as an actor. As a playwright he tried to follow ancient patterns and was popular for his comedies, for instance his or Volpone. (Burgess 83; Brockett 192). Other dramatic writers worth mentioning are Thomas Dekker (The Shoemaker’s Holiday), John Marston (The Dutch Courtesan), (A Woman Killed with Kindness) and (A Chaste Maid in Cheapside) (Brockett 193).

The first public theatre venue in London and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men In order for the theatre to evolve properly, a purpose-built theatre was needed. The first well-known theatre building in England was built in London in the late 16h century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was called the Theatre and was built in the year 1576 by , an actor. This open-air amphitheatre was made of wood and based in , known as a recreation area, but there are no pictures of the building that survived (see figure 1) (“Playhouses”; Barnard 24; Brockett 206). The Theatre was used by many theatre groups, but mainly Shakespeare’s Lord Chamberlain’s Men (or in some publications “Chamberlain’s Men”) which was founded in 1594 and was the most popular theatre company at that time. The Theatre’s lease expired in 1597 and that is also the year when James Burbage died. For two years, the troupe found its home in the nearby Curtain theatre (“Lord Chamberlain’s Men”). William Shakespeare was a dramatist in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company and their patron was Henry Carey, 1st Lord Hunsdon, who later became Lord Chamberlain. After Carey’s death, it was his son George Carey who became 2nd Lord Hunsdon and the patron of Lord Chamberlain’s Men. After James I succeeded his predecessor Elizabeth I, the company gained royal patronage and since then was called the King’s Men. In 1599 the theatre company found home in a newly built playhouse, the Globe (see figure 1) (“Lord Chamberlain’s Men”). Shakespeare was not the only dramatist in the company, but he was most definitely the main one. They also performed plays by Ben Jonson or Thomas Dekker. The group performed mostly in London but during the plague epidemic, they were forced to leave the capital and they went on a tour. The theatre company existed till 1642 when the English Civil Wars began. The theatre venues were ceased from 1642 for 18 years (“Lord Chamberlain’s Men”). In 2004 a modern theatre group with the same name as the original one was founded: Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The group travels through the UK and abroad during the summer

18 season and performs Shakespeare’s plays in open-air venues in the Elizabethan style (“About us”).

Figure 1. “ Location in London.“ Bard Stage. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

The Globe After the lease for the Theatre expired, Lord Chamberlain‘s theatre troupe decided to build their own playhouse. The main investors in the Globe were brothers Richard and , sons of James Burbage. They found a clever way how to finance the building - they asked some of the best actors at that time to buy shares to help them build the playhouse. Namely, the shareholders were William Shakespeare, James Heminges, Augustine Phillips, and comedian William Kempe. The Burbage brothers owned 50% of the shares and the actors shared the rest – that means each actor owned 12.5% of the shares (Adams 63; Cummings). The Globe theatre was built in 1599 in Southwark on the south bank of the river Thames, known as Bankside. The Bankside was starting to be the entertainment district as there were other playhouses to be found – , and the Bear Garden. The land where the Globe stood belonged to Sir Nicolas Brand and as he offered a reasonable price for the lease, the timbers used for the venue were taken from the Theatre as the landlord of the land wanted to devastate the building after the lease was over. The timbers had to be brought across the river

19 due to the fact that the Theatre was located on the other side of the river than the Globe’s location was, close to Finsbury Fields (Cummings; Adams 238). The spectators had two options when going to see a play. The cheaper option for one penny was standing in front of the stage in a yard with no roof which could have been very uncomfortable due to unpredictable weather conditions. For more wealthy Londoners there were gallery seats for the lowest price of 2 pennies. The galleries were covered with a thatched roof. Thatch is “straw or reeds used to make roofs” (“Thatch”). The most luxurious seats were located directly on the stage. The whole playhouse could accommodate around 3000 spectators (Adams 248; Cummings). An unfortunate accident happened in the year of 1614. During a performance of Henry VIII the thatched roof caught fire caused by a stage cannon. The fire burnt the playhouse completely. Not long after the accident, a new playhouse was built. Although it was built on the foundation of the original Globe, it was bigger than the first one and had a tilled roof. Another sad event happened to the theatre troupe in 1616 when the great actor and playwright William Shakespeare died, followed in 1619 by . The Globe was functioning till 1642 when, among all the other playhouses in London, it was closed down and demolished by Puritans (Adams 251, 254, 257-259). In today’s Southwark one can find a replica of the original Globe. It is called Shakespeare’s Globe and the idea to rebuild the Elizabethan playhouse came from an American man named Sam Wanamaker. He spent 23 years fundraising money for the project and researching. The building opened to public 1997 and the first play performed in the replica was (“Rebuilding the Globe”).

Other public theatre venues All the theatres during Elizabethan times were located outside of London. It seems, that the Theatre was not the first theatre building ever built in England. It was in 1567 that the first theatre was built east from London. It was called The Red Lion theatre and was built by James Burbage’s brother-in-law John Brayne (Brockett 206). After the Theatre was completed in 1576, till 1623 a number of venues were constructed in the surroundings of London, all of them had a similar architectonical structure. Those were namely: , The Curtain, The Rose, The Swan, Boar’s Head, The Globe, The Fortune, The Red Bull and The Hope (Brockett 206). As the Theatre and The Globe were home for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men theatre company, The Rose was home for the Admiral’s Men and belonged to the most prominent

20 venues at that time. A little bit later, the company moved to The Fortune, which suffered the same fate as The Globe. It burnt down and was soon rebuilt (Brockett 208, 210).

Private theatres Theatre plays were not only in the open-air public playhouses mentioned before. Apart from the performances in pubs, at town halls or at court, plays were being performed in private scenes. The first one was the Blackfriars, which opened in 1576. The most prominent was the second Blackfriars theatre. It was located inside a large hall and is connected to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, at that time known as the King’s Men. They performed there during the colder months. The rest of year the performances took place in The Globe (Brockett 213). These not very numerous theatres were smaller than the public venues, were lit by candlelight and the entrance fee cost more (Brockett 212).

Companies of actors and the control of theatre Elizabeth I controlled the theatre and made new laws. From 1572 the popular companies of actors had to have a noble patron, at least a baron. Some of them were based in London, other were wandering throughout England or even the whole Europe. The companies had to have a confirmation issued by the court of conciliation to be able to perform. Nevertheless, there was an issue with performing in other town than their own. In every town, where the troupe intended to perform, it had to have a confirmation from a local authority (Brockett 200, 197). The companies were made of adult male actors where each of the actors shared the company’s profit. Every company consisted of the professional actors but also apprentices, who played the female roles. The most prominent ones had their home in the capital and those were Queen Elizabeth’s Men, Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later King’s Men) and Admiral’s Men (later Prince Henry’s Men and then even Elector Palatine's Men) (Brockett 200-201). Queen Elizabeth’s Men theatre company was active only for 5 years and with 12 actors it was the biggest one theatre troupe. The other two companies were competing over popularity in London during the time of their existence. The richest of all three were the King’s Men (Brockett 200-201). Queen Elizabeth financially supported 3 companies. In comparison to that, the Stuarts were patrons of all the London-based companies and the companies without the royal patronage were not allowed to perform in London. Actors in companies with royal patronage were provided with a yearly salary and other benefits. The monarchs visited their performances and sometimes these companies required to perform at court (Brockett 200, 202).

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Another type of a theatre company was made of young boys and their manager. The first known troupe of this type were Children of Paul’s and the most famous were Children of the Chapel performing at the Blackfriars theatre. Even the popular Ben Jonson wrote plays for them to perform (Brockett 200, 203). Playwrights made money from selling their plays to the theatre troupes. After the company bought a play, it must have been verified by the Master of the Revels; an officer under the control of Lord Chamberlain (Brockett 203, 197). The first Master of the Revels, who was given the right to control and censure newly written plays, was a man named Edmund Tilney and the Masters of the Revels after him gained even more rights, for instance the right to give permission to new theatre companies (Brockett 198).

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)

The Globe and the theatre company Lord Chamberlain’s Men are connected with the great personality of William Shakespeare, who is often called the “Bard of Avon”. Shakespeare was born in Stratford upon Avon in April 1564 as a third child and a first son of Mary and . Their previous daughters died as infants. Later his family grew. He had three brothers Gilbert, Richard and Edmund and a sister Joan. His sister Ann died at the age of 7. William attended a grammar school in Stratford focusing mainly on literature and Latin language. When he was only 18 years old, he married Anne Hathaway, a daughter of their neighbour, who was 8 years older than him. The wedding happened in a rush, probably because of Anne’s pregnancy. Their first daughter Susanna was born 6 months after the wedding. In 1585 Anne gave birth to twins Judith and Hamnet (Dobson 185; Mabillard). The 7 years subsequent to the birth of the twins (1585-1592) are known as the “The Second Lost Years”, due to the lack of information we have about Shakespeare from this period of time. The “First Lost Years” is the time between Shakespeare leaving school and marrying Anne Hathaway. It is known that Shakespeare left Stratford in 1585 but in different books the reasons vary. In 1709, Nicolas Rowe wrote in his work Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear that the reason, why Shakespeare left London, was that he was accused of poaching and was running away from justice (Lee 26-30). What is known for certain is that in the years between 1585 and 1592 Shakespeare came to London and began his career first as an actor. It was in 1594 that he joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men theatre troupe and later became their main playwright. Historians are not even sure, which one was the first play he wrote. Some say, it was Henry VI (all three parts)

22 and others claim, it was The Two Gentlemen of Verona and (Brockett 190). The plays by William Shakespeare can be divided into three categories: comedies, tragedies and histories. Although the Bard of Avon wrote, apart from for plays, also poems and sonnets, for this thesis are important his dramatic works. Tragedies:  Anthony and Cleopatra   Hamlet 

Histories:  Henry IV, part I  Henry IV, part II  Henry V  Henry VI, part I  Henry VI, part II  Henry VI, part III  Henry VIII   Richard II  Richard III

Comedies:  All’s Well That Ends Well 

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 Love’s Labour’s Lost   The Merry Wives of Windsor  A Midsummer Night’s Dream   Pericles, Prince of Tyre  The Taming of the Shrew   Two Gentlemen of Verona  The Winter's Tale

(Mulherin 158) Nevertheless, even as a well-known dramatist, he did not stop acting. William Shakespeare is considered as one of the greatest dramatists there has ever been. Most of his plays were performed in The Globe and at the period of time theatre became a very attractive type of entertainment: Shakespeare’s plays were popular mainly due to the fact that they were “written for common people”. Most of the writers from that era were highly educated men coming from wealthy families and so they were not able to appeal to everyday people as well as Shakespeare. During his life, he invested in the Globe theatre as well as in the Blackfriars theatre, another theatre venue owned by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (Brockett 190; Mulherin 8; Morgan 283). He died in 1616 in Stratford aged 52. In his will he left most of his possessions to his daughter, Susanna and her husband, and to his wife he left his second best bed; this is a fact that many question (Mulherin 9). His influence on English drama was enormous. One has to bear in mind that Shakespeare lived in the period of time between the opening of the Theatre (1576) and the year 1642 when all theatres were closed down by the Parliament due to the beginning of the Civil War and during that time, he managed to change the London theatre scene (Rogers 149).

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His plays are still being performed even in today’s theatres and are beloved by people from all over the world. Who would not remember the scene from one of his most popular plays, Romeo and Juliet? ROMEO She speaks: O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art As glorious to this night, being o’er my head As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air. JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. (Shakespeare 16)

Drama and theatre in the era of Stuarts James I and his wife Anne enjoyed theatre even more than Queen Elizabeth. At court they enjoyed the so-called Masques, a theatrical script combined with singing, dancing and complicated choreographies. Masques are more likely to be seen as a type of play preceding opera. James’ favourite Masque writer was Ben Jonson who even gained a royal pension in 1616 as the first writer in the English history (Barnard 44, Brockett 192). Masques are a typical type of entertainment king James appreciated and were presented annually. During the reign of the second Stuart king, there were two masques every year and these performances cost a fortune. Due to the goo financial reward, also other writers than Jonson were interested in producing masques (Brockett 219-221). Although music played a big role in masques, it was dancing that was the most important part of the performance. Most of the masques took place in Whitehall and the main stage designer of the Stuart era was Indigo Jones (Brockett 221-222). As it was already mentioned before, during the reign of Stuarts only the theatre troupes with royal patent were allowed to perform. Only the members of the royal family could grant this royal patent. This led to the companies focusing their attention to court and not the common

25 public. Another result of the Stuart restrictions was a growing popularity of private theatres. (Brockett 200). Apart from Jonson, it is necessary to mention John Webster (The Dutches of Malfi), Francis Beaumont (The Knight of Burning Pestle) and John Fletcher (The Scorful Lady), who was probably the main playwright of the King’s Men after Shakespeare passed away (Brocktett 195; Barnard 46-47).

It is assumed that during the period of time between 1590 and 1642, there were more than 2000 dramatic works written (Brockett 196). When in 1642 the Civil War broke out, the Parliament closed down all the theatres for five years. The theatres stayed closed even in after these five years due to the fact that the country was ruled by Puritans who did not support any kind of entertainment (Brockett 224).

2.3 Summary of the England theatre development In the Tudor era we can still find remains of the medieval times such as wandering artists or interludes. Although at the beginning there was an interest in classical roman plays, most the Elizabethan plays were inspired by Italian literature or English history. The Elizabethan theatre had given us talented playwrights such as Shakespeare, Jonson or Marlowe. There was a big expansion of theatre building on the Isles and the first well-known venue, was built in 1576 as is connected with the troupe called Lord Chamberlain’s Men that also later built the Globe theatre. Apart from the public theatres, people could also visit a private theatres with a smaller scene and a more expensive entrance fee. Theatre troupes were extremely popular during Renaissance and were composed of number of shareholders (mainly actors). The best ones even gained royal patronage of Queen Elizabeth. During the reign of James I, theatre companies without a royal patent were not allowed to perform. The monarchs enjoyed sumptuous performances at their court and even spent a lot from their finances on them. In England during the Stuart era those would the so-called masques.

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3 Czech Theatre in the period of Renaissance

This third chapter provides information on the theatrical development of the Renaissance period in the Czech Lands. It also contains a historical background needed for a better understanding of the theatre development.

3.1 Renaissance in the Czech Lands The Renaissance was born in Italy in the 14th century and from there it spread to the whole European continent. However, at that time the Czech Lands had only just reached the High Middle Ages. In the 15th century, the development of theatre stopped completely due to the Hussite wars and radical Hussites being categorically against everything non-religious. In addition to that, they closed down all church institutions, hence not even religious theatre was practised. All this led to delayed historical development in the Czech Lands and the first humanistic and renaissance ideas first appeared in the middle of 15th century in literature (Císař 9-11; Bartoš et al. 101). It is also necessary to mention the ruling dynasty of this given period. In 1526 the House of Habsburg succeeded the House of Jagiellon and the Habsburg rulers had the throne even after the Renaissance period ended. All rules faced religious issues in the Czech Lands. The House of Habsburg was of Catholic faith and it is assumed that around 90 per cent of the Czech inhabitants were Protestant at that time (Hora-Hořejš 54). Apart from the reasons mentioned above, the spreading of Renaissance style in the Czech Lands was also complicated due to practical reasons. Nobility in Italy was much wealthier than their Czech counterparts due to profits from international trade, hence there was no issue with financial support of the Renaissance art in Italy. The implementation of Renaissance life-style in the Czech Lands happened first in the sphere of rich aristocracy. The noble men began to rebuild their mansions into more comfortable and more representative renaissance-style buildings or even built new palaces. Although there were not so many houses built in renaissance-style in towns, Renaissance brought interior changes in town houses (Čornej 64-69). Initially, the Renaissance style was restricted to the wealthiest nobility, but with time it started to influence many more people. The cultural values had changed and people began to be more interested in education, travelling, books, foreign languages and arts (Hora-Hořejš 52).

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Scholastic theatre The first scent of Renaissance and Humanism in theatre could have been found not sooner than in the 16th century in scholastic theatre. There was still obvious influence of Hussite tradition and therefore theatre was not liked even by the early Czech humanists and was seen as something immoral. Scholastic theatre played an important role in the Czech theatre development and the 16th century in Europe brought important changes. Theatre became entirely secular, nevertheless, scholastic theatre was secular from its beginnings. Scholastic performances were then organized by universities and actors were teachers and male students, girls were not allowed to study at that time (Bartoš et al. 101-102, 110). Scholastic plays in its beginnings were a part of education and were first performed in Latin only. The growing popularity of scholastic theatre was caused by the influence of the German protestant reformer, Martin Luther. His idea about scholastic theatre was that it is supposed to give pupils social education (Císař 12). The plays were seen as a perfect tool for practising Latin language and as a moral lecture for pupils. The sources of scholastic theatre were plays based on the stories from the Bible or dramas from Ancient Rome. The most popular Roman plays studied at schools were classical plays by Publius Terentuis Afer and Titus Maccius Plautus. At this time, the first attempts to translate classical Roman plays to Czech appeared (Císař 12; Bartoš et al. 101). As one might guess, Prague and its university became the cultural centre, although it does not mean Prague was the only town where scholastic theatre was practised. The second town known for early scholastic plays was Kutná Hora. The first proof of scholastic performance to be found in the Czech history is from 1535. It was in Prague where this performance took place and the play performed by students of Prague University was Miles Glorious (The Swaggering Soldier) written in Latin by Plautus. The importance of this chosen play was in its motives. It was a play that did not try to moralize or educate spectators about religious matters. It was a play about human character (Bartoš et al. 102-103; Kazda 125). Despite the fact that humanistic thinking brought interest in classical Roman plays, there was a growing tendency to perform biblical stories. These biblical plays were similar to classical roman plays and were written in Latin, too (Bartoš 103). The 16th century was also important for Czech language and translation. First play translated from any foreign language to Czech was a translation of Tragoedia nova Pammachius by Thomas Naogeorg. The translation from Latin to Czech has an anonymous author. Another significant translation was done by Mikuláš Konáč z Hodiškova who loosely translated, among other works, a German play called Judith and with that he intentionally

28 supported the development of the Czech language and also inspired other towns, Olomouc for instance, to integrate the scholastic theatre in their schools. With Judith, Konáč initiated a line of scholastic plays with a biblical motif. Another work of Konáč, Hra pěknejch připovídek, inspired other humanistic secular plays to be written. It is a dramatized Boccaccio’s theme on the basis of Decameron (Bartoš et al 104-105; Císař 12; Kazda 125). Before the end of 16th century, one can find the first signs of Czech humanistic drama production but, from this period there is not much proof of stage performances. What is known is that, unlike the medieval times, theatre became restricted to a more specific audience. Although plays performed in open-air university grounds stayed open for public, the performances inside schools were meant only for people connected with the school. Another significant change was the focus on spoken word and rhetoric, not on expressive movement and gestures (Bartoš et al. 108-110).

The peak of humanistic theatre In the second part of 16th century theatre became much more common and humanistic culture in the Czech Lands was growing mostly among the townspeople. A progress in theatre was that Czech language drama was more frequent and it was no longer only Prague University where theatre was made. The presence of the Czech language in drama and theatre led to a bigger cultural engagement of townspeople (Bartoš et al. 112). Latin as a theatre language was now used at Charles University, just at a few countryside schools and at all Jesuit schools. Latin plays were being performed not only in Prague as before, but also in smaller towns throughout the Czech Lands. In contrast with the previous half of the century, the plays by Terentius and Plautus were very uncommon and the most prominent types of plays were contemporary biblical plays written by foreign authors containing a moral lecture (Bartoš et al. 112). In the Czech production of Latin plays one can find one very important author, Jan Campanus Vodňanský who started the tradition of historical drama with his play Bretislaus, comoedia nova. This play was banned from public performances by the high Chancellor due to its content. The play described the story of Czech prince Oldřich, who married a village girl. This was seen as an offence to the king Rudolf II. as Oldřich was one of his antecedents. Nevertheless, with this play he inspired many more historical plays to be written after. (Bartoš et al. 113; Kazda 126). It is also worth mentioning the translations to Czech language, with the most significant translation of a biblical play made by an anonymous author. It was Komedie o králi

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Šalamounovi (Comedy about King Solomon) with the popular character of jester Markolt that the anonymous author translated. Religious Polemics were also commonly translated (Bartoš et al. 114-115; Kazda 126). Most important for the Czech culture were the original Czech dramas. These were written outside of the capital Prague and its university due to the fact that university theatre still used Latin language and was meant for educated people with a knowledge of Latin. Therefore, the Czech drama was being produced in the countryside and was more accessible for common people. Even in the field of Czech language drama the biblical drama was the most prominent genre. Nevertheless, it contained a social critique of the contemporary situation (Bartoš et al. 115). The most noticeable author of these kinds of plays was a writer born in Slovakia, Pavel Kyrmezer, who was a Lutheran priest. Kyrmezer criticised and pointed out the enormous gap between the rich and the poor in his plays Czech Comedy of a Rich man and Lazarus and New Comedy of a Widow. As the plays were meant for common people, he used traditional characters of devils and as far as language is concerned, Kyrzmezer used a lot of proverbs and sayings. Also known is his Comedy of Tobias written on the occasion of a noble wedding. Kyrmezer’s plays are a very important part of Czech literature history and show the problems society faced at that time (Bartoš et al. 115-119; Kazda 126). In the Catholic production of plays, one can find mostly Christmas and Easter plays. Šimon Lomnický z Budče was the most prominent author of these plays. Easter plays were very popular during the Middle Ages, but Lomnický wrote them in a way even more appealing to the common people by integrating the most common small town characters and also by adding humour and patriotism to the plays. Although a few authors like Lomnický wrote catholic plays, the most catholic plays were produced by the most prominent catholic order, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) (Bartoš et al. 120-122; Kazda 126). The growing popularity of plays with contemporary topics led to translations of contemporary plays from other languages, for instance the Polish play Tragedie neb Hra žebračí (Tragedy or a Play of a Beggar) translated by an anonymous author. A known author of translations from this era is a Lutheran priest Tobiáš Mouřenín z Litomyšle. One of his plays including the motif of a magical violin probably inspired J. K. Tyl to write Strakonický dudák (The Bagpiper of Strakonice) (Bartoš et al. 122-123; Kazda 126). The common genre of plays with contemporary topic in the Czech language production were Shrovetide farces, which also captured the informal language of that time. Shrovetide, the

30 beginning of Lent3, was also the time when many plays had been performed. From Shrovetide celebrations also comes the first documented Czech theatre play based on traditions. It is the ceremonial scene when Shrovetide looking like the Greek God Bacchus is buried, which symbolizes the beginning of Lent. There were also other days throughout the year when people followed a certain tradition by putting on costumes and masks, for instance Saint Nicolas’ Day, the Three Wise Men (The Three Kings) or Christmas (Bartoš et al. 123-125).

The overview of the humanistic theatre The Czech humanistic theatre did not have a chance to evolve to its highest potential due to the situation and restrictions in the Czech Lands. As promising as the situation looked in the beginning, the humanistic ideas slowly disappeared from the production. In the period of Renaissance, especially towards the end of the 16th century, we cannot find many classical Roman plays and the secular plays in general were not so common either. Nevertheless, in the plays from that period we can find many secular elements and theatre tried to reflect the contemporary life of common people and contemporary situation through either biblical stories or the less common secular plays. Among the typical characters belong secular people and common characters as a beggar or a servant (Bartoš et al. 125, 130, 133-134). As it was already mentioned before, theatre was then developed not only in the capital city, but spread throughout the country and the countryside plays a big role in the development. The main reason for the growing popularity of theatre in the countryside was the use of Czech language. This also means that theatre became more available for public and was then performed not only in schools as in the beginning of the century. The theatre plays were performed in the whole country (Bartoš et al. 130). Probably the biggest difference compared to Renaissance theatre in other countries was that the Czech humanistic theatre focused mainly on the spoken word and rhetoric. Unlike the other countries where the theatre tried to drag viewers in the plot and engaged professional actors who could express emotions by mimicking and body movements. The Czech theatre was often giving some kind of a lesson and that is the reason why the spoken word had the biggest importance. However, towards the end of the century the implementation of mimicking to theatre had also been seen in the Czech theatre but there were no professional actors at that time (Bartoš et al. 128, 130).

3 Lent is “(In the Christian Church) the period preceding Easter, which is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness“ (“Lent”).

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Czech theatre at this time was usually divided into 5 acts with entertaining intermezzos in between. The plays were also supplemented by dance performances or choirs. Music played a big part in theatre plays and was used to illustrate certain scenes or even as a background (Bartoš et al. 128, 130). Many Czech plays were called comedy even though they were not amusing. The authors did not distinguish between different types of dramas and comedy was the most commonly used term in the name of plays. Nevertheless, tragedy or tragicomedy was used as well. Czech plays also did not follow the common structure of drama (Bartoš et al. 130, 134).

Jesuit Theatre Although the Jesuit theatre played a great role in the period after The Battle of White Mountain, its beginning are to be found in the 16th century. In 1556, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor sat on the Czech throne for the first time. Ferdinand I., a Catholic believer in a land with Non-Catholic majority, needed to educated people in a Catholic way and also needed a new type of theatre to help him with this kind of education. The solution he came up with was to summon the Jesuits monastic order, which had an advanced educational system, to the Czech Lands and that is exactly what he did the same year as he became the Czech king (Hora-Hořejš 49-50; Bartoš et al. 134; Kazda 127). After their arrival, they founded a Jesuit College in Prague and it became a competition for the protestant Charles University. Jesuits also used theatre for educational purposes and the common feature of protestant scholastic theatre and Jesuit theatre was that both of them were performed in Latin as a practise for students. In addition to that, the Jesuit theatre and Jesuit education in general was used as an anti-reformation (or catholic reformation) tool of the Catholic Church and was supported by the Catholic minority. That is why it was disliked by the Protestants. Jesuits even gained the right to censor newly published books in 1556 (Bartoš et al. 134-135; Císař 12; Hora-Hořejš 49). Aside from the Jesuits College in Prague, their influence spread to other Czech cities and towns like Olomouc or Brno. Most plays were performed in Latin and accessible for public were only special or ceremonial school performances. In Prague in the yard of Klementinum, the Jesuit College, many Jesuit plays took place and up to 10.000 spectators could watch the performances there. Jesuits even performed plays for the nobility at Prague castle. The performances were financed by the court and included expensive costumes and effects (Bartoš et al. 134-135; Kazda 126-127).

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Even though most of the Jesuit plays used Latin language, in 1567 there was a tragedy of Saint Wenceslas presented in the Czech language by Jesuits and it was the first historical play about Czech history ever performed. Jesuits also enhanced their reputation by giving the option of education to the poor. (Bartoš et al. 136; Kazda 126). Typical Jesuit plays were similar to the protestant ones. Among the plays one could find biblical plays, ancient plays, morality plays, historical plays and to appeal to the common public they performed also the traditional Christmas, Passion and Resurrection types of plays. As a unique type of play, the Jesuits performed tribute plays during important visits and coronations (Bartoš et al. 135-136; Kazda 128). Due to the fact that the nobility and ruler supported the Jesuit theatre and the protestant theatre was censured, the Jesuit theatre was the leading one in the beginning of the 17th century. The Jesuit theatre was so popular that even other monastic orders, for instance the Piarists, tried to compete with them. Jesuits were temporarily exiled in the year of 1618 due to the rebellion against the emperor. Jesuit theatre present in the Czech Lands till the 18th century and forbidden during the reign of Theresa in 18th century. (Bartoš et al. 139; Kazda 127-128; Císař 13).

Culture and theatre during the Habsburg reign When in 1526 Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (Ferdinand I. Habsburský) succeeded the previous Czech king Louis II of Hungary (Ludvík Jagellonský), it meant a change of the royal house in the Czech Lands from the House of Jagiellon to the House of Habsburg. Ferdinand I was then followed by four other Habsburg rulers: Maximillian II, Rudolf II and Matthias. (Čornej 62). Ferdinand I did not focus much of his attention on the Lands of the Bohemian Crown due to problems facing the Habsburg monarchy in other parts. After the Czech uprising against the emperor in 1547, he even gave the rule of Czech Lands to his son Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria. The Archduke cherished arts and culture and he lived on his court in Prague in a real Renaissance style. The Prague castle experienced a great and luxurious social and cultural life (Hora-Hořejš 46, 50). The Habsburgs enjoyed magnificent theatre celebrations and performances and the theatre techniques used were as advanced as the modern techniques in the other European countries. One of the monstrous celebrations, for instance, was took place in Hradčany gardens and was organized by Ferdinand II for his father, who came to Prague after he became emperor. The Archduke even organized 500 men to perform a theatre replica or the Hussite attack on the day the emperor entered Prague. The performances included a huge number of characters,

33 sophisticated costumes and stage properties, special effects and of course a theatre arranger. The most famous arranger was an Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who even became a noble man (Bartoš et al. 139-141). These magnificent theatre performances are considered the beginnings of opera in the Czech Lands. In this period of the Habsburg rule, one can even find a proof of the first ballet performances. Another feature of theatre that did not appear in the Czech Lands were theatre troupes. The only theatre troupes coming to the Czech Lands performed for the court and nobility. The nobility was also well acquainted with the theatre in Italy or England thanks to their travels. (Bartoš et al. 140-141, 151).

Maximilian II After the death of his father, the Czechs awaited Maximilian II with great hopes. He was known for his sympathies for Protestant beliefs and so the Czech people believed, that with Maximilian as a ruler, things will change. Unfortunately, they did not. Maximilian promised a lot to the Czech nation but in the end stayed true to the beliefs of the House of Habsburg and with that he disappointed the whole Czech nation (Hora-Hořejš 58-60). As far as theatre is concerned, one of the most important celebrations Maximilian II organized was a tribute celebration welcoming his guests on Shrovetide. It all happened in 1570 on the Old Town Square in Prague and was organized by the popular arranger Arcimboldo. The performance included a living elephant and a stage property of a volcano producing fire and smoke (Bartoš et al. 140).

Rudolf II Rudolf II made Prague his home for around 30 years and the city experienced a cultural boom at that time. There were many renaissance-style palaces being built as well as new churches. But the real cultural centre was hidden in the court of Rudolf II where he even kept his personal artists. He loved artists and they had artistic freedom of production and known are paintings painted in a cubistic or surrealistic style. The style of Rudolf’s artist became later to be called mannerism (Hora-Hořejš 98-99, 107-108, 114). Of course, during the reign of Rudolf II many celebrations were also arranged on important occasions like his coronation, especially when Rudolf became The Order of the Golden Fleece (Bartoš et al. 140).

Although performances at court could compete with the contemporary theatre performances throughout Europe, they did not have a much influence on the Czech theatre

34 development, because theatre at court was meant only for the monarch, members of the court and the noble men and most of these people were foreigners. There was no connection between the court and monarch and the theatre developing in cities and towns. That is why they could not influence each other (Bartoš et al. 141, 151-152).

The Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain in 1620 had tragical consequences for the Czech nation. After this battle the Czech lands became a part of the absolute power of Habsburg monarchy and the country was forced to be Catholic as the Habsburgs were of Catholic faith (Čornej 80- 81). We do not have any proof of scholastic performances during from 1618 till the battle, only a record of a foreign theatre company staying in the Czech lands prior to the battle. After the battle, theatre Czech theatre development started to be influenced by the baroque style (Bartoš et al. 139,154).

3.2 Summary of the Czech development At first the theatre ideas appeared in scholastic theatre due to the fact that theatre as a form of entertainment was disliked as a result of the Hussite tradition and was even condemned by the first humanists. The scholastic theatre was secular and its main purpose was to train the students in Latin and deliver some kind of a moral lesson. The most popular were Roman plays or biblical stories. The main centre of scholastic theatre was in the first half of the century Prague and the first public scholastic performance took also place in Prague. The main focus of theatre in the second half of the 16th century was not Prague anymore but the Czech countryside and it meant a deeper engagement of townspeople in the Renaissance culture. What helped the development of the theatre in the countryside was the use of Czech language which made the theatre accessible not only for the educated part of population. It even led to the plays being performed not only at schools. As far as the content of Czech production of drama is concerned, the most popular theme was biblical. The author of original Czech dramas that stands out is Pavel Kyrmezer. Classical roman plays were rare and Latin was only used at universities or Jesuits schools. Nevertheless, there was Czech production of Latin drama, for instance the most important Latin plays were written by Jan Campanus Vodňanský.

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Catholic production of drama in the Czech Lands was done mostly by Jesuits who used the theatre for educational and anti-reformation purposes. With the growing interest in Czech language, translations of foreign plays became popular as well. The most sophisticated and professional theatre performances were happening at court but those were not accessible for public and therefore could not influence the Czech theatre development.

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4 Comparison

One might think that the developments in these countries had very little in common, but it is possible to find a few similarities between these two developments. Nevertheless, in many ways the development varied greatly. This chapter compares the two theatrical developments and also compares the historical situation. What is crucial to mention is that it only compares the facts already presented in the previous content of this thesis.

Delay in development It is not easy to establish the exact date when the Renaissance or the humanistic ideas came to these lands. It is know that the historical development was delayed in both countries but the reasons differed. Renaissance reached England much later than other European countries due to the fact that England is a nation located on an island, not on the European mainland. Despite the fact that the Czech Lands are situated on the mainland, due to the Hussite Wars and the Hussites being against any form of entertainment, the Renaissance ideas reached the land later as well.

Strong dynasty What is certain is that in both countries the Renaissance period is connected with the succession of powerful dynasties. In England it was the House of Tudor later followed by the House of Stuart and to the Czech Lands came the Habsburgs. The difference was that England was an autonomic nation while the Czech Lands, on the other hand, were a part of a bigger empire, the Habsburg Empire.

Religion What the two countries certainly had in common were religious issues, the problems between Catholics and Protestants. Especially in England, the religious group of Puritans had a bad influence on the theatre development; because of them the theatre development stopped for years after the year of 1642. To the contrary, in the Czech Lands was a religious Catholic group of Jesuits and they certainly helped the Czech theatre development.

The end of the Renaissance period The previous leads to another common feature in both countries. The end of the Renaissance period in theatre is terminated by a historical event. In England it was the outbreak

37 of the Civil War during the reign of the Stuart king Charles I. In the Lands of the Bohemian Crown it was the fatal Battle of the White Mountain which led to an absolute power of Habsburgs in the Czech Lands. Only the timing differs a little bit. The Battle of White Mountain happened in 1620 and outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642.

Role of theatre It is very difficult to compare these two theatres as they had a completely different function in the society. In the Czech Lands the theatre was used mainly for educational purposes in schools and due to the popularity of performances, it exceeded the school buildings but still had similar themes as the scholastic theatre. In England, the performances were seen as a type of entertainment and were accessible to most of the people in the public theatre venues or for the wealthier ones, in the private venues. The English theatre venues are incomparable with the Czech Lands, because in the Czech Lands were no such purpose-built venues. The first theatre venue in the Czech Lands was established in 1739 and was called Divadlo v Kotcích (Císař 21).

The centre of theatre This is another feature that differs in each country. On the one hand, throughout the time of Renaissance, London became the main theatre centre due to the fact that the royal court was located there and the artists sought for the support of the monarch. On the other hand, even though Prague was the centre in the beginning of the Renaissance period, the main focus gradually moved to the Czech countryside. The reason behind this was that the growing popularity of original Czech plays in Czech language and these were produced mainly in the countryside.

Typical themes The period of Renaissance brought an interest in ancient world, culture and ideas. At the beginning of the Renaissance era in both countries, the theatre was interested in classical roman plays. With time, the interest in ancient plays faded and the theatre and drama moved a different direction. In the Czech theatre it was a direction mostly towards biblical plays and in England towards historical topics from English history and Italian-inspired contemporary themes.

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Genres of drama Even though the English authors used the words comedy and tragedy much less than the Czech authors, they used it correctly. Unlike the Czech authors who liked to use these words regardless the content. A Czech play containing the word “comedy” in its name could have easily been a tragic story.

Theatre at schools Scholastic theatre was much more important for the development in the Czech Lands than in England. The purpose of the English theatre was mainly to entertain and not to educate. Nevertheless, even in England it is possible to find scholastic plays, which were so typical for the Czech Lands.

Latin language The use of Latin language in theatre and drama was much more prominent in the Czech Lands than in England. As for the Czech humanistic theatre was typical the scholastic theatre, used for educational purposes, Latin was the main language of these types of performances.

Theatre companies What was typical for English theatre and the Czech theatre did not experience were theatre companies. Such a common feature of the English Renaissance theatre did not appear in the history of Czech theatre. During the Habsburg reign there were foreign theatre troupes coming to the Czech Lands but mostly on demand of the Habsburg monarch and therefore they only came to perform for noble circles. Both the Czech and the English rulers were fond of the performances of the theatre companies.

Professionalism Another difference connected to this matter is that there were no professional actors during the Czech Renaissance opposed to the troupes of professional actors in England. The main role of the Czech humanistic actors was to present a text with the emphasis on rhetoric. The emphasis of the spoken word is a feature that the Czech theatre shares with the theatre in ancient Greece.

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Gender of actors The only similarity one can find regarding actors in both countries is that actors were always men and even the female roles were played by male actors. This belongs among the other features that the Renaissance theatre has in common with the theatre in Ancient Greece.

Opera From the description of plays performed at court in both countries is visible that the grandiose and expensive performances aimed at the cultural satisfaction of the monarch and nobles. These types 1of plays, for instance the English masques, preceded opera.

Royal support The most important difference of all and the one that might have changed the development in the Czech Lands is the support of theatre by the monarchs which was common in England but not in the Czech Lands. Even though the plays were controlled before being put on stage and restricted in some ways, the English rulers did not prevent the theatre from developing. On the other hand, the Habsburg monarchs in the Czech Lands enjoyed theatre too, but only at their courts and definitely not in the Czech language. Some of them focused too little of their attention to the Czech Lands and their court was certainly not located in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. For this reason, the pompous court theatre could not influence the development of the common Czech theatre.

Legacy The English playwrights, especially the great Bard of Avon, influenced the later European production and inspired the following generations of playwrights. In comparison to that, the Czech Renaissance writers did only influence the subsequent Czech writers. Even though the Czech drama writers did not have a worldwide impact, they influenced the Czech culture and the development of the Czech language greatly.

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Conclusion

The main aim of this bachelor thesis was to present the historical development of the theatre and drama in the period of Renaissance in the given countries, that is to say in England and in the Czech Lands. It aimed to describe the most prominent features of the theatrical development and give the reader an idea on the historical background which greatly influenced the development of theatre. After the second chapter attempted to describe the development in England and the third one presented the development in the Czech Lands, the last chapter was concerned with the comparison of these two chapters. It does not present any new facts. Therefore, the last chapter compares chosen theatre features similar in both countries and also some features that were different in each country. As a matter of fact, the search for similar features was rather difficult as the theatre in each land leaned towards a different direction. The features of the Renaissance England, where common people as well as the monarchs enjoyed the type of entertainment the theatre offered, were very visible. Even though the Czech theatre had its own typical features, they were more likely to be different than similar to the English theatre. In the chapter dealing with English Renaissance theatre it has been indicated that even though the Tudor and Stuart rulers put regulations on theatre and controlled it greatly, the theatre and drama in England bloomed. The kings and queens of this period did not only enjoy the spectacular performances being presented to them at court but also enjoyed the performances by the popular theatre troupes. Step by step, the theatre troupes were gaining royal patronage and even financial support. This was one of the reasons for growing popularity of theatre. Another reason was the quality of the playwrights in that era and their skills to appeal to masses, especially the fantastic William Shakespeare. The quality of his plays can be judged by the fact that they are still being performed even in the present day and the characters from his plays are timeless, because they show the common characteristics of all people. Although not much is generally known about the Renaissance theatre in the Czech Lands, the third chapter shows that the Renaissance period was very important to the Czech history not only for the theatre development but also historically. In this period there was a growing interest in the Czech language, original Czech drama and translations from foreign languages to Czech. The Czech Renaissance drama production inspired the future generation of Czech writers.

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The aim of this thesis to present the theatrical developments in each country and to compare them was fulfilled, although the range of the thesis allowed me only to outline both developments and compare the information mentioned in each chapter. In spite of this fact, I believe it will give the readers a general idea of what the theatre was like in this period in the given countries and will motivate the theatre lovers to do more research on this topic.

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