Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/715

 THEATRE 685 lament ; hence its members were popularly known as Cajetans (Gaetani). But the ex- tension and establishment of the order were mainly due to Caraffa, who was archbishop of Chieti (Lat. Theate) when he was received by Gaetano as his associate, and thus gave the order its official name. It was approved in 1524 by Clement VII., under the designation of " regular clerks," the dress of the members being that of the secular clergy. Caraffa had been elected superior general. Their first res- idence on Monte Pincio was sacked by the Spaniards May 6, 1527, and Gaetano was sub- jected to the most cruel tortures to make him give up the riches he was thought to possess. He soon after retired to Venice with his com- panions, and was chosen superior, and he and they displayed extraordinary charity during the plague and famine of 1528. They were afterward united with the congregation of Somascha, founded about this time in a town of that name near Bergamo by St. Girolamo Emiliano. The two congregations were sepa- rated on the elevation of Caraffa to the papal chair, May 23, 1555. In 1547 they had only two establishments, one at Venice and another at Naples. Through the influence of Paul IV. they spread rapidly, and soon possessed four provinces in Italy, one in Germany, one in Spain, two establishments in Poland, one in Portugal, and one in Goa. In France they had only the Parisian residence, which pro- duced several remarkable men. They also founded missions in Tartary, Tiflis, and Cir- cassia. At the beginning of the present cen- tury the Theatines did not exist outside of Italy, where they had nine establishments. These were all suppressed in 1870. There were also two communities of Theatine nuns (one a congregation of hermits), both founded by Ursula Benincasa, the one in 1583, the oth- er in 1610. Neither had ever more than two establishments, and both are now extinct. THEATRE (Gr. 0arpov, a seeing place, from Oeacdat, to view), a building in which plays are represented. The first theatres of tbe Greeks, who were the founders of the drama in our sense of the word (see DRAMA), were exceedingly rude affairs. Thespis is said to have acted his plays in a wagon, and in the time of ^Eschylus the per- formances took place upon temporary wooden scaffolds, one of which having broken down during a representation in which j3schylus and Pratinas were rivals (about 500 B. C.), the Athenians in that year began to build the great theatre of Dionysus (Bacchus), the first perma- nent stone structure of the kind. It was prob- ably used for dramatic purposes within a few years, though it was not finished until about 340 ; and in the mean time theatres had been erected in many parts of Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily. The seats of the spectators, compri- sing the Btarpov proper, rose one above another in arcs of concentric circles, each row forming nearly two thirds of a circumference. The space immediately in front of the spectators, corre- sponding nearly to the modern pit or parquet, was called the orchestra, and was appropriated to the chorus. It was floored with boards, and in the centre of it stood the dv^r/ or altar of Bacchus, upon a raised platform which was sometimes occupied by the leader of the chorus, the police, the flute player, and the prompter ; the last two were placed on the side next the stage, and concealed from the spectators by the altar. The stage was behind the orchestra and above it, and the chorus, whenever they had to take a part in the real action of the drama, ascended to it by steps. The back was closed by a wall called the oKipj (Lat. scena) ; the whole space between the scena and the orchestra was known as the proscenium ; and the part near- est the audience, where the actors stood when they spoke, was the "koyelov. There was no scenery properly so called, but the scena was architecturally decorated and made to repre- sent as far as possible the locality in which the action was going on. It had an entrance in the centre called the royal door, through which the principal characters made their appearance, and doors on the right and left for the subor- dinate personages. The plays of Jischylus and Euripides seem to require frequent changes of scene, but probably they were rather hinted at than actually made ; they perhaps consisted merely in turning the TtepiaKToi (Lat. venura) or " wings," which were prism-shaped frames moving on pivots at each side of the prosce- nium. The whole stage was never concealed from the spectators; there is mention of a curtain, which instead of being drawn up was lowered through a crevice in the stage, but it covered only the background, or according to some authorities the wings. The machines for producing supernatural effects must have been numerous and elaborate, but are now imper- fectly understood. They included the " Cha- ronian steps," by which shades ascended from the lower world; the //^av^, by which gods and heroes were represented passing through the air; and the 0eo/loyeZov, an elevated place above the scena, where the deities appeared in full majesty. Neither the stage, the orchestra, nor the auditorium was roofed, but there were porticoes running around the building, to which the people retreated in case of rain, and awn- ings were sometimes used to ward off the heat of the sun, for the performances always took place by daylight. The vast size of the ancient theatres, intended as they were to accommo- date almost the entire population of a city at each performance, made it impossible for the unaided voice to be heard by the whole audi- ence. Metallic vases were therefore placed under the seats to serve as reflectors of sound, and the actors wore masks with metallic mouth- pieces to answer the purpose of speaking trum- pets. The spectators were seated according to their rank. A price was charged for admission, at least until the performance was pretty far advanced ; but in Athens from the time of Peri- cles the poorer class and subsequently all the