Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/716

 686 THEATRE citizens were admitted at the cost of the public treasury. Women, it appears, were allowed to witness tragedies, but were excluded from comedies ; boys were admitted to both. The actors were invariably males. The perfor- mances began early in the morning, and not un- frequently lasted 10 or 12 hours. The Roman theatres were copied from those of the Italian Greeks. They were at first temporary struc- tures of wood, which were sometimes extrava- gantly magnificent. One built by M. ^Emilius Scaurus (58 B. C.) was capable of seating 80,000 people, and the scena was decorated with 3,000 statues and 360 columns in three stories, the lowest of white marble, the middle one of glass, and the uppermost of gilded wood. The first stone theatre was pulled down when nearly finished at the instance of P. Scipio Nasica (155 B. C.), on the score of public morality. In the Roman theatre women performed in in- terludes and mimics, but not in regular dramas. The orchestra was occupied by the senators, foreign ambassadors, and other distinguished persons. There was nothing corresponding to the dvfi&fai or altar of Bacchus. The depth of the stage was proportionally greater than in the Greek theatre, being in the latter about one seventh of the diameter of the orchestra, and in the Roman one fourth. Thus, in the theatre of Bacchus at Athens the diameter of the orchestra (and consequently the width of the available part of the stage) was 72 ft., and the depth of the stage only a little more than 10 ft. A Roman stage of the same width would have been 17 ft. deep. The following are some of the largest ancient theatres the ruins of which are now known : LOCATION. General diameter, feet. Diameter of orchestra, feet. Ephesus 660 240 Tralles .. 540 150 Rome (theatre of Marcellus) Miletus 517 474 172 224 Sparta. 453 217 Syracuse. 440 Aspendus 400 Cnidus. . . 400 Phellus 400 Width of scena. 150 In the middle ages the only theatrical perfor- mances were the miracle plays, mysteries, and interludes. These were given for the most part in convents, colleges, and churches, or in the halls of palaces and castles. The first thea- tres in France were built for miracle plays. In 1548 the confraternity of the Trinity had a theatre in Paris in which they were licensed by the parliament to perform only "profane pieces of a lawful and honest character." So late as 1561 the French had no scenery, and the performers remained on the stage during the whole representation. The first Italian theatre is said to have been erected at Florence m 1581, by Bernardo Buontalenti, but it was probably not public. About the same time Palladio made an attempt to revive the classi- cal theatre in the still existing teatro Olim- pico at Vicenza, but with reduced proportions. From 1618, when a theatre was built at Par- ma by Aleotti, the modern arrangement began to prevail. By narrowing the stage oppor- tunity was given for the use of painted sce- nery, and by increasing its depth for the intro- duction of a variety of complicated machines and the production of spectacular pieces. In England there were regular companies of players as early as the reign of Edward IV., long before there were regular play houses. Churches, universities, private houses, and the yards of inns served at first for their per- formances. Probably the first play house was the London "Theatre," built before 1576; the Curtain in Shoreditch, and the theatres in Blackfriars and Whitefriars, were built near the same time. In Shakespeare's day London had three "private" and four "public" thea- tres, the difference between which is not clearly understood. His own plays were produced at the house in Blackfriars and at the Globe, both of which belonged to the same company, known as his majesty's servants. The Globe was a hexagonal wooden edifice, partly open at the top and partly thatched. In the middle was probably an uncovered court where the com- mon people stood, and around three sides ran galleries or "scaffolds," under the lowest of which were enclosed boxes called "rooms." The prices of admission ranged from a penny or twopence to a shilling. The performance began at 3 o'clock ; in the private theatres it took place by candle light. The stage at this period was strewed with rushes and concealed by curtains, which opened in the middle and drew backward and forward on an iron rod. In the background was a balcony or upper stage, likewise curtained, from which parts of the dialogue were spoken, and at each side of this balcony was a private box. In the private theatres the wits, critics, and other persons of consequence were furnished with seats on the stage. Movable scenery was first used in a regular drama in a public theatre by Davenant in 1662, though something of the sort had been arranged at Oxford by Inigo Jones as early as 1605, on the occasion of an entertainment given to James I. Shakespeare had no other scenery than tapestry hangings and curtains, but the use of stage machinery is as old as the drama itself. Women first appeared upon the Eng- lish stage about the period of the restoration. The first theatre in America was opened at Williamsburg, Va., Sept. 5, 1752. Others fol- lowed at Annapolis, Md., and in Nassau street, New York (1753), Albany (1769), Baltimore (1773), Charleston, S. C. (1774), Newbern, N. C. (1788), and Boston (1792). The largest in the United States are the opera houses of New York, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn, and the Boston theatre. Modern theatres, except those intended for opera, are comparatively small. It has been found that the voice, moderately exerted, can be distinctly