Seeking the Truth About Women on Stage
Women on stage: What's the big deal? We see women everyday in some performative way, nevermind on the relatively rare occasions an individual attends the theatre. Now nearly any self motivated woman can present herself on stage or in public without much thought from her or the viewer.
However, in researching actresses on stage before 1700, I discovered that the rules of societies in Europe and Asia were much more iron clad; Women were property, commodities to acquire and to multiply the family name. This is Illustrated well through how many layers of clothing each woman had to wear during the Elizabethan period and the Spanish Golden Age.
Another aspect of searching for women in performance that I found intriguing was that it was in every level of society. No matter how much money you made, or what class you were born into, people wanted to hear and tell stories. I was fascinated by the nuns putting on shows in convents in Spain, the mountebanks in England which were certainly the root of the Fringe Festival tradition, and the female stock characters Commedia Dell'Arte throughout Europe. Focusing on a nun, a queen and a street player seems to be the best way of focusing my research at this time:
Hrosvitha of Gandersheim; the first known female playwright who must have performed in the plays she created. Here is an expert from a Helena Modjeska speech:
"Hrosvitha wrote in Latin. Her legends are in either hexameters or elegiac verse; her plays, the so-called comedies, are in prose. Her Latin is correct, far above the so-called "Kitchen" Latin of the middle ages. She was evidently well versed in the knowledge of the old classic authors, and equally well acquainted with the rich lore of Christian legends and with the theological philosophy of the fathers of the church. Of the dramatic writers of Greece and Rome she seems to have known only Terence. It was her admiration for Terentius' genius and style, combined with abhorrence for his lack of morality, that seems to have inspired Hrosvitha to write her dramas. She states her object in the following words: 'I intend to substitute for the picture of the dissipation of pagan women edifying stories of pure virgins. I have endeavored, so far as the means of my poor little talent allowed, to celebrate the victories of chastity, especially those where woman's weakness triumph's over man's brutality.'"
Few women had much control over their own destiny. This became somewhat discouraging to me until I ran across Queen Henrietta Maria, Wife of Charles I. She used her charms and sophistication to turn the English court from stodgy to stylish, engaging in court masques, and performing herself. Since she was born and raised in French royalty, she was exposed to a great deal of cultural performance from the beginning of her life, including Ballet, Music and Theatre. Being the daughter of Medici mother, it's no wonder that she too became a patron of the arts.
Of the Commedia Del'Arte, Isabella Adreini was the greatest actress to grace the stage or streets. Born in Venice, she was recognized for her intellectualism, and often wrote her own performance material, some of which can be read here.
In my research, I have found a great deal of crossover from actresses and playwrights, partially because the texts have survived and other means of recording have not. If not a playwright, than a patron in the case of Queen Henrietta Maria. These commonalities still hold true today, and are perhaps connected to our human nature more than the exemplary traits of actors.
I would still like to investigate actresses outside of Europe, specifically in India where I know they were on stage in Kathkali. I still need to address cross dressing, and men playing women, though that is not necessarily central to my topic.
However, in researching actresses on stage before 1700, I discovered that the rules of societies in Europe and Asia were much more iron clad; Women were property, commodities to acquire and to multiply the family name. This is Illustrated well through how many layers of clothing each woman had to wear during the Elizabethan period and the Spanish Golden Age.
Another aspect of searching for women in performance that I found intriguing was that it was in every level of society. No matter how much money you made, or what class you were born into, people wanted to hear and tell stories. I was fascinated by the nuns putting on shows in convents in Spain, the mountebanks in England which were certainly the root of the Fringe Festival tradition, and the female stock characters Commedia Dell'Arte throughout Europe. Focusing on a nun, a queen and a street player seems to be the best way of focusing my research at this time:
Hrosvitha of Gandersheim; the first known female playwright who must have performed in the plays she created. Here is an expert from a Helena Modjeska speech:
"Hrosvitha wrote in Latin. Her legends are in either hexameters or elegiac verse; her plays, the so-called comedies, are in prose. Her Latin is correct, far above the so-called "Kitchen" Latin of the middle ages. She was evidently well versed in the knowledge of the old classic authors, and equally well acquainted with the rich lore of Christian legends and with the theological philosophy of the fathers of the church. Of the dramatic writers of Greece and Rome she seems to have known only Terence. It was her admiration for Terentius' genius and style, combined with abhorrence for his lack of morality, that seems to have inspired Hrosvitha to write her dramas. She states her object in the following words: 'I intend to substitute for the picture of the dissipation of pagan women edifying stories of pure virgins. I have endeavored, so far as the means of my poor little talent allowed, to celebrate the victories of chastity, especially those where woman's weakness triumph's over man's brutality.'"
Few women had much control over their own destiny. This became somewhat discouraging to me until I ran across Queen Henrietta Maria, Wife of Charles I. She used her charms and sophistication to turn the English court from stodgy to stylish, engaging in court masques, and performing herself. Since she was born and raised in French royalty, she was exposed to a great deal of cultural performance from the beginning of her life, including Ballet, Music and Theatre. Being the daughter of Medici mother, it's no wonder that she too became a patron of the arts.
Of the Commedia Del'Arte, Isabella Adreini was the greatest actress to grace the stage or streets. Born in Venice, she was recognized for her intellectualism, and often wrote her own performance material, some of which can be read here.
In my research, I have found a great deal of crossover from actresses and playwrights, partially because the texts have survived and other means of recording have not. If not a playwright, than a patron in the case of Queen Henrietta Maria. These commonalities still hold true today, and are perhaps connected to our human nature more than the exemplary traits of actors.
I would still like to investigate actresses outside of Europe, specifically in India where I know they were on stage in Kathkali. I still need to address cross dressing, and men playing women, though that is not necessarily central to my topic.