scaenae frons Reference library
Ronald W. Vince
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
... frons In the Roman theatre, the decorated architectural façade of the scaena (Greek skene ) which served as the background to the playing area. In early modern Italy, attempts to incorporate the scaenae frons into playhouse architecture failed in the face of the demands of perspective scenery. The Teatro Olimpico ( 1580–4 ), featuring a raised stage backed by a decorated scaenae frons , proved a dead end. The Teatro Farnese ( 1618 ) signalled the end of the scaenae frons , reduced to a frame for a scenic vista, as an integral part of...
scaenae frons
above
discovery space
thrust stage Reference library
John Barnes
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...wall. The thrust was the primary stage of ancient, medieval , and English and Spanish early modern theatre. Permanent architectural features of the back wall are significant in the dramaturgy of each place and period—the Greek ekkyklema , the balconies of the Roman scaenae frons , the Elizabethan discovery space . The back wall or rear space of modern thrust staging is usually designed specifically for each production. John...
Aleotti, Giovan Battista Reference library
The Companion to Theatre and Performance
...theatre machines and stage sets ( see scenography ), both for dramatic performances and public spectacles. In 1605–6 he constructed his first permanent *playhouse , in the old granary of Cesare d'Este, followed in 1610 by a temporary stage in the Castello Estense with a scaenae frons inspired by the Teatro *Olimpico . In 1612 this structure, with an *auditorium for 4,000, was turned into a permanent theatre. Aleotti's masterpiece was the *proscenium -arch theatre of the Pilotta in Parma, known as Teatro *Farnese (constructed 1618–19 ). Günter...
Red Lion Theatre Reference library
Andrew Gurr
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...Lion Yard. Built in 1567 by John Brayne , brother-in-law of James Burbage , nothing is known about its use or how long it lasted as a playhouse. Polygonal, with a rectangular stage 12 by 9 m (40 by 30 feet), and 1.5 m (5 feet) high, its main feature was a turret by the scaenae frons rising 9 m (30 feet) from the stage. Andrew...
above Reference library
Andrew Gurr
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...A standard word in Shakespearian stage directions , referring to the stage balcony in the centre of the scaenae frons . The stage balcony might be used to represent the balcony of a house, a window, a musicians' gallery or a town's walls, with the doorway beneath it (the so-called discovery space ) serving as the town gates. In the hall theatres, and later in the amphitheatres as well, it served as the music room. Commonly it was fronted by a curtain to conceal the musicians. As an acting space it held few people, who usually served as accessories to...
Aleotti, Giovan Battista Reference library
Günter Berghaus
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...machines and stage sets ( see scenography ), both for dramatic performances and public spectacles . In 1605–6 he constructed his first permanent playhouse , in the old granary of Cesare d'Este, followed in 1610 by a temporary stage in the Castello Estense with a scaenae frons inspired by the Teatro Olimpico . In 1612 this structure, with an auditorium for 4,000, was turned into a permanent theatre. Aleotti's masterpiece was the proscenium -arch theatre of the Pilotta in Parma, known as Teatro Farnese (constructed 1618–19 ). Günter...
Cockpit-in-Court Reference library
The Companion to Theatre and Performance
...and *masques for the royal entertainments of the Christmas season, the Cockpit was designed by Inigo *Jones and reflected the distinctive qualities of *Palladio 's Teatro *Olimpico at Vicenza ( 1583 ), which Jones had studied. An intimate theatre, it had a curved scaenae frons with five entry doors, and a complicated balcony area. Queen Henrietta Maria had introduced *perspective staging for a play at Somerset House in 1626 , and Jones subsequently designed scenery for several other plays. This experience influenced his design for the new...
Cockpit-in-Court Reference library
Andrew Gurr
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...plays and masques for the royal entertainments of the Christmas season, the Cockpit was designed by Inigo Jones and reflected the distinctive qualities of Palladio 's Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza ( 1583 ), which Jones had studied. An intimate theatre, it had a curved scaenae frons with five entry doors, and a complicated balcony area. Jones's drawings survive at Worcester College Oxford. Queen Henrietta Maria had introduced perspective staging for a play at Somerset House in 1626 , and Jones subsequently designed scenery for several other plays....
Cockpit Theatre Reference library
Andrew Gurr
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...in 1617 . Its design, a half-round brick-built auditorium facing a rectangular stage flanked by boxes for noble spectators with a square-ended tiring house behind, might be shown in a set of plans by Inigo Jones at Worcester College, Oxford. These plans show the scaenae frons , heavily decorated with carved figures and pilastering, as an arched central opening with a single door on each side, and a music room above with benches for audience on each flank. A small structure, the Cockpit was intended to rival the Blackfriars , and came close to...
Terence-Stage Reference library
The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre (2 ed.)
...for by another woodcut in the same volume, showing a scene from the Eunuchus with four curtained arches, each labelled with the name of a character in the play. Although this is reminiscent of the ‘houses’ of the liturgical drama the pillared façade is more like the scaenae frons of the late classical theatre building. There were evidently alternative forms of the Eunuchus ...
discovery space Reference library
Andrew Gurr
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...part of the scaenae frons to show something concealed in an alcove. This has come to be called the ‘discovery space’. In Hamlet Polonius conceals himself behind the ‘arras’, a cloth used as the curtain, to eavesdrop on the exchange between Hamlet and his mother, and Hamlet stabs him through the cloth when he calls out, drawing it back to reveal the body. A similar cloth was used to conceal the caskets in The Merchant of Venice , until Nerissa ‘discovered’ them to the candidates. The alcove or ‘discovery space’ in the scenae frons may have been...
Septizodium Reference library
Ian Archibald Richmond and Janet DeLaine
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
... (or Septizonium ) , a free-standing ornamental façade and nymphaeum dedicated by Septimius Severus in ad 203 ( CIL 6. 31229), closing the vista of the via Appia and screening the south-east corner of the Palatine hill at Rome. It was designed like the scaenae frons of a theatre, with a series of large semi-circular niches, framed by three storeys of Corinthian columns and decorated with statuary. Although part of the building appears on the Forma urbis and the east end survived into the 16th cent., the exact reconstruction is debated....
Palladio, Andrea Reference library
The Companion to Theatre and Performance
...picture of classical playhouse architecture. In 1558 he constructed for the Academy a small stage for the performances of ‘Olympic Games’ (semi-scenic poetry recitations and play readings), and a few years later a temporary stage in the Palazzo della Ragione, complete with scaenae frons and *perspective scenery, which was used for productions of Piccolomini's Unceasing Love ( 1561 ) and Trissino's Sophonisba ( 1562 ). In 1564 he constructed another temporary theatre for the Compagnia della Calza in Venice for a performance of Conte di Monte's ...
theatres and theatre architecture Reference library
The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance
...in classical drama in the Renaissance led in turn to a growth in theatre building. In sixteenth-century Italy, theatre architecture was based on classical models, most notably in Palladio 's Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza. First used in 1585 , its acting area was backed by a scaenae frons , with five openings for entrances and exits, and faced an orchestra space and semicircular seating for the audience. Serlio , the most important writer on theatre architecture, developed the perspective scenery; his Second Book of Architecture was published in French in ...
Palladio, Andrea Reference library
Günter Berghaus
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...classical times ( see ancient theatres ). In 1558 he constructed for the Academy a small stage for the performances of ‘Olympic Games’ (semi-scenic poetry recitations and play readings), and a few years later a temporary stage in the Palazzo della Ragione, complete with scaenae frons and perspective scenery , which was used for productions of Piccolomini's Amor costante ( Unceasing Love , 1561 ) and Trissino's Sophonisba ( 1562 ). In 1564 he constructed another temporary theatre for the Compagnia della Calza in Venice, probably in the...
theatres (Greek and Roman), structure Reference library
Richard Allan Tomlinson
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...part of the auditorium. Simple theatres in the western provinces might have auditoria resting on terraces of earth fill supported by walls. The best preserved Roman theatres are at Aspendus and Perge in Pamphylia (eastern type, with flat scaenae frons ) and at Arausio (western type, with indented scaenae frons ). See odeum . A. W. Pickard-Cambridge , The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens (1946); M. Bieber , The History of the Greek and Roman Theater 2 (1961) (bibliog. 325 ff.); A. von Gerkan and W. Müller-Wiener , Das Theater von Epidauros ...
theatres (Greek and Roman), structure Reference library
Richard Allan Tomlinson
The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (2 ed.)
...of the auditorium. Simple theatres in the western provinces might have auditoria resting on terraces of earth fill supported by walls. The best preserved Roman theatres are at Aspendus and Perge in Pamphylia (eastern type, with flat scaenae frons ) and at Arausio (mod. Orange in France) (western type, with indented scaenae frons ). Richard Allan...
