THE ART OF THEATER IN THE MEDIEVAL ERA
In this period the theater arises with religious origins, a stage in which the first dramatic and liturgical representations are developed, related to Easter or Christmas tending to entertain the liturgy. With the passage of time these works begin to be written in the vulgar language. Thus initiating a secular development that corresponds to the emergence of the cities and would transfer this representation from the inside of the Church to the porches of this and, finally, to the public squares.
Carnival was very identified with those first profane dramas as popular shows. The public and creator corresponded to the same area if it was developed in the monasteries, if the case was that the representations were presented in the squares of cities or in front of the facades of the churches the urban public will be the new spectator of the theatrical exhibition.
In this way, the social function of the theater fulfills fun and entertainment and in a way it also has a informative function, which is religious knowledge. The functions were performed on pallets, cars or even together and in succession all the spaces of the action.
Luigi Allegri includes the following statement: “If we understand that theater, on the one hand, on the one hand, only for ancient culture and, on the other, for the modern one, we can say that in the Middle Ages the theater practically does not exist. The task – a fascinating one – of the medieval theater scholar is, then, to make continuous changes of perspective;to pursue, if not the theater, if at least the "theatricality" where it is hidden and, above all, that of constant verification itself the methodology itself and the categories themselves ” .
The texts allowed a new vision in that recreation for their virtue and beauty, in this way Allegri makes a defense to that theatricality offered by the various chronicles, ecclesiastical glosses or poetic songbooks. Likewise, this concept helps us anticipate persistence and discontinuities in the theater in a less traumatic way, claiming the role of the actor and the minstrels as continuators, of the classical theater with the obvious transformations and recycling of contact with the popular agricultural cultures, thereligious cycles, the party or poetic orality.
The actor of public space or the courtly juglar, with the obvious differences of status either professional or cultural share the same spaces of public action using their corresponding repertoire, with their own substance as a basic work tool helped by verbal resources or not,And with the ephemeral nature it allows to create the theatrical ceremony between the interpreter and the spectator.
Previously when the theater was similar to indecency and some label other pejorative. Those who give moral and religious balance to the theater in their battle against paganism are the parents of the Church. In fact, Church Fathers such as Tertullian, Clemente de Alejandría, Juan Chrysostom or Agustín de Hipona are sources of anti -theater elaborations that the various councils will remember during the Middle Ages.
These attacks indicate the threat generated by the shows against Christianity. The incidents that could cause would serve as a bad model, because in the staging it seems a jocular or perverse episode, those actors using their profession would promote immorality, being that, finally the assembly of spectators causes the debauchery.
As for the disputes concerning the legitimacy of the theater, Tertullian in the apologetics includes the following: “Another reason concerns the theater’s impudice, where all infamies are held in public that it is normal to carefully hide. It is absurd, then, to seek carefully in shows what in ordinary life would produce shame or horror. You cannot even love the images of what should not be done. The theater represents only criminal actions, of rage in tragedy, of debauchery in comedy. It is absurd to estimate an art when those who exercise it are despised to accuse them of infamy. God’s law has launched his curse against masks and, above all, against men who dress in women. These assemblies are full of dangers. Men and women go to them, some to see, the others to be seen and with an extraordinary appearance. A woman who goes to the theater returns from him possessed by the demon;But as in her exorcism she reproaches the unclean spirit of having dared to attack a parishioner, he will respond cunningly: I am right, I have found her in my house. What greater pleasure for a Christian than the contempt of the world, true freedom, the purity of conscience, the content with little and not fear death! Here are the pleasures, here are the shows of Christians " .
The most important border is the claim towards the disciplines of knowledge by the works and their authors, in which, the classical tradition has established guidelines of what we would understand as modern theater. Having developed in cultured environments, with little public importance and Latin affection made his studies on the theater of the time occupy a secondary place.
Subsequently, there will be influence on Renaissance works, allowing to understand and know the concept of humanistic comedy, thus making it an essential source of modern theater.
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