TEACHING | R18collective

teaching resources

We're committed to providing an array of pedagogical materials sourced from our online community. On this page you'll find useful videos and a wide variety of sample syllabi that run the gamut from highly specialized courses to broadly defined surveys of eighteenth-century theatre.

If you would like to contribute materials to this compendium of Teaching Resources please feel free to contact Daniel O’Quinn. We will do our best to update the page as frequently as possible to keep everyone apprised of new developments in teaching.

How they did it | instructional videos & INTROS | SAMPLE syllabi

How They Did It

Videos on stagecraft, stage tech, and movement work from 1660-1800

03:14

Creating an 18th-century Mechanical Theatre | V&A

An 18th-century mechanical theatre was a technology of tricks and devices that changed scenes almost miraculously. With nothing of this scale from history surviving, watch as exhibition designer, Patrick Burnier and his team recreate a spectacular mechanical theatre for the exhibition, Opera: Passion, Power and Politics. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to watch regular performances of a galleon cast adrift in a storm, with the odd mermaid. With additional commentary from theatre historian, Professor Christopher Baugh and scenic designer, Simon Bejer. Opera: Passion, Power and Politics is on at the V&A until Sunday, 25 February 2018 https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/opera

05:35

Litomyšl Castle Theatre

English and German subtitles are available. For more information and pictures about this theatre please visit http://www.theatre-architecture.eu/db.html?theatreId=65 Litomyšl Castle, a UNESCO monument, was built in 1567--1581. A castle theatre came into existence in the 18th century in the second floor, A second one was built in the ground floor after 1791. Count Jiří Josef Valdštejn-Vartemberk completed an alteration of the castle interior by the construction of the present-day theatre in 1796 -- 1797. It was opened in April of 1798 and it had a rich cultural life until the 2nd half of the 19th century. Members of the count's family and their friends performed popular high comedies here not only for their pleasure, but for the audience from the town as well. The theatre has been preserved to the present day, including stage machinery and lighting equipment. Great value is attributed to a unique collection of set pieces that was created by Josef Platzer, an imperial court painter, author of decorations for the Prague Nostitz (Estate) Theatre (1783) and the Viennese court theatre. The theatre is accessible with a guide within the tour of the castle interiors; some of the Platzer's decorations are installed in the exposition of musical instruments in the second floor.

09:58

History of Theatre 7 - The Arched Spectacle / Teatro Farnese (cc's: English, Español)

On spectatacle plays in the 17th century and the oldest remaining theatre with a permanent proscenium arch: Farnese Theatre in Parma, Italy. Spanish translation: Jc m edu (thanks!) Personae: Giovanni Battista Aleotti, Ranuccio I Farnese (duc of Parma), Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, Nicola Sabbattini, Joseph Furttenbach, Giacomo Torelli, Bernardo Buontalenti, Monteverdi, Venus, flying Mercury. Locations: Palazzo della Pilotta (Parma), Teatro Farnese (Parma), Théâtre du Richelieu (Paris), La Scala (Milan), City Theatre/Stadschouwburg (Amsterdam), Palatina Library (Parma), Palazzo Te (Mantova) Subjects: Proscenium arc, picture-frame stage theatre, scaenae frons, porta regia, Corinthian columns, U-shaped orchestra and auditorium, movable side-wings, symmetrical, perspective stage sceneries, spectacle plays, the 'flying' Mercury, deus-ex-machina apparatus ('geranos' or 'machina'). More on Early Illusionistic Scene Changes - Frank Mohler: http://www1.appstate.edu/orgs/spectacle/index.html Music: Monteverdi (musopen.org) See my playlist on theatre: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA77B5E2507D2B7E0

Technical Tools & Documents

Cyborg Prompter: This website, designed James Harriman-Smith (Newcastle University), allows you to take on the responsibility of an 18th-century theatre prompter, and create the parts for your actors.

Designing and painting a Regency-era set: Scenic artist Kit Surrey talks about his set design for Douglas Jerrold's Black Eyed Susan (Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds, 2007).

Staging Centlivre: The shift plot for the production of Susanna Centlivre's The Busy Body at Clarence Brown Theatre in 2017.

Instructional videos & INTROS

Theatre as a social tool

Theatre has been used as a tool to help bring about social change throughout history. English professor Misty Anderson takes looks at Restoration Plays and 18th-Century Theatre all the way to Hamilton today to reveal how plays have helped shape our society today.

How to stage a Restoration comedy on the modern stage

Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington in conversation with Prof. Michael Cordner (University of York).

'Working It Out' : Performance Workshop of The Jane Scott Project

A video record of The Jane Scott Project of 2002, led by Prof. Gilli Bush Bailey (Royal Holloway). Includes professional performances of scenes from Scott's The Old Oak Chest (1816) and The Inscription (1814); Dick McCaw on movement (at 40:45); and Oonaugh Phelan & Lucy Nevitt fight class (at 55:40)

Introductions to Restoration Drama by women (written by students at Newcastle University)

teaching resources

Creating an 18th-century Mechanical Theatre | V&A

Litomyšl Castle Theatre

Baroque theatre

Drottningholms slottsteater

18th-Century Acting

History of Theatre 7 - The Arched Spectacle / Teatro Farnese (cc's: English, Español)