Theatre History Overview - Part 67 - Jesuit Theatre

Both Catholic and protestant schools in Germany used theatre in order to teach doctrine and train students. Some plays were in Latin and some plays were in the vernacular. The pkea osf this school drama happened in Catholic schools run by the Jesuits.

The first year a Jesuit performance was recorded was 1551. This was at the Collegio Mamertino at Mesina in Sicily. Soon after that, every Jesuit school was performing at least one play per year. The plays were often written by professors and the students made up the casts.

The original plays were pious in nature. Music was also an important element of the plays. Jesuit theatre could be found anywhere there was a Jesuit school. However, Jesuit theatre was best developed in Germany and Austria.

During the seventeenth century, Jesuit theatre had reached its height. In the eighteen century, especially by 1773, it declined because of the Jesuits having political interests and trying to hold a monopoly on education that caused others to become strong enemies of the religious group.

A popular Jesuit play was Pietas Victrix by Nikolaus of Avancini. The Jesuits also produced important works about theatrical practices. These include Pictorial and Architectural Perspective by Pozzo and Dissertation on Stage Acting by Lang.

(This is the blog entry for July 5, 2018. I was having troubles with submitting my assignment for school, so that took priority.)

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