The Floating Palace

The Floating Palace was an amphitheater constructed on a barge in Cincinnati, Ohio, at a cost of $42,000. It had a standard size 42 ft circus ring, a seating capacity of 2400, and was decorated with carved woodwork, mirrors, velvet hangings, and thick carpets. 200 gas jets lighted the palace, and the steam engine on a towboat furnished heat. The towboat also held a menagerie.

Spalding and Rogers Floating Palace opened in Pittsburgh in March 1852, and was an all year attraction that annually toured the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and spent winters in New Orleans.

In 1857 Gilbert R. Spalding and Charles J. Rogers opened the "Spalding & Rogers Railroad Circus" on nine custom-built cars. Their tour started in Washington D.C. and traveled through the states of Pennsylvania, New, Massachusetts, Maine, the British provinces, Michigan, and Ohio. In Ohio they continued their tour along the river on the Spalding and Rogers Floating Palace.

PHOTO: Wood engraving in Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, Feb. 19, 1853.

Source: http://www.americanantiquities.com/articles/article%2011.html

The Setting of Les Miserables

The Setting of Victor Hugo's, Les Miserables, is that of Paris, France when it people were stirred to Revolt. This was a gritty time for the middle class, requiring men to take up arms for what they believed in even when every odd was against them. The Barricade scene that occurs in Hugo's work is a direct reflection of the life and times of the 1830's. Throughout this period of history there were a total of eight barricades that occurred. Hugo attempts to give an accurate depiction of history.

During the early 19th Century, living conditions were less than leisurely for the middle class citizens of Parisian society. It was not uncommon for workers to take up housing in boarding houses or apartments. Single workers would often rent a single a room and then share it with a complete stranger; those workers with families would rent and apartment with one or two bedrooms and then share it with another family or a different generation of their own family. These housing situations provided no heat, no candles for light, and no water; bathroom facilities...if that's what you would call them... were shared by all.

Because of these living situation it then becomes clear why the working men find relief in the cafe. It becomes a place of refuge/relief, entertainment, and provides a place of meeting. In Les Miserables we can see this reflected. However, because we never see the homes of our brave young men seeking out revolution it is important to remember the state of their homes in order that we can understand the role that the cafe plays when we set our scene.



http://www.novelguide.com/lesmiserables/essayquestions.html

19th Century European Fashion

Shown above are images portraying the fashion of the early 19th Century throughout Europe.


Above are images portraying Mid-19th Century Fashion throughout Europe.


The images shown above allow one to see the fashion of Late 19th Century Europe.

Images found at:
http://www.eupedia.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/560

Moliere's Conflicts

Moliere (1622-1673)

His greatest achievements were his ccomedies of character and manners. He wrote with such honesty that reflected the times for what they were that it got him into trouble at times. His first big battle was with his show, The School for Wives. Although this show was immensely popular it was questioned on both artistic and moral grounds. But his biggest controversy centered around, Tartuffe. This play exposes a religious hypocrite. Many thought Moliere was condemning all religion and Moliere was forced to rewrite it twice before it was allowed to be put into production. These quarrels only go to prove that Moliere accurately depicted the quality of life at the time.

French Costume Practices

The costume of 17th century France was really a fashion show. All costumes (for both comedy and tragedy) were highly fashionable at the time of performance. In 1727 they adopted court dress for the tragic roles and there came to be a sort of competition as to who would appear in the most lavish of costumes. To use costumes that would have been realistic to the time and circumstances of the plays being presented was seen as being "too English". It would appear that the French looked down upon that. After 1760 we see this view being reformed. Instead of art idealizing life it now began to represent life as it was.

Commedia Del Arte Stock Characters

Two main Characteristics of Commedia Del Arte

1.)Improvisation
2.)Stock Characters

• Two Character Types

1.) Unmasked:

Young Lovers were depicted as witty, handsome, well-educated; but also naive, and not too bright. They were dressed in fashionable garments of the day.

2.) Masked

• Masters

Capitano was one of the lovers, exaggerated in manners and dress. Transformed into a coward after having boasted of many conquests in battle and love and eventually discredited. Wore sword, cape and feathered headdress.

Pantalone was a middle-aged or elderly merchant. Venetian dialect. Fond of Proverbs. Wore a tight red vest, red breeches and stockings, soft slippers, a black, ankle-length coat, a soft brimless cap with trailing wisps of hair, a brown mask with a large hooked nose, and a scraggly gray beard.

Dottore either Pantalone's friend or rival and held a high place in society. Usually a doctor of law or medicine. Bolognese dialect. Liked to show off his education. Wore academic cap and gown. Jealous husband often cuckolded.

• Servants

Harlequin was both cunning and stupid and was a dancer and acrobat. Usually at the center of any intrigue. Where's what is now known as "harlequin". On his head, a raksh hat above a black mask, at his side, a wooden sword (slap stick).

Brighella was Harlequin's frequent companion. His mask had a hooked nose and mustache, and his trousers and jacket were decorated with a green braid.

Pulcinello was always a Neopolitan. Sometimes he was a servant or he could be a merchant or a host of an inn. Mixture of foolishness and shrewdness, villainy and love, wit and dullness. Enormous hooked nose, humback, and wore a long pointed cap.

The Terrence Stage to the Perspective Stage

The Terrence Stage is argued to have been used almost everywhere during the 17th century. It was given its name in remembrance of Plautus and Terrance's plays. In a Venetian edition of Terence's comedies in 1497 there were illustrations illuminating the general style of theatre spaces of the time. With this style of theatre space, "the stage area is backed by a continuous facade, either straight or angled and divided into a series of curtained openings, each representing the house of a different character."

This style of theatre is later modified to include realistic perspective drawings, manipulating the viewers eye to create illusion; therefore enhancing the overall spectacle of the scenes. This style can be attributed to Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleshi and Masaccio.

Production History

The Rover, authored by Aphra Behn, was performed for the first time on March 24, 1677 at the Dorset Garden Theatre. King Charles attended the theatre to see Betterton in the role of Belvile.

The role of Belvile was played by Betterton (as was stated prior)

The role of Florinda was played by Mary Betterton
The role of Willmore was played by William Smith

The role of Ned Blunt was played by Cave Underhill
The role of Helena was played by Elizabeth Barry (In 1707 she moved into the role of Angellica Bianca)

After the show opened in 1677 it was revived every few years until it was firmly established in the Repertoire of the Dorset Garden Theatre in 1703. It remained part of the Repertoire until 1743. Between 1756 and 1790 the play disappeared from the stage. Much later it was restored to the stage by director: John Barton who adapted the script to make the plot clearer and easier to follow at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986.

The Life and Times of Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn - (1640-1689)

A woman treading against the social norms of the times and achieving great success as a proffessional playwright (having written 20 plays) in 1670, a time of Restoration and Reformation.

At the age of twenty her father died, at the age of 25 her husband died, later in life she fell in love with a man by the name of John Hoyle; he was a lawyer, an attractive man (so they say) who treated women as contemptible conquests hurling casual insults at his pleasure. He kept his mistresses distant, meanwhile pursuing multiple affairs and still expecting loyalty in return. The original Willmore character from her work, The Rover.

During of the exile of Charles II, those who remained loyal to him also either went into hiding or exiled themselves as well. These men who remained loyal often became soldiers or sailors seeking fortune, mistresses, booty, or battle honors. Upon the restoration of Charles to the Throne, these Rovers, made opportunity of England, continuing their pursual of sexual and economic prosperity. These type of characters, Behn, made evident in her writing through her portrayal of both Willmore and Belvile. The characters that are written in The Rover, are directly correspondent to the kind of people present and active in Behn's own life, including herself, during the time she was alive.

In these times we see the conflict between the new view that Debauchery is Loyalty and the Puritan Values that are being forceably abandoned. "Cits," a derogatory term for anyone still sympathizing with the Puritan value system, was being used in many prologues of the Restoration Comedies as a mockery to influence the masses.

According to Charles, "The Passion of love [was] very much out of fashion". Marriage was seen as more of a business arrangement determining legistics of property distribution. It had very little to do with affection as was made clear by the former statement given by King Charles. The idea of "True Love" was reserved for a mistress either before or after marriage. And even that became less and less true, soon mistresses who were once idolized were now used merely for sexual satisfaction and seen as common whores. Once again, this can be seen in Behn's portrayal of Angellica Bianca, the washed up mistress.

Behn believed that women had a right to their independence, as well as their own sexuality and sought liberation from merely being a "passive recepticle of male desire". Due to the nature of her relationship with John Hoyle one can see where she found inpiration for the character Angellica Bianca, who just happens to have the same initials as her creator. It is obvious that Behn shared a kinesthetic connection to this character that she enlivened in writing.

Behn was under debt and imprisoned at one point during her life, as well as imprisoned for a controversial piece of writing she did later. I find it interesting to research someone so passionate about her beliefs that she suffered for them and kept fighting anyway. Sadly she died at the age of 49.

Works Cited

Restoration Comedy. Trevor R. Griffiths and Simon Trussler. Published by Nick Hern Books. London. Pg. xxiv-xxxviii.

The Style with Which he Wrote

Alarcon's most famous play, La Verdad Sospechosa, The Truth Suspected, revealed that Alarcon wrote with immense precision and specificity in order to achieve exactly what he wanted to say. There were three versions of this play printed during the course of his life. The first two (1630) were relatively similar but the third (1634) once more revealed the importance that Alarcon obviously placed on arranging words carefully on the page, like artwork. I find it rather interesting that we have such knowledge of Alarcon's obsessive nature in articulating ideas and yet we have taken those perfectly placed words and attempted to translate them into other languages. Originally this text was written in verse but now that poetry has been utterly lost in translation. It just makes me wonder if in order to do this piece of literature and the playwright justice, it must be done in it's original language.

Between the two versions of, La Verdad Sospechosa, it is noted that Alarcon focusses on weeding out all the superfluous and unnecessary things, including repetition of words. I find this interesting when comparing it to the nature of English Drama, for example, where words and ideas were purposely repeated due to the nature of the performance venue and audience. Alarcon also started thinking in terms of clearly defining specific characters, therefore he cut any lines that could muddy the audiences perception of a character.

Works Cited

Review: Charlotte Stern. Hispanic Review, Vol. 61, No.2. Earle Homage Issue (Spring, 1993)pp. 288-290. Published by: University of Pennsilvania Press.

The Telling Lies of La Verdad Sospechosa. Mary Malcomlm Gaylord. MLN, Vol. 103, No. 2. Hispanic Issue (Mar., 1988)pp. 223-238. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

La Verdad Sospechosa in the Editions of 1630 and 1634. Arthur L. Owen. Hispania, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Mar. 1925) pp. 85-87. Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

www.answers .com/topic/juan-ruiz-de-alarc-n

Juan Ruiz de Alarcon ~ The Man And His Writing

I.) For Starters. We have some very general information.

Juan Ruiz De Alarcon; son of Pedro Ruiz de Alarcon who migrated from Spain to Taxco, Mexico in 1572 who then married Dona Leonor de Mendoza. Juan was to become their third (of five) sons in 1580. They then lived in Mexico city up until 1600 when Juan was twenty and again from 1608-1613.

It is suggested that Juan Ruiz De Alarcon was exposed in his early years to the Jesuit Missionaries present in Mexico and was made aware of the Social tensions created by these conversion attempts particularly upon the Indians. This life experience becomes present later in his writing. He makes many references to historical events that he experienced in his youth growing up in Mexico. It is interesting to note that Alarcon later found himself writing in the form of Comedy of Manners, Morals, and Satirical Observation; during his time spent in Mexico one of the major social issues was that of "Criollos and Peninsulares", the rich verses the poor, those who were advocates of reformation and greater freedom from the clutch of Spain, and those who were part of the minority remaining completely loyal to the Monarchy of Spain. Having been born in Mexico, Alarcon was able to observe the faults of the Spanish Monarchy objectively. It is thought that "after deep reflection he sided with the reformists".

In 1613 Alarcon found his way to Madrid, Spain after achieving two law degrees and failing at finding his way into office. He submerged himself in a literary world of artistry, taking great interest in poetry and verse. Throughout the course of the rest of his life he wrote only 30 plays in verse, a small number of plays during the Golden Age of Spain. None the less, it is during this time he was considered to be a prominent literary figure.

Works Cited

Review: Charlotte Stern. Hispanic Review, Vol. 61, No.2. Earle Homage Issue (Spring, 1993)pp. 288-290. Published by: University of Pennsilvania Press.

The Telling Lies of La Verdad Sospechosa. Mary Malcomlm Gaylord. MLN, Vol. 103, No. 2. Hispanic Issue (Mar., 1988)pp. 223-238. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

La Verdad Sospechosa in the Editions of 1630 and 1634. Arthur L. Owen. Hispania, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Mar. 1925) pp. 85-87. Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

www.answers .com/topic/juan-ruiz-de-alarc-n

Hopefully the blog works!

Hi friends...