Scenery, Set and Staging in the Italian Renaissance Studies in the Practice of Theatre

Papers collected in this volume were given at the Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, in March, 1993, at a conference organised to coincide with the English premiere of the first English-language staging of Pietro Aretino's Talanta. Grants had been obtained to construct the Roman perspective set described with such enthusiasm by contemporaries such as Vasari and Aretino himself for the Venice staging of the play in 1542. According to current research, the set has been seen as one of the earliest attempts to reproduce a real place on a stage with topographical accuracy. This set had been reconstructed full-size on the Aberystwyth stage according to the suggested source, and the play had been translated, adapted with new music and modern choreography. Experts on Renaissance theatre practice and in particular on aspects of staging and set-design gathered for this conference. Contains many photographs and drawings.