From Stephen Lauf
To: design-l
Subject: baroque (cyber?) theater
Date: 16 October 2000
The following is a passage I first read over 23 years ago.
It comes from Thomas K. Kitao, CIRCLE AND OVAL IN THE SQUARE
OF SAINT PETER'S: Bernini's Art of Planning (New York: New
York University Press, 1974), pp.22-23. I was reminded of
this passage after some reflection upon the recent bit of
cyber theater that occurred here at design-l a month and a
half ago.
"In the well know production of the DUE TEATRI, first given
in 1637, Bernini developed a simulated amphitheater of a
very elaborate kind. This is, of course, the best known of
Bernini's theatrical works, but a recapitulation is in
order.
According to Massimiliano Montecuculi, who witnessed the
performance, the stage was prepared with "a flock of people
partly real and partly feigned" so arranged that, when the
curtain had fallen for the opening of the play, the audience
saw on the stage another large audience who had come to see
the comedy. Two braggarts, played by Bernini himself and his
brother Luigi, then appeared on the stage, one facing the
real audience and the other the fictitious; and recognizing
each other in no time, they went on to claim, each in turn,
that what the other saw as real was actually illusory, each
firmly convinced that there was no more than one theater
with its audience in that half he was facing. The confusions
of realities in mirror image thus heightened, the two firmly
decided "that they would pull the curtain across the scene
and arrange a performance each for his own audience alone."
Then the play was performed to the real audience, that is,
the main act to which that preceded was only a present
prelude. But through the play another performance was
supposed to be taking place simultaneously on the second
stage introduced by Luigi; the play was, in fact,
interrupted at times by the laughter from those on the other
side, as if something very pleasant had been seen or heard.
At the end of the play, the two braggarts reappeared on the
stage together to reaffirm the "reality" of the illusion.
Having asked each other how they fared, the impresario of
the fictitious performance answered nonchalantly that he had
not really shown anything but the audience getting up to
leave "with their carriages and horses accompanied by a
great number of lights and torches." Then, drawing the
curtain, he displayed the scene he had just said he had
shown to his audience, thus rendering complete the
incredible reversal of reality and illusion to the confused
amazement of the real spectators, who were now finding
themselves ready to leave and caught in the enchanting act
of feigning the feigned spectators."
--
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To: design-l
Subject: baroque (cyber?) theater
Date: 16 October 2000
The following is a passage I first read over 23 years ago.
It comes from Thomas K. Kitao, CIRCLE AND OVAL IN THE SQUARE
OF SAINT PETER'S: Bernini's Art of Planning (New York: New
York University Press, 1974), pp.22-23. I was reminded of
this passage after some reflection upon the recent bit of
cyber theater that occurred here at design-l a month and a
half ago.
"In the well know production of the DUE TEATRI, first given
in 1637, Bernini developed a simulated amphitheater of a
very elaborate kind. This is, of course, the best known of
Bernini's theatrical works, but a recapitulation is in
order.
According to Massimiliano Montecuculi, who witnessed the
performance, the stage was prepared with "a flock of people
partly real and partly feigned" so arranged that, when the
curtain had fallen for the opening of the play, the audience
saw on the stage another large audience who had come to see
the comedy. Two braggarts, played by Bernini himself and his
brother Luigi, then appeared on the stage, one facing the
real audience and the other the fictitious; and recognizing
each other in no time, they went on to claim, each in turn,
that what the other saw as real was actually illusory, each
firmly convinced that there was no more than one theater
with its audience in that half he was facing. The confusions
of realities in mirror image thus heightened, the two firmly
decided "that they would pull the curtain across the scene
and arrange a performance each for his own audience alone."
Then the play was performed to the real audience, that is,
the main act to which that preceded was only a present
prelude. But through the play another performance was
supposed to be taking place simultaneously on the second
stage introduced by Luigi; the play was, in fact,
interrupted at times by the laughter from those on the other
side, as if something very pleasant had been seen or heard.
At the end of the play, the two braggarts reappeared on the
stage together to reaffirm the "reality" of the illusion.
Having asked each other how they fared, the impresario of
the fictitious performance answered nonchalantly that he had
not really shown anything but the audience getting up to
leave "with their carriages and horses accompanied by a
great number of lights and torches." Then, drawing the
curtain, he displayed the scene he had just said he had
shown to his audience, thus rendering complete the
incredible reversal of reality and illusion to the confused
amazement of the real spectators, who were now finding
themselves ready to leave and caught in the enchanting act
of feigning the feigned spectators."
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html