Why weren’t women allowed to act in the theater for centuries? And when did they start?

The relationship between women and theatre it hasn’t been simple at all, in history. Kept away from acting and writingwomen have been silent spectators for centuries until their progressive integration onto the scene. Only with the Renaissance in Italy did women begin to take the stage, even if they were still surrounded by prejudices, while in England it was necessary to wait until 1660 and in Japan some theatrical forms, such as Kabuki, are still a traditional male prerogative. Let us briefly retrace the various stages of the relationship between women and theatre.

In the’ancient Greeceparticularly in Athens, the women they lived in conditions semi-enclosedin the gynaeceum, and they only came out on solemn occasions, religious holidays, weddings, funerals, and, perhaps, to attend the theatrical performances. They were not allowed to act: if we think about it, it is a paradox, given that the Greek theatre it is rich in memorable female figuressuch as Medea, Helen, Phaedra, Antigone, Electra, Hecuba. All these mythical characters were brought on stage by male actors. Think that the philosopher Plato, in the work Republiccriticized this practice.

In the’ancient Rome women, who went to the theater more freely, could still only perform in theaters mimivery essential shows accompanied by music, in which they acted, sang and danced.

history of theatre

During the Middle Agesand with the advance of Christianity, women were advised to stay away from theaterpresented as place of corruption. The only surviving genre, the religious drama, however, had fundamental contributions from some female figures such as the Saxon abbess Roswitha of Gandersheimwho revived drama in Germany in the 10th century by writing religious works inspired by Terence. However, there were no actresses, except in absolutely exceptional cases and only towards the end of the Middle Ages, in the mid-fifteenth century.

In Italy the actresses they finally start acting alongside the actors only during the Renaissancea period in which new attention was paid to women. At the beginning of the 16th century, in fact, the female condition became the object of intense reflection which led to the participation of women in the acting and in the writing of more multi-faceted and charismatic female characters: a famous example from the 16th century is Isabella Andreiniactress and excellent author (although little studied). Despite this initial openness, it must be underlined that in this period (and for centuries to come) actresses did not enjoy a good reputation, but like dancers they were often associated with dubious morality.

Even in the rest of Europe, women became authors of theatrical scripts – this is the case of the French princess Marguerite de Navarre – and they arrived on stage. There was, however, one notable exception: theEngland he introduced actresses only from the seventeenth century. No female roles in the comedies or tragedies of William Shakespearefor example, was played by women: more than Romeo and Juliet, there were Romeo and Romeo. Female roles were typically assigned to male adolescents. None existed legal rule clear that he prohibited it – which is why women performed in court “masques”, dance and music shows enjoyed by aristocrats in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, or in entertainment on country estates – but often practical reasons: without women, the company could move more quickly and cheaply.

It was King Charles II to formally declare in the seventeenth century that female roles could “be played by women”: in 1660 Margaret Hughes played the part of for the first time Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello. At that point, the habit had become widespread throughout Europe, and at the beginning of Eighteenth century female interpretation came to become the pivot of the stage action, also thanks to the works of Goldoniand in the nineteenth and then twentieth centuries divas would emerge, with myths such as Eleonora Duse. In the 20th century, the authorsin Italy, as Natalia Ginzburg And Dacia Marainiand in the world, how Caryl Churchill.

Japanese theatre

There are still gods prohibitions of this kind? Yesfor several reasons. There are examples of a moral nature, as in the case of Taliban crackdown against women in Afghanistanor cultural examples, as in the case of classical Japanese theatre. Specifically, the genre of Kabuki is still reserved for men only: we are talking about a type of representation that mixes dramatic performances with traditional dance, with highly decorated costumes and elaborate make-up. However, the matter is different for the theatre Nohin turn one of the main forms of classical Japanese dance-drama, born in the 14th century: this has slowly opened up to women, who however remain rare, and in fact it is often fathers who pass down the vocation to their children.