Ever since my childhood I've always had an interest in the theatre and the performing arts. My mum was heavily mixed up with amateur dramatics - not in a stage sense, but in relation to helping organize social events for a local dramatic society and I recall on two occasions going off to a wonderful and perfectly preserved Edwardian theatre called the City Varieties in Leeds to see traditional music hall shows recorded by the BBC for their series "The Good Old Days".
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For several years before I went off to University I took part in various productions connected with the local amateur dramatic and operatic society in the town where I was brought up in Yorkshire. My favourite recollection - playing the role of one of Mr Snow's children in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel"!! This general interest in drama also extended to puppetry and miniature theatres. I have distinctive and fond memories of visiting Harry Corbett's private "Sooty" theatre in Shipley, near Bradford in the 1960's and actually having the real Sooty puppet on my hand. Harry was a cousin of a cousin, so it was a real privilege to meet such a famous puppet character. I was so enthused I made copies of puppets I'd seen them creating from hard sponge balls and milk bottles on a well know children's television programme. I also enlisted the help of my dad in helping to make a toy theatre which involved him constructing a rectangular wooden box for the stage and various cut out pieces of plywood for the proscenium, flats and backdrop scenery. I, not surprisingly, did all the creative stuff - painting and decorating the proscenium, making the curtains for the stage and selecting and writing the story lines and the end result was small productions in our "front room" for my mum and dad, brother and a few friends. I don't know what happened to it - it probably got chucked out in one of our many house removals and I haven't thought about it for years. Reflecting on all of this I think I must have picked all these drama related foibles from my Mum and I chuckle as I think of it all as a stereotypically "gay" set of interests.
It's strange how writing this blog was first prompted by my desire to write about my new life in Italy, but doing it has also extended to relating what I do now to episodes from my earlier life. Does everyone do this as they get in to their 60's? It might seem negative to be constantly looking backwards, but in fact for me it's the opposite. My professional life has typically been concerned with studying and teaching about the past so its seems natural for me to reflect on my own life now I am almost 64. Instead of being depressing I think it's rather fun to deepen one's understanding of present happenings by better understanding why they can bring so much pleasure in my 'silver' years. Anyway, I feel I'm getting a bit too self indulgent and philosophical now so it's time to get back to the focus of this posting.
When we stayed in Florence at the Degli Orafi at Christmas 2012 I discovered a little shop between our hotel and the Ponte Vecchio which specialised in Florentine paper products and crafts. I think I've mentioned before that I can't walk past shops like this and I always end up coming out with hand made leather bound notebooks, sheets of paper with renaissance inspired designs and various other desk related paraphernalia. Jon says I've got obsessive compulsive disorder and I haven't disagreed with that analysis. This Florentine chain of shops (I think there are three or four of them in the city - there's certainly another one I've been in just down the side of the Palazzo Vecchio) also sells artisan made dioramas (miniature constructions of historic interiors of such things as Florentine shops) and also small theatres in the style of larger versions popular as toys in the 19th century. They are quite charming if a bit on the expensive side! However, you know what I'm going to say next - I couldn't resist buying a small one as a memento of our trip and its shown in the photograph below. At 38 euros for a model that's only about six inches square I daren't tell Jon how much I was spending. When I did get round to settling the bill, he nearly fainted when he had to get our debit card out to pay for it - but it now has pride of place on one of the shelves in our sitting room and I see it every day.
When we spend time in Italy there is nothing I like to do better than go "antiquing" at local junk and curio markets and there are lots of them in the Umbrian and Tuscan regions. The best is held once a month at Arezzo and I'll tell you about that one in another posting, but there are others held regularly in Orvieto, Perugia and Assisi. We've been to them all. Assisi holds its antique market on the second Sunday of each month so a couple of weeks ago we got up at 6am to drive over to have a look round. This wonderful town is about 15 kilometres south east of Perugia so at that time of the morning it took just over an hour to get there. The organisers hold the market in the piazza directly next to the impressive and monumental basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels - so when we'd finished looking round the market we went next door for some serious culture and I already have it in mind to write about that experience in the near future.
The market is not huge and this being another very hot day in the offing all of the sixty or so stalls were covered with various types of awning to provide shade for the dealers from the already intense sun. After parking the car behind the basilica we discovered the market was getting busier by the minute and we all know that the "early bird get's the worm" so we set off systematically up the first aisle to look at the vast range of items for sale. As is the case in the UK there were different types of dealer - some with general stock and others with a specialism such as restored country bygones, furniture, ceramics and one lady who sold only table linen which she'd carefully laundered before doing the market. There was another dealer who had lots of leather goods and vintage hand bags - the sort of thing that would no doubt go down well with customers back home. Not much chance of taking stuff back on a flight with Ryanair however!! Just across the road the locals and flocks of tourists were turning up for morning mass at the church and this all added to the general hustle and bustle in the piazza. Very soon Jon had left me behind. He has the concentration of a gnat when it comes to looking at junk so I wasn't surprised to see he'd disappeared. After about fifteen minutes I hadn't made any discoveries and I was already beginning to think about sitting down for an espresso in one of the many bars round the square when Jon came up and tapped me on the shoulder.
"You'd better come over here" he said - "there's something you are going to want."
"What is it?" I said, exasperated at being asked to deviate from my systematically planned route round the square. "Come over here and see for yourself" he repeated and walked off towards the other side of the market. I forgot about the espresso and followed his path towards the stalls immediately next to the arcade at the back of the fair to find him chatting to the couple who were running the stall and there on a shelf at the back of it was the most delightful toy theatre and I knew then that I had to have it. I edged up to the side of the stall to take a closer look. It was obvious the theatre had been restored and had had quite a lot of work done to it, but overall it was complete with scenery and several characters on the typical sticks used to move them from side to side on the stage. On closer examination it rather looked to me like a reproduction - its amazing what can be done with coloured photocopiers these days and I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't another one on the stall in a few weeks time! Overall, though I still thought it was charming and decorative.
I was frightened to ask the price but summoned up the courage and dug deep into my shaky Italian to enquire from the lady dealer - "Buongiorno signora - Quanto costa la teatro?" She looked at me quizzically and I could see she was deciding what to ask for it. "cento quaranto euros signore" she said. I quickly computed she was telling me she wanted 140 euros for it. I mustered up the courage to say "kwel teatro ay troppoh karo" - "it's too expensive"! "Then make me an offer" she said in English and we both laughed. I offered her 80 euros for it and she said that wasn't enough so after much toing and froing we ended up with a price of 105 euros - about 85 pounds - which I thought was a good buy given I'd paid 38 euros for the little one in Florence a couple of years ago. We left it that she and her genial husband would take it to pieces and and pack it up and that I'd call back for it after we'd had a coffee round the corner. They were nice people and I enjoyed haggling and doing business with them in the Italian way. After a good espresso in a street side cafe we collected my teatro from the dealer and went back to put it in the car. We had other things to do including visiting the basilica so I had to put my little prize buy out of my mind for then.
A few hours later we were back home in the apartment and I felt a bit like a school boy when I immediately got the teatro out its packaging and proceeded to set it up on the dining room table. You can see the results in the photographs below. I was delighted with it when it was completed and though I have no plans to put on any performances I was motivated to better understand the history of these 19th century toys.
Toy theatres like mine developed across the countries of Europe in the decades of the early 19th century and started as manufactured kits of popular plays; they were then sold in the foyer shops of theatres and bought by adults and parents for their children to create home entertainment. It's been estimated that in England alone more than 300 popular plays were adapted as toys in this way. Manufacturers sent artists to productions to record information about scenery, costumes and even the characterisation of the players in these events. The results were converted into paper prints which could be cut out and stuck down on cardboard and used to make up the theatres . In England the kits could be acquired in black and white or in coloured printed form and the former were popular with those wishing to hand colour the proscenium and scenery themselves.
At a time when entertainment in the domestic sphere was homespun and family based, they were a winner. I was also interested to discover they became popular at a time when dramatic productions were underpinned by melodrama and spectacle rather than psychological complexity and that in the later decades of the nineteenth century, when the dramatic arts moved in the latter direction, focusing on "realism" in simpler settings, they went out of fashion. In 1884 the author Robert Louis Stephenson partly aided their revival with a published essay which extolled their virtues in a work entitled "Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured" and celebrities like Oscar Wilde and Hans Christian Anderson are known to have owned and used them. In the 20th century, with the advent of television and computer gadgets, they have enjoyed mixed fortunes but once again they were associated in the mid century with well known figures like F.T. Marienetti, Pablo Picasso, Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles. In recent times they have become popular with the public again as both novelty and collector's items. There's a shop in Covent Garden which I've visited, owned and run by former Coronation Street actor Peter Baldwin, that specialises in the sale of reproductions of Benjamin Pollock's toy theatres. My Italian toy theatre, called "un teatro di carta", appears to fit exactly within the genre I have described. I plan to leave it in the apartment to get out when I visit rather than to bring it back to the UK.
I hope it will be the first of many treasures I will discover and bring back from the antique markets of Umbria.
Moving from toy theatres to the real thing - I've noticed that in Tuscany and Umbria most towns have 19th century theatres and many of them are still in use today. There is a little gem of an example in Citta della Pieve, the lovely town where we have our apartment. It was constructed at exactly the same time that toy theatres were popular and its almost as if it served as a template for many of the designs for the kit models I've described. It was constructed between 1830 and 1834 to a design by well know Umbrian architect Giovanni Santini and it resembles itself a miniature version of a grand opera house from a larger city. Its four tiered auditorium with boxes on each level seats about four hundred people. Today its official title is "TEATRO COMMUNALE DI CITTA DELLA PIEVE" and it underwent an extensive 10 year restoration between 1990 and the millenium which was carried out by local craftsman Antonio Marroni and his son Mario. The grand stage was renovated and modernised, improvements were carried out to dressing rooms, new technical systems were introduced and the auditorium was refurbished. The end result is lovely and its a credit to the local community. On December 26th last year, in the afternoon, Jon and I joined the Citta locals at a splendid concert of arias from popular operas. The three principals, two men and a woman and a wonderful pianist all came from Perugia and we experienced moving, high quality renderings of works by Verdi, Donizetti,Puccini and others. It made our Christmas. If ever you visit Citta della Pieve you must visit this little theatre and if you can book tickets to see a performance (musical events, plays and other presentations take place throughout the year) you will be in for a real treat.
P.S If you are not familiar with the novels of Donna Leon then you must try them. This American author has lived in Venice for many years and they are all centred round a police commisario called Guido Brunetti. - "Death at La Fenice" has a narrative focussed on the famous Venetian opera house and if you fancy detective stories with an Italian twist then I recommend it. But beware - read one and you'll probably want to read them all!!
For several years before I went off to University I took part in various productions connected with the local amateur dramatic and operatic society in the town where I was brought up in Yorkshire. My favourite recollection - playing the role of one of Mr Snow's children in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel"!! This general interest in drama also extended to puppetry and miniature theatres. I have distinctive and fond memories of visiting Harry Corbett's private "Sooty" theatre in Shipley, near Bradford in the 1960's and actually having the real Sooty puppet on my hand. Harry was a cousin of a cousin, so it was a real privilege to meet such a famous puppet character. I was so enthused I made copies of puppets I'd seen them creating from hard sponge balls and milk bottles on a well know children's television programme. I also enlisted the help of my dad in helping to make a toy theatre which involved him constructing a rectangular wooden box for the stage and various cut out pieces of plywood for the proscenium, flats and backdrop scenery. I, not surprisingly, did all the creative stuff - painting and decorating the proscenium, making the curtains for the stage and selecting and writing the story lines and the end result was small productions in our "front room" for my mum and dad, brother and a few friends. I don't know what happened to it - it probably got chucked out in one of our many house removals and I haven't thought about it for years. Reflecting on all of this I think I must have picked all these drama related foibles from my Mum and I chuckle as I think of it all as a stereotypically "gay" set of interests.
It's strange how writing this blog was first prompted by my desire to write about my new life in Italy, but doing it has also extended to relating what I do now to episodes from my earlier life. Does everyone do this as they get in to their 60's? It might seem negative to be constantly looking backwards, but in fact for me it's the opposite. My professional life has typically been concerned with studying and teaching about the past so its seems natural for me to reflect on my own life now I am almost 64. Instead of being depressing I think it's rather fun to deepen one's understanding of present happenings by better understanding why they can bring so much pleasure in my 'silver' years. Anyway, I feel I'm getting a bit too self indulgent and philosophical now so it's time to get back to the focus of this posting.
When we stayed in Florence at the Degli Orafi at Christmas 2012 I discovered a little shop between our hotel and the Ponte Vecchio which specialised in Florentine paper products and crafts. I think I've mentioned before that I can't walk past shops like this and I always end up coming out with hand made leather bound notebooks, sheets of paper with renaissance inspired designs and various other desk related paraphernalia. Jon says I've got obsessive compulsive disorder and I haven't disagreed with that analysis. This Florentine chain of shops (I think there are three or four of them in the city - there's certainly another one I've been in just down the side of the Palazzo Vecchio) also sells artisan made dioramas (miniature constructions of historic interiors of such things as Florentine shops) and also small theatres in the style of larger versions popular as toys in the 19th century. They are quite charming if a bit on the expensive side! However, you know what I'm going to say next - I couldn't resist buying a small one as a memento of our trip and its shown in the photograph below. At 38 euros for a model that's only about six inches square I daren't tell Jon how much I was spending. When I did get round to settling the bill, he nearly fainted when he had to get our debit card out to pay for it - but it now has pride of place on one of the shelves in our sitting room and I see it every day.
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| Miniature Teatro bought in Florence at Christimas in 2012. The scenery is of the Arno and the city from Piazza Michelangelo and the two characters shown are Harlequin and Columbine from the Italian Commedia dell Arte |
The market is not huge and this being another very hot day in the offing all of the sixty or so stalls were covered with various types of awning to provide shade for the dealers from the already intense sun. After parking the car behind the basilica we discovered the market was getting busier by the minute and we all know that the "early bird get's the worm" so we set off systematically up the first aisle to look at the vast range of items for sale. As is the case in the UK there were different types of dealer - some with general stock and others with a specialism such as restored country bygones, furniture, ceramics and one lady who sold only table linen which she'd carefully laundered before doing the market. There was another dealer who had lots of leather goods and vintage hand bags - the sort of thing that would no doubt go down well with customers back home. Not much chance of taking stuff back on a flight with Ryanair however!! Just across the road the locals and flocks of tourists were turning up for morning mass at the church and this all added to the general hustle and bustle in the piazza. Very soon Jon had left me behind. He has the concentration of a gnat when it comes to looking at junk so I wasn't surprised to see he'd disappeared. After about fifteen minutes I hadn't made any discoveries and I was already beginning to think about sitting down for an espresso in one of the many bars round the square when Jon came up and tapped me on the shoulder.
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| Assisi Antiques Market It's held on the second Sunday of each month. |
"What is it?" I said, exasperated at being asked to deviate from my systematically planned route round the square. "Come over here and see for yourself" he repeated and walked off towards the other side of the market. I forgot about the espresso and followed his path towards the stalls immediately next to the arcade at the back of the fair to find him chatting to the couple who were running the stall and there on a shelf at the back of it was the most delightful toy theatre and I knew then that I had to have it. I edged up to the side of the stall to take a closer look. It was obvious the theatre had been restored and had had quite a lot of work done to it, but overall it was complete with scenery and several characters on the typical sticks used to move them from side to side on the stage. On closer examination it rather looked to me like a reproduction - its amazing what can be done with coloured photocopiers these days and I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't another one on the stall in a few weeks time! Overall, though I still thought it was charming and decorative.
I was frightened to ask the price but summoned up the courage and dug deep into my shaky Italian to enquire from the lady dealer - "Buongiorno signora - Quanto costa la teatro?" She looked at me quizzically and I could see she was deciding what to ask for it. "cento quaranto euros signore" she said. I quickly computed she was telling me she wanted 140 euros for it. I mustered up the courage to say "kwel teatro ay troppoh karo" - "it's too expensive"! "Then make me an offer" she said in English and we both laughed. I offered her 80 euros for it and she said that wasn't enough so after much toing and froing we ended up with a price of 105 euros - about 85 pounds - which I thought was a good buy given I'd paid 38 euros for the little one in Florence a couple of years ago. We left it that she and her genial husband would take it to pieces and and pack it up and that I'd call back for it after we'd had a coffee round the corner. They were nice people and I enjoyed haggling and doing business with them in the Italian way. After a good espresso in a street side cafe we collected my teatro from the dealer and went back to put it in the car. We had other things to do including visiting the basilica so I had to put my little prize buy out of my mind for then.
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| Jon waits patiently for me at an Assisi cafe whilst I do the deal for the teatro |
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| These two photographs show my Italian teatro on the dining room table. It's about eighteen inches tall and just over twelve inches wide. The scenery relates to a town scene and shop interior at the back. It all takes to pieces which go into the lidded box which is the stage. |
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| Transfer Printed designs for a Toy Theatre Proscenium & characters for the toy theatre version of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens |
I hope it will be the first of many treasures I will discover and bring back from the antique markets of Umbria.
Moving from toy theatres to the real thing - I've noticed that in Tuscany and Umbria most towns have 19th century theatres and many of them are still in use today. There is a little gem of an example in Citta della Pieve, the lovely town where we have our apartment. It was constructed at exactly the same time that toy theatres were popular and its almost as if it served as a template for many of the designs for the kit models I've described. It was constructed between 1830 and 1834 to a design by well know Umbrian architect Giovanni Santini and it resembles itself a miniature version of a grand opera house from a larger city. Its four tiered auditorium with boxes on each level seats about four hundred people. Today its official title is "TEATRO COMMUNALE DI CITTA DELLA PIEVE" and it underwent an extensive 10 year restoration between 1990 and the millenium which was carried out by local craftsman Antonio Marroni and his son Mario. The grand stage was renovated and modernised, improvements were carried out to dressing rooms, new technical systems were introduced and the auditorium was refurbished. The end result is lovely and its a credit to the local community. On December 26th last year, in the afternoon, Jon and I joined the Citta locals at a splendid concert of arias from popular operas. The three principals, two men and a woman and a wonderful pianist all came from Perugia and we experienced moving, high quality renderings of works by Verdi, Donizetti,Puccini and others. It made our Christmas. If ever you visit Citta della Pieve you must visit this little theatre and if you can book tickets to see a performance (musical events, plays and other presentations take place throughout the year) you will be in for a real treat.
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| Teatro Communale di Citta Della Pieve |
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| The lovely auditorium of the Citta Theatre |
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