Describe and discuss the history of Renaissance theatre. What were the origins and major contributors?

Answer: 
The Renaissance theater is one of the most striking and significant phenomena in the history of the entire world culture. His homeland was Italy of the XV century, where humanist scientists, following the example of Petrarch and Boccaccio, began to study ancient authors, including the great Greek tragedians, comedies of Aristophanes, Terence, Plautus. Over time, a purely research approach to ancient dramaturgy was supplemented with a practical one: ancient heroes again appear on the stage in productions carried out by scientists.
By the end of the XV century, the lessons of the ancient theater give the first creative results, "learned comedy" and "learned tragedy". Written following the example of ancient plays, new dramas on the themes of modern life gradually increasingly boldly departed from ancient models. The greatest creators of new dramas, primarily comedies, were Lodovico Ariosto, Niccolo Machiavelli (his comedy "Mandragora" was the best play of its time), Pietro Aretino, Giordano Bruno.
The experience of "learned" drama, multiplied by the rich tradition of the areal folk theater, in the middle of the XVI century led to the emergence of the Italian Commedia dell'arte or the comedy of masks. These fascinating funny performances with songs, dances, comic tricks, played by wandering acting troupes, became the highest achievement of the Italian Renaissance theater.
The comedy of masks was based on improvisation: there was no written text in it, there was only a script with a brief plot scheme. The actor himself, in the course of the action, improvised lines on behalf of his hero. He became the creator of his own image.
Each character is a specific social type, sharpened to a cartoon, with unchanged character traits and appearance, that is, an image-mask. In the Commedia dell'arte there were masks of servants (a cheerful, broken Brigella, a good–natured, stupid Harlequin and a sharp-tongued Serveta); masks of gentlemen (the main object of satire: the greedy and arrogant Venetian merchant Pantalone, a cowardly and boastful Captain, a false scientist from Bologna - a Doctor); and finally, a couple of young lovers. Old people, as usual, interfered with their connection, but the youth, with the help of brisk servants, invariably managed to leave them "in the fools". Thus, proceeding from the Renaissance tradition, Commedia dell'arte chose the clash between the old way of life and healthy young forces as its main conflict.
Each character in the comedy of masks spoke the dialect of his city: Pantaloon – in Venetian, Doctor – in Bolognese, etc. Each mask corresponded to a certain theatrical costume. For example, Harlequin's blouse was full of patches that spoke of his poverty, the Captain sported a semi-military suit of Spanish cut with the obligatory sword, which always got stuck in the scabbard.
The new theatrical art gained immense popularity almost instantly: in one decade of the 60s of the XVI century, theatrical performances, which had previously been a curiosity that could only be seen at rare court festivals or in academic gatherings, became the most popular folk spectacle. The comedy of masks was an expression of the mass popular worldview, cheerful free-thinking of the broad strata of Italian society.
Having worked out the original laws of stage art (continuous development of action, collective acting, etc.), the mask theater could not develop into a theater of living characters. New heroes, strong, integral, expressing the humanistic ideal of their time, first appeared on the theatrical stage not in Italy, but in Spain.
The national history itself, the heroic centuries of the Reconquista – the liberation war of the Spaniards with the conquerors, the Arabs – formed the type of such a hero. His exploits were glorified in heroic poems, epic songs, called gomapsego, romances, because they were the first poetic creations in the Romance language in Spain.
The ideal hero in the conditions of Spain received expression in the image of a "man of honor". He could be either a noble knight or a simple peasant, and in Spanish dramas it is not uncommon for a hero of low origin to triumph morally over a nobleman who had dropped his honor. Such an idea of honor was characteristic of all Spanish drama, starting with its very first representatives.
The ancestor of the national theater in Spain is considered to be Lope de Rueda (1510-1565), a modest wandering actor who created his own professional troupe and composed naughty short comedies for her – pasos. They were distinguished by the fascination of action, the accuracy of life observations and the richness of folk speech. Lope de Rueda in practice approved the vitally real material as the initial beginning of dramatic creativity.
Lope de Rueda's troupe was not the only one. According to contemporaries, a lot of itinerant actors traveled around Spain on foot and on carts, whose repertoire included comedies, pastorals and religious plays – a t o.

At first, wandering actors performed wherever they had to, and since the 60s of the XVI century - in the courtyards of houses, corrals. In 1579, the first court specially equipped for performances appeared in Madrid – the Corral de la Cruz.

Spanish drama did not immediately become a full-fledged literature. The theater was waiting for the arrival of great talents who could combine the richness of stage action with vivid poetic forms, raise the Spanish play to the height of modern literary requirements. Among the initiators of the new drama should be named the brilliant author of "Don Quixote" Miguel Cervantes. In his plays, he addressed great civic themes, glorified patriotism and love of freedom. A striking example is the heroic tragedy "Numancia", dedicated to the history of the ancient Iberian city of Numancia. Defending their city from the Roman legionaries, its inhabitants all died, but did not surrender to the enemy.