Return to:

Return To A Chronology of South African Theatre and Performance

Key to entries

Items in normal text indicate South African non-theatrical events and activities Items printed in bold indicate South African theatre and performance events. All items in italics refer to international (i.e. non-South African) events or international theatre and performance events

Entries

±1500AD

The commedia dell’arte begins to flourish in Italy, travels through Europe. Formal theatres begin to evolve in Europe and England.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NGUNI CHIEFDOMS (XHOSA AND ZULU). GROWING TRADE BRINGS REGULAR VISITS BY PORTUGUESE SAILORS AND SKIRMISHES AND TRADE WITH KHOI-KHOI. ALSO ENGLISH SHIPS. FINALLY ALSO DUTCH MERCHANTS.

1502AD

Sophocles’s Plays published in Italy.

±1503-5AD

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Euripides’s Plays published in Italy.

1504AD

Michaelangelo’s David.

1505AD

Dürer’s Feast of the Rose Garlands.

1508AD

Michaelangelo begins the Sistine Chapel. Lodovico Ariosto’s La Cassaria staged at the court of Ferrara. First known use of perspective settings on stage.

1509AD

Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly. Henry VIII king of England.

1510AD

PORTUGUESE VICEROY ALEIMDA KILLED BY KHOIKHOI IN TABLE BAY.

1512AD

Michaelangelo finishes the Sistine Chapel.

1513AD

Machiavelli writes The Prince. Raphael’s Sistine Madonna. Machiavelli’s La Mandragola staged in Florence.

1515AD

Trissino’s Sofonobista, first important Italian tragedy

1517AD

Luther posts his 95Theses in Wittenberg.

1518AD

Aeschylus’s Plays published in Italy

1520AD

Suleyman the Magnificent begins his 46 year reign in Persia.

1521AD

Cortes conquers Tenochtitlán and subdues the Aztecs.

1522AD

Luther’s New Testament, Magellan’s ships circumnavigate the world. The Persian miniature painter Bizhad heads the Safavid library.

1525AD

Spanish conquer Guatamala.

1526AD

Babur conquers the Delhi sultinate, founds the Mughal empire in India.

1532AD

Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel, Pisarro attacks the Inca empire, executes Atahuallpa.

1534AD

Act of Supremacy makes Henry VIII head of Church of England.

1535AD

Holbein’s The Ambassadors. Special trading rights with Persia granted to France by Suleyman the Great. Mexico becomes New Spain by decree of Charles V.

1536AD

Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.

1540AD

Society of Jesus (Jesuits) formed.

1541AD

Cinthio’s revenge-tragedy Orbecche performed in Italian. Yucatán conquered by the Spanish, and Mayan empire is destroyed.

1542AD

Congregation of the Inquisition is formed in Rome. Peru annexed by Charles V.

1543AD

Copernicus’s Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs ( a work on the solar system).

1545AD

Hôtel de Bourgogne opened in Paris. In Italy Serlio’s Archtettura contains a chapter on how to design and build stage settings, including notes on perspective in stage scenery.

1558AD

Elizabeth I crowned in England.

1568AD

Breughel’s The Blind leading the Blind.

1569AD

Mercator’s map of the world, including his famous projection.

1572AD

Luís de Camões’s The Lusiads completed.

1573AD

Tasso’s Italian pastoral Amita performed.

1576AD

The Theatre opened in England

1579AD

Corral de la Cruz opens in Madrid

1580AD

Montaigne’s Essays. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE SAILS AROUND THE WORLD, LANDING AT THE CAPE.

1585AD

Teatro Olimpico opens at the Olympic Academy in Vicenza.

1586AD

El Greco’s The Burial of Count Orgaz

1587AD

Marlowe’s Tamburlaine

1588AD

Spanish Armada defeated by England

±1590

Guarini’s Italian pastoral The Faithful Shepherd performed.

±1594-6

Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet & A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

±1597AD

Opera as a distinct form evolved by the Camerata Academy in Florence. DUTCH AND ENGLISH SHIPS BEGIN VISITING THE CAPE REGULARLY, TO TRADE WITH THE KHOI-KHOI.

1598AD

Edict of Nantes recognizes Huguenots in France

1599AD

Globe theatre opened in London. Shakespeare a partner

Return to