Last night the newly restored Apollo Theatre at Mondavio opened its new season.
The theatre in Mondavio was built in 1789 and had continued to operate until 1957 when it was closed as the building was considered unsafe. In 2005 the decision was taken to restore the theatre and it is now, once again, open to the public. At the beginning of January it had a recital but last night was the official opening of the season when Shakespeare’s Pene d’Amor Perdute (Love’s Labour’s Lost) was staged.
There are many theatres in the Marche ranging in size from the small such as Mondavio to the large such as the Rossini Theatre in Pesaro and the Fortuna Theatre at Fano. Regardless of their size they all follow the same architectural format.
 Fano Theatre |
 Pesaro: Rossini Theatre |
The interiors were beautifully pained and decorated and so even when you enter into the auditorium of a small theatre such as Mondavio one’s eye is led up to the beautifully painted ceiling. Looking directly ahead ahead you see the stage framed by the proscenium arch. Until the play begins the stage is hidden by the curtain. When the curtain rises the play begins. At the back of the stage is the backdrop which is open painted with landscapes etc. to create the play’s setting and atmosphere. The actors entering from then left and right of the stage enter from the wings. In front of the stage are the seats. The seats on the floor of the theatre are the stalls and are normally the most expensive seats in the theatre. In opera houses and larger theatres there is space for an orchestra (orchestra pit) in front of the stage. Is is normally lower than the stage so that the public can hear but not see the orchestra.
Around the auditorium are tiers of seats. These are often called the lower and upper circles. In many older theatres such as Mondavio the circles are divided into boxes which allow groups of 3 to 5 people to sit.
Although the opening of the theatre was an important event we did not go. The theatre only has space for 100 people and tickets so tickets were hard to find. Another reason was that I do not think my Italian is good enough to understand Shakespeare in Italian.