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Bernadette Majorana

Università degli Studi di Bergamo (University of Bergamo), Dipartimento di Lettere, Filosofia, Comunicazione, Faculty Member

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Bernadette Majorana, graduate in Humanities with a focus on Art History and a Ph.D. in Performing Arts History, is associate professor of Performing Arts Disciplines at the University of Bergamo, after having taught at the Catholic University of Milan and Brescia and at the Università Bocconi, Milan. She has been professeur invité at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris), the Université Blaise-Pascal (Clermont-Ferrand), the Université Lumière (Lyon).

In the methodological perspective of the relationship between theatre and history, she deals with representation and religious life in the modern age and mainly with the relationship between actors and spectators, oratory and preaching (Teatrica missionaria. Aspetti dell'apostolato popolare gesuitico nell’Italia centrale fra Sei e Settecento, Milan, Euresis Edizioni, 1996, corresponding to her doctoral thesis), and theatrical and spectacular practices related to sanctity; and for the 19th-20th centuries she has dealt with popular theatre and particularly with the Sicilian puppet opera (Pupi e attori ovvero l'opera dei pupi a Catania. Storia e documenti, Rome, Bulzoni, 2008 - L. Pirandello National Prize 2010-2011). He has undertaken research on theatre in the colleges of the Society of Jesus between the 19th and 20th centuries.

In 2020, he was awarded the national scientific qualification for the positions of professor of first rank (full professor) in the concurrency sector 10/C1 - Theatre, music, cinema, television and audiovisual media (ssd L-ART/05 Disciplines of the Performing Arts).

In the 1980s-1990s she gained a decade of active experience at the CRT Center for Research for Theatre in Milan. She is a keen observer of the contemporary scene.
Address: Viale Piave, 11 - Milano 20129 - Italia

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François Soyer

University of New England - Australia

Francesco Guidi Bruscoli

Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence)

Scott R. Stroud

The University of Texas at Austin

Andreas Serafim

University of Cyprus

King's College London

University of Edinburgh

Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Philip Fountain

Victoria University of Wellington

Ucla

Massimo Carlo Giannini

University of Teramo

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Papers by Bernadette Majorana

Choix oratoires et formes de prédication dans les missions rurales des jésuites italiens (xvie-xviiie siècle)

Casa de Velázquez eBooks, 2011

L’arte della disciplina corporale nella predicazione popolare dei gesuiti

L’arte della disciplina corporale nella predicazione popolare dei gesuiti

ENTRE ÉTONNEMENT ET DÉVOTION. LES FÊTES UNIVERSELLES POUR LES CANONISATIONS DES SAINTS (ITALIE, XVIIe SIÈCLE ET DÉBUT DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE)

LES CÉRÉMONIES EXTRAORDINAIRES DU CATHOLICISME BAROQUE, 2009

Une version plus longue de ce texte a été publiée sous le titre de "La devota meraviglia. Feste i... more

Lingua e stile nella predicazione dei gesuiti missionari in Italia (xvi-xviii secolo)

Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez, 2015

Lo Pseudo Segneri e il Teatro celeste

Spettacoli dell’estasi per la canonizzazione di Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi (1669)

Marionette per una «camerata attrice». Notizie sul teatro gesuitico nell’Ottocento (Loreto 1834-1857)

Teatro e storia, 2023

Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV. Reestablished i... more Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV. Reestablished in 1814 by Pius VII, it also resumed its pedagogical activity, and in its theatre colleges were a part of the experience, following in the wake of a famous tradition that came from the mid-sixteenth century. On the theatre of the “new” Society there are no specific studies to date: this essay aims to be a first contribution to a wider research on the subject. It is based on chronicle sources (so-called “college diaries”) and it focuses, to begin with, only the college in the city of Loreto, in the Marche region (then one of the Papal States), in the period 1834-1857. In this college and in these years, however, we are confronted with an unexpected fact: it is not an actor’s theatre performed by the students, as that of the ancient Society had been, but a puppet theatre, made by local professionals, where the students, unseen, merely give voice. It is a mixed form of theatre, combining the craft of the puppeteers and the amateurism of the students, and framed within the usual life of the college (study, religious practices, etc.), but within the carnival time only. The repertoire, too, is very different from that of the ancient Society: no longer a theatre written by the masters of rhetorics, predominantly edifying, with a spiritual framework, useful for maturing moral and religious consciousness and conforming behavior in the young actors; it is rather a varied theatre, ranging from farce to tragedy, rich mainly with comedies and where Italian “maschere” and the contribution of music, ballets and singing are frequent. The texts are those of professional playwrights and belong to the eighteenth-century and particularly contemporary repertoire. The audience is diverse and very participatory. The theatre is associated with other carnival “entertainments”, always performed by specialists, and rich meals for all. In short, the climate has completely changed: in the new Society, in this college, the theatre is no longer an essential pedagogical factor, but, even in the seriousness of the commitment, it is primarily a festive experience, in which pleasure and laughter prevail; and which, moreover, represents a parallel experience to that of the public theatre, of which it constitutes a singular pendant.

La scena dell’eloquenza

Lo pseudo-Segneri e il Teatro celeste: due tracce secentesche

Santi, bambini, attori. Francesco Gizzio e il teatro degli oratoriani a Napoli nel Seicento

The theatrical activities of the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri are scantly doc... more The theatrical activities of the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri are scantly documented and little studied. This article presents sources referring to the dramaturgical and scenic experience of the Congregation, with particular focus on Father Francesco Gizzio as dramatist and director of theatrical performances. It was a devotional theatre, dedicated above all to the figures of the saints, and its greatest peculiarity was that it was played by children. The article considers this to be the decisive point to try to understand the uplifting effect that the Oratorians wanted to achieve on the audience through the plays. The analysis focuses primarily on the outcome of the dialectic relationship between the actor-child and character-adult, which seems to rest on the theoretical- practical apparatus, of a spiritual and moral kind, typical of the post-Tridentine period.

Nella contemporaneità del teatro: Note su Robert Carsen regista di "Don Giovanni

Comunicacion Y Sociedad, 2015

The figure of famous Canadian director Robert Carsen is set in the framework of the international... more The figure of famous Canadian director Robert Carsen is set in the framework of the international opera renewal that, starting the 1980s, was produced by the increased relevance taken on by staging and, in particular, by the systematic contribution of theatre directors. This paper highlights the technical, practical and creative resources that Carsen considers essential to his work and that seem to be perfectly exemplified through a theatrological analysis of some scenes from his Mozart’s Don Giovanni, staged in Milan at Teatro alla Scala in 2011. The paper refers, in particular, to the narrative and acting processes, found in the libretto, that constitute the basis for the singers’ performance, to the principles that regulate the construction of characters, to the special function of scenography in revealing their sentiments, to the reflexive investigations on theatre-within-theatre, to the important role assigned to the spectator. Through these, Carsen seems to achieve an aestheti...

Varios afectos y varias especies sensibles: la predicación de los jesuitas misioneros en las zonas rurales italianas (siglos XVII-XVIII)

L’immaginario universale: spettacoli e rappresentazioni (secolo XVII)

Una cittŕ all'opera dei pupi. Catania nel pieno Ottocento

MEMORIA E RICERCA, 2009

- In the overall investigation of the history of Catania, one must aknowledge the relevance of th... more - In the overall investigation of the history of Catania, one must aknowledge the relevance of the opera dei pupi, the most typical theatrical genre in XIXth century Sicily. Thus far considered a marginal and isolated tradition, the opera dei pupi appears instead as a focal point that reorganizes multiple cultural experiences around its specificity. The shows animated by armed puppets were the favourite spectacle for the lower classes, but they attracted the intellectuals, the professional bourgeoisie and the ruling aristocracy as well. Notably in the years around Italy&amp;amp;#39;s unification, next to the traditional epic-chivalrous stories, the pupari introduced themes related to the Risorgimento. Amateur actors played both comedy and drama on the stage of the opera dei pupi, turning it into a space where oratory art experimentations could take place. Since 1870, Catania was eventually reached by the flux of Europe&amp;amp;#39;s industry of entertainment and the pupari begun trying to meet the changes elaborating new solutions in the attempt to lay the new set-up of the opera dei pupi.

Entre étonnement et dévotion. Les fêtes universelles pour les canonisations des saints (Italie, XVIIe siecle et début du XVIIIe siecle)

Note sulla prima festa dell’Unità d’Italia e dello Statuto del Regno a Bergamo, 2 giugno 1861

Bergomum Bollettino Della Civica Biblioteca Angelo Mai Di Bergamo, 2013

L’acteur nécessaire: dramaturgie de la sainteté et sainteté représentée

«Comparendo infine la Festa». La canonizzazione di Tomás de Villanueva: apparati da Roma a Bordeaux (1658-1659)

Finzioni, imitazioni, azioni: donne e teatro

Choix oratoires et formes de prédication dans les missions rurales des jésuites italiens (xvie-xviiie siècle)

Casa de Velázquez eBooks, 2011

L’arte della disciplina corporale nella predicazione popolare dei gesuiti

L’arte della disciplina corporale nella predicazione popolare dei gesuiti

ENTRE ÉTONNEMENT ET DÉVOTION. LES FÊTES UNIVERSELLES POUR LES CANONISATIONS DES SAINTS (ITALIE, XVIIe SIÈCLE ET DÉBUT DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE)

LES CÉRÉMONIES EXTRAORDINAIRES DU CATHOLICISME BAROQUE, 2009

Une version plus longue de ce texte a été publiée sous le titre de "La devota meraviglia. Feste i... more

Lingua e stile nella predicazione dei gesuiti missionari in Italia (xvi-xviii secolo)

Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez, 2015

Lo Pseudo Segneri e il Teatro celeste

Spettacoli dell’estasi per la canonizzazione di Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi (1669)

Marionette per una «camerata attrice». Notizie sul teatro gesuitico nell’Ottocento (Loreto 1834-1857)

Teatro e storia, 2023

Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV. Reestablished i... more Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV. Reestablished in 1814 by Pius VII, it also resumed its pedagogical activity, and in its theatre colleges were a part of the experience, following in the wake of a famous tradition that came from the mid-sixteenth century. On the theatre of the “new” Society there are no specific studies to date: this essay aims to be a first contribution to a wider research on the subject. It is based on chronicle sources (so-called “college diaries”) and it focuses, to begin with, only the college in the city of Loreto, in the Marche region (then one of the Papal States), in the period 1834-1857. In this college and in these years, however, we are confronted with an unexpected fact: it is not an actor’s theatre performed by the students, as that of the ancient Society had been, but a puppet theatre, made by local professionals, where the students, unseen, merely give voice. It is a mixed form of theatre, combining the craft of the puppeteers and the amateurism of the students, and framed within the usual life of the college (study, religious practices, etc.), but within the carnival time only. The repertoire, too, is very different from that of the ancient Society: no longer a theatre written by the masters of rhetorics, predominantly edifying, with a spiritual framework, useful for maturing moral and religious consciousness and conforming behavior in the young actors; it is rather a varied theatre, ranging from farce to tragedy, rich mainly with comedies and where Italian “maschere” and the contribution of music, ballets and singing are frequent. The texts are those of professional playwrights and belong to the eighteenth-century and particularly contemporary repertoire. The audience is diverse and very participatory. The theatre is associated with other carnival “entertainments”, always performed by specialists, and rich meals for all. In short, the climate has completely changed: in the new Society, in this college, the theatre is no longer an essential pedagogical factor, but, even in the seriousness of the commitment, it is primarily a festive experience, in which pleasure and laughter prevail; and which, moreover, represents a parallel experience to that of the public theatre, of which it constitutes a singular pendant.

La scena dell’eloquenza

Lo pseudo-Segneri e il Teatro celeste: due tracce secentesche

Santi, bambini, attori. Francesco Gizzio e il teatro degli oratoriani a Napoli nel Seicento

The theatrical activities of the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri are scantly doc... more The theatrical activities of the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri are scantly documented and little studied. This article presents sources referring to the dramaturgical and scenic experience of the Congregation, with particular focus on Father Francesco Gizzio as dramatist and director of theatrical performances. It was a devotional theatre, dedicated above all to the figures of the saints, and its greatest peculiarity was that it was played by children. The article considers this to be the decisive point to try to understand the uplifting effect that the Oratorians wanted to achieve on the audience through the plays. The analysis focuses primarily on the outcome of the dialectic relationship between the actor-child and character-adult, which seems to rest on the theoretical- practical apparatus, of a spiritual and moral kind, typical of the post-Tridentine period.

Nella contemporaneità del teatro: Note su Robert Carsen regista di "Don Giovanni

Comunicacion Y Sociedad, 2015

The figure of famous Canadian director Robert Carsen is set in the framework of the international... more The figure of famous Canadian director Robert Carsen is set in the framework of the international opera renewal that, starting the 1980s, was produced by the increased relevance taken on by staging and, in particular, by the systematic contribution of theatre directors. This paper highlights the technical, practical and creative resources that Carsen considers essential to his work and that seem to be perfectly exemplified through a theatrological analysis of some scenes from his Mozart’s Don Giovanni, staged in Milan at Teatro alla Scala in 2011. The paper refers, in particular, to the narrative and acting processes, found in the libretto, that constitute the basis for the singers’ performance, to the principles that regulate the construction of characters, to the special function of scenography in revealing their sentiments, to the reflexive investigations on theatre-within-theatre, to the important role assigned to the spectator. Through these, Carsen seems to achieve an aestheti...

Varios afectos y varias especies sensibles: la predicación de los jesuitas misioneros en las zonas rurales italianas (siglos XVII-XVIII)

L’immaginario universale: spettacoli e rappresentazioni (secolo XVII)

Una cittŕ all'opera dei pupi. Catania nel pieno Ottocento

MEMORIA E RICERCA, 2009

- In the overall investigation of the history of Catania, one must aknowledge the relevance of th... more - In the overall investigation of the history of Catania, one must aknowledge the relevance of the opera dei pupi, the most typical theatrical genre in XIXth century Sicily. Thus far considered a marginal and isolated tradition, the opera dei pupi appears instead as a focal point that reorganizes multiple cultural experiences around its specificity. The shows animated by armed puppets were the favourite spectacle for the lower classes, but they attracted the intellectuals, the professional bourgeoisie and the ruling aristocracy as well. Notably in the years around Italy&amp;amp;#39;s unification, next to the traditional epic-chivalrous stories, the pupari introduced themes related to the Risorgimento. Amateur actors played both comedy and drama on the stage of the opera dei pupi, turning it into a space where oratory art experimentations could take place. Since 1870, Catania was eventually reached by the flux of Europe&amp;amp;#39;s industry of entertainment and the pupari begun trying to meet the changes elaborating new solutions in the attempt to lay the new set-up of the opera dei pupi.

Entre étonnement et dévotion. Les fêtes universelles pour les canonisations des saints (Italie, XVIIe siecle et début du XVIIIe siecle)

Note sulla prima festa dell’Unità d’Italia e dello Statuto del Regno a Bergamo, 2 giugno 1861

Bergomum Bollettino Della Civica Biblioteca Angelo Mai Di Bergamo, 2013

L’acteur nécessaire: dramaturgie de la sainteté et sainteté représentée

«Comparendo infine la Festa». La canonizzazione di Tomás de Villanueva: apparati da Roma a Bordeaux (1658-1659)

Finzioni, imitazioni, azioni: donne e teatro

Bernadette Majorana, L’anti-cristiana. Sulle attrici professioniste della prima età moderna

by Italica Wratislaviensia and Bernadette Majorana

Italica Wratislaviensia, 2019

The profession of the commedia dell’arte actress acquires a markedly visible position in the broa... more The profession of the commedia dell’arte actress acquires a markedly visible position in the broad public horizon of Modern-Age Italy. The actress, in that context, places herself both at the borders of the male amateur theatre practices and amongst the virtuous feminine models (nuns, wives, virgins), conflicting with both. These counter-positions must have been very visible, particularly to the spectators, who could easily draw comparisons both with the amateur shows, where only male actors played, and with different kinds of feminine characters. These contrasts are explored in this article using moral essays of the time, including the equivalence between actress and prostitute put forward by a lengthy treatise in 1646 by G.D. Ottonelli.