page_title: Manoel Theatre
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Manoel Theatre / History
caption_attribution_description: Manoel theatre
context_page_description: The Manoel Theatre is a theatre and important performing arts venue in Malta. The theatre is often referred to as simply "The Manoel", and is named after Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller, Fra António Manoel de Vilhena, who ordered its construction in 1731. The theatre is reputed to be Europe's third-oldest working theatre, and the oldest theatre still in operation in the Commonwealth of Nations.
  The theatre is located on Old Theatre Street in Valletta. It considers itself as the country's national theatre and the home of Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. Originally called the Teatro Pubblico, its name was changed to Teatro Reale, or Theatre Royal, in 1812, and renamed Manoel Theatre in 1866. The first play to be performed was Maffei's Merope.
  The theatre is a small, 623 seat venue, with an oval-shaped auditorium, three tiers of boxes constructed entirely of wood, decorated with gold leaf, and a pale blue trompe-l'oeil ceiling that resembles a round cupola. The building is a Grade 1 listed building as noted by Malta's Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, and is also scheduled by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
context_section_description: Before the construction of the theatre, plays and amateur theatrical productions were staged in the halls and piano nobiles of the Knights' auberges. These were palaces constructed for the langues of the Order. The Langue of Italy often held such entertainment, staged by its knights in their Auberge. The records of the Langue even state that on February 2, 1697, some Maltese gentlemen presented a play in the Auberge d'Italie. Women were prohibited from attending these events after incidents during the Carnival festivities of 1639.
  In 1731, António Manoel de Vilhena commissioned and personally funded the construction of the building to serve as a public theatre "for the honest recreation of the people." The Grand Master bought two houses from the Priory of Navarre, with a frontage on what is now Old Theatre Street for the sum of 2,186 scudi. It has a plain façade, in keeping with Valletta's Mannerist style, and has three floors with a mezzanine-level above the ground floor. The façade incorporates a doorway surmounted by a stone balustraded open balcony, itself supported by three heavy scroll corbels. The interior is decorated in Rococo style. The theatre was possibly designed by Romano Carapecchia, and was built by Francesco Zerafa and Antonio Azzopardi.
  Construction was finished in only ten months. This however, may be because alterations were made to the fabric of the three adjoining houses, incorporating them into a theatre. The building occupied an area of 94½ square canes, which was later altered to 93 square canes and 2½ palms. The theatre is said to have been modelled after the contemporary Palermo Theatre. Its auditorium was originally semi-circular or horseshoe shaped, with an illuminated parterre that served as a small dance floor. The first theatrical performance to be staged at the Teatro Pubblico was Scipione Maffei's classic tragedy Merope, on January 9, 1732. The actors in that production were the Knights themselves, and the set was designed by the Knights' chief military architect, Francois Mondion.
  On January 26, 1732 a satirical and anti-clerical play "Il bacchettiere falso" by Girolamo Gigli was performed. On January 18, 1769, the play "Il trionfo di Minerva", by Lentisco Adrasteo was presented on the occasion of Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca's birthday. A similar honour was also given to Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim, on his elevation as Grand Master. On this occasion, Hompesch appeared on the balcony thanking the crowd, showering handfuls of gold coins on the people that had gathered to applaud. Over the course of the next half-century, it was the venue for an extensive repertoire of lyric operas performed by companies of visiting professionals or by amateur groups of knights, and French tragedies or Italian comedies. Works by Johann Adolf Hasse, Niccolò Piccinni and Baldassare Galuppi were extremely popular at the theatre during its early years.
  In its early days, the management of the theatre, and censorship of its performances, was entrusted to a senior knight, known as the Protettore. The first recorded impresario was Melchiorre Prevvost Lanarelli in 1736, and the last Giovanni Le Brun in 1866. From 1768 to 1770 the impresario was a woman, Natala Farrugia. In setting up the theatre, Grand Master de Vilhena set the rent to be paid by the impresario at 320 scudi per annum, of which 80 accrued for rent from Easter to August, 120 for autumn, and another 120 scudi from Christmas to Carnival. When dances or veglioni (masked ball) were held in the theatre, the pit was raised by a scaffolding to the level of the stage. On August 22, 1778, regulations were passed for the lighting of the theatre and corridors on such occasions, with the shading of lights, in any manner, being prohibited. In 1778, to avoid scandal, theatre companies were prohibited from sleeping in the boxes of the theatre. This was a practice which was common during that time. A few years later, in 1783, the Teatro Pubblico underwent considerable modification and decoration, based on a design by the Roman architect, Natale Marin
caption: The proscenium and theatre-boxes at the Manoel.
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