Elizabethan Theatre

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Elizabethan Theatre

• Theatre History

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Elizabethan Theatre

• England was the center of Renaissance explosion.
  It wasnt Renaissance, but Elizabethan Theatre,
  named after the Queen who ruled during that
  period. She was also very fond of the arts.
• Elizabethan era produced many great playwrights
  and plays.
• Performers sought patronage from wealthy
  noblemen. Actors who were produced by the wealthy
  were considered legitimate. Anyone who didnt
  were considered to be rogues.

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Elizabethan Theatre Cont.

• Women were not allowed to act because it was
  considered unladylike and unsuitable. Young boys
  played womens parts.
• We consider this abnormal, but in that era, it
  was completely normal under the circumstances.
• Plays drew large, loud crowds, especially in the
  lower theatre levels, where admission was
  cheapest.
• Court plays plays geared to a more intelligent
  audience royalty and nobility. Beaumont and
  Fletcher wrote these kind of plays.

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Elizabethan Theatre Cont.

• Civil War erupted in 1642 and theatre faded away
  until 1660, when England would get a new theatre.

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Elizabethan Theatre Cont.- Elizabethan Stage

• Playhouses were round or octagonal with 3 levels
  of seating.
• Seating levels were reserved for those who could
  afford the fee.
• The pit, the bare dirt floor in front of the
  stage, was where the people with little money
  stood. They were called groundlings.
• Those willing to pay the greatest fee could sit
  on the stage.

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Elizabethan Theatre Cont.- Elizabethan Stage

• Actors performed on a platform stage with trap
  doors scattered all over the stage.
• Little scenery was used because the theatre was
  open.
• No stage lighting, so performances were during
  the day.
• The Heavens elaborately decorated ceiling to
  resemble the night sky.
• Balcony a second story above the stage to be
  used as an acting area, but was most often used
  for the musicians.
• At the top of the building, they had a flag to
  inform the public of an upcoming performance that
  day.

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Photo of Globe Theatre
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Elizabethan Playwrights Christopher Marlowe

• Born in 1564 in Canterbury and he died right
  before his 30th birthday in 1593 in a tavern
  brawl fight.
• He introduced blank verse.
• There was a fierce rivalry between he and
  Shakespeare for greatest English dramatist.
• Most famous plays Tamburlain the Great, The Jew
  of Malta, Edward II, The Tragical History of
  Doctor Faustus.

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Elizabethan Playwrights Ben Jonson

• Born in 1573 and died in 1637.
• Considered to be the first English comedic
  writer.
• Most famous plays Volpone, The Alchemist and
  Every Man in His Humour.

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Elizabethan Playwrights William Shakespeare

• He was born in 1564 and died in 1616.
• Greatest playwright ever.
• He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets.
• None of his plays were published till after his
  death. It is argued that his plays were altered
  by others, so they may not be entirely pure.
• Most famous plays Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet,
  Macbeth, Othello, A Midsummer Nights Dream, King
  Lear, The Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest.