The Theatre Experience of Elizabethan England

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The Theatre Experience of Elizabethan England

• By Arbnor Hasani

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Elizabethan Theatre - Characteristics

• Period of Queen Elizabeth I
• 1558 1603
• Decreed to prohibit
• performance of plays with
• religious and political content
• First theatre buildings appeared
• Theatre became commercial and turned to
  literature for its subjects
• Elizabethan theatre and the name of William
  Shakespeare are inextricably bound together, but
  also Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson, John
  Fletcher, John Webster and Thomas Kyd.

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Inn-Yards

• Since there were no specially designed theatre
  buildings at first theatre groups performed in
  the courtyards of inns
• Temporary stage would be erected at the end of
  the yard and the audience would gather, not only
  in the yard itself, but would be able to pay for
  a view, perhaps even a seat inside the inn by a
  window overlooking the yard.
• Later inn-yards dictated the shape and form of
  the open-air theatres.

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Picture of an Inn-Yard
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'Strolling Players'

• In the 16th century acting was not accepted as a
  profession gt this lead to patronage of actors
  from nobleman, yet with little financial support.
  
• Actors were known as 'Strolling Players' gt they
  performed plays, they walked on stilts, they
  juggled, they created slapstick scenes.
• At the end of their performance they appealed to
  the audience to be generous and they went round
  with their hats collecting whatever was thrown to
  them.

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Actors and travelling troupes

• Before the building of permanent playhouses of
  Shakespeares time, plays were put on by
  travelling troupes of actors
• Actors would travel throughout the country in
  wooden wagons that could be transformed into
  makeshift stages.
• Usually stages were set up in the courtyard of an
  inn or at times in the home of a nobleman at his
  request.
• Famous actors Richard Burbage, Edward Alleyn,
  Shakespeare, Richard Tarlton, William Kempe

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Acting Companies

• The travelling acting companies often had the
  reputation of being vagabonds because of the
  audiences that they attracted.
• Four major acting companies Lord Stranges Men
  Chamberlains Men Admirals Men Kings Men

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Theatres

• The London Inn-Yards were restricted and 'The
  Theatre' was born.
• James Burbage built the first theater at
  Shoreditch in 1576.
• Most famous theaters Curtain Theatre (1577), the
  Rose (1587), the Swan (1595), the Globe (1599),
  the Fortune (1600), and the Red Bull (1604) .
• Seating in the theater reflected the social
  status of the people

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The Swan Theatre, this is the only surviving
drawing of a public theatre from Shakespeare's
time
The Globe Theater, a typical structure of an
Elizabethan Theatre
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Playhouses

• Playhouses were more expensive than theaters
• More exclusive and private
• Luxuries and roofed
• Food and drinks were served
• Audience capacity up to 500
• Music was strongly featured
• The Gray's Inn and Whitehall were playhouses.

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Costumes

• Elaborate and colorful costumes
• Communicate the message of the character
• Show social status or profession

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Plays

• Written for and property of particular
  theatrical companies
• Average life of a play was 10 performances
• New plays were demanded gt they brought more
  money than old plays
• A play was produced every 17 days
• Many plays were lost

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Dramatic Effects

• Various noises produced off-stage
• Audience were involved in the play shouting
  suggestions, encouragements or curses to the
  actors
• Dialogue revealed to the audience the time and
  place of the action, the characters identities
  and even their physical appearances
• There was machinery to produce sound effects and
  a trapdoor on the stage that was leading to the
  hell

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Famous Plays

• Thomas Kyd gt Soliman, Perseda, The Spanish
  Tragedy
• Ben Johnson gt Every Man of His Humour, Every
  Man Out of His Humour, Volpone, Masque of
  Queens, The Alchemist
• Christopher Marlow gt Tamburlaine, The
  massacre at Paris, The Jew of Malta, Eduard
  II, Doctor Faustus

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William Shakespeares famous plays

• Comedies 
• All's Well That Ends Well
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors
• Cymbeline
• Love's Labours Lost
• Measure for Measure
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• The Merchant of Venice
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre
• Taming of the Shrew
• The Tempest
• Troilus and Cressida
• Twelfth Night
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• Winter's Tale 

Histories  Henry IV, Part IIHenry VHenry VI,
Part IHenry VI, Part IIHenry VI, Part IIIHenry
VIIIKing JohnRichard IIRichard III
Tragedies Antony and CleopatraCoriolanusHamletJ
ulius CaesarKing LearMacbethOthelloRomeo and
JulietTimon of AthensTitus Andronicus
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References

• The Essential Theatre - Oscar Brockett
• http//www.britainexpress.com/History/elizabethan-
  theatre.htm
• http//www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-thea
  tre.htm
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_theatre

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• Thank You