ELIZABETHAN THEATRE

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The English Renaissance 1485-1660
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• The Renaissance in England
• 1485-1660
• Renaissance rebirth
• Renaissance person one who is
  interested in
• science, literature, history,
• art other subjects
• Begins in 14th century Italy
• Refers to renewed interest in classics
• Renewal of human spirit of curiosity and
  creativity

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• Humanism Questions about the Good Life
• People of Middle Ages looked for help by
  turning to someone in authority a feudal
  lord, king, or God.
• People in classical cultures sought answers
  from within. Classical literature dominated
  by questions related to HUMAN LIFE What is
  the good life? What is a good state? How do I
  lead a good life?
• Writers artists intellectual movement

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Humanism Questions about the Good Life

• No essential conflicts between teachings of the
  church ancients Renaissance sought to
  harmonize two great sources of wisdom The
  Bible and the Classics.
• Aim was to use classics to strengthen, not
  discredit, Christianity, and to attain virtue,
  not or fame.
• Humanist philosophy Man was created in the
  image of God. Each person is a little world,
  or a microcosm. Humans are capable of
  perfecting themselves because we share in the
  divine.
• Renewed emphasis in art, literature, religious,
  and
• political debates leading to the Protestant
  Reformation.

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Humanismfrom Morality to Chronicle

• It was the aim of the humanists to educate those
  who ruled in wise and virtuous government.
• How do you teach a king? Very tactfully . . .
• The effectiveness of the morality play was
  attractive to humanists, who changed the nature
  of the moral from religion to political virtue
  without changing the techniques of the drama.
• A natural medium for the humanists to use in
  educating the king, for plays were frequently
  performed at Court.

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New Technology a flood of print

• Johannes Gutenberg 1400?-1468
• Invented printing with movable type
• First printed complete book an immense
  Latin Bible
• 1476 printing reached England
• Printing press made books
• available to more people

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The Tudors
Henry VII 1485-1509 Henry VIII 1509-1547
Edward VI 1547-1553 Mary I 1553-1558
Elizabeth I 1558-1603
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The Beginnings of the Tudor Dynasty

• After War of the Roses, The Tudors took over
• Henry VII inherited a war torn country, but
  rebuilt the nation and began exploration to the
  new world.
• Henry VIII one of the most colorful
  characters in English history, took the throne
  after his father died. Increased the power of
  the monarchy.
• His desire for a male heir led to the most
  important
• event of his reign breaking from the Church
  in Rome.

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• The Reformation
• 1483-1546 German monk Martin Luther broke with
  the Roman Catholic Church
• 95 Theses listed his objections to central
  beliefs and practices of Roman Catholic Church.

• Beliefs based not on the words of an Italian
  Pope, but on a personal understanding of the Bible

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• The Reformation - details
• 95 Theses listed Luthers objections to
  central beliefs and practices of Roman Catholic
  Church.
• People had to depend on grace of God for
  forgiveness
• Objected to sale of Pardons, challenged
  authority of the Pope - People didnt need an
  intermediary to commune with God.
• John Calvin (Sweden). Claimed all events are
  predestined by God central belief of Puritan
  movement.
• Englands Protestant Reformation came about
  because of Henry VIIIs inability to have a
  son.

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• Wives of Henry VIII
• Catherine of Aragon Spanish, mother of Mary
  I marriage annulled by Henry because she
  couldnt produce a son.
• Anne Boleyn mother of Elizabeth I beheaded
  at the Tower of London for adultery.
• Jane Seymour mother of Edward VI who became
  king at age 9. He died at age 15. Succeeded by
  Mary I, daughter of Catherine, aka Bloody Mary.
• Anne of Cleves divorced
• Catherine Howard beheaded
• Catherine Parr strong Protestant, helped
  raise both Mary and Elizabeth

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The English Reformation

• To marry Anne Boleyn, Henry requested an
  annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
  from the Pope he was refused.
• Henry broke with RCC, and in 1531 became Supreme
  Head of the Church of England,or the Anglican
  Church. Sir Thomas More, (author of Utopia),
  Chancellor of England and Henry VIIIs friend,
  was imprisoned and ordered to be executed for not
  signing a document that declared Henry head of
  the Church of England.
• Henry seized RCC lands, burned monasteries
  destroying documents called the Dissolution.
  (Glastonbury).
• When Edward VI (ruled 1547-53) Archbishop Cranmer
  transformed the Church of England into a
  thoroughly Protestant Church Calvinistic.

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The English Reformation

• Edward died, and Queen Mary (ruled 1553-58)
  reimposed Catholicism on the English Church
  Bloody Mary. Killed protestants and repressed
  her people who resented her marriage to the King
  of Spain with brutality.
• Elizabeth (ruled 1558-1603) worked out a
  compromise church that retained as much as
  possible from the Catholic church while putting
  into place most of the foundational ideas of
  Protestantism. She was technically Protestant.
  Elizabethan Age.
• Mystery and Morality plays were outlawed as they
  taught Roman Catholic doctrine   

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• Elizabeth I - The Virgin Queen1558-1603
• One of most brilliant successful monarchs in
  history
• Reestablished Church of England
• Widely read in Latin, Greek other languages
• Court was a center of literary activity -
  English literature reached its zenith patron
  of Shakespeare
• Shrewd leader England became the most
  powerful nation in Europe
• Executed her cousin, Mary Stuart,
• exiled Queen of Scotland, inciting the anger
  of King Phillip II of Spain

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1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada

• Damaged Spains prestige
• England's star was on the rise.
• Elizabeth took the defeat of the armada as a sign
  of divine blessing
• English patriotism and devotion to the queen
  soared to its greatest heights, shown in part by
  a profusion of literature that included
  Shakespeare's first plays--patriotic histories of
  the English monarchy.

• England became greatest power in Europe

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James I

• Second cousin to Elizabeth I son of Mary
  Stuart
• Succeeded Elizabeth who was childless
• Tried hard but was no Elizabeth
• Wrote books
• Sponsored new translation of Bible King
  James version
• Patronized Shakespeare
• Plymouth colony established by angered
  Puritans who disliked idea of Divine Right of
  Kings.

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Medieval Concepts of Tragedy De casibus
tragedies of fortune

• Tragedy is less the result of individual action
  than a reflection of the inevitable turning of
  Fortune's wheel.
• Fortune, traditionally female because of the
  association of women with the moon and
  changeability, has two faces, one benign, one
  severe.

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Influence of Roman Theatre

• 5 act structure
• Comedy
• Plots
• Stock characters
• Tragedy
• Revenge motif
• Irony
• Use of ghosts
• Violent spectacle

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Elizabethan Stock Characters

• Senex old man in authority
• Miles gloriosus braggart soldier
• Shrew sharp-tongued woman
• Clever servant
• Machiavel political schemer
• Calumniator believed a liar who is believed
• Idiotes a malcontent
• Pedant in love with the sound of his own
  didactic voice
• Fools and clowns

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Chronicle or History Plays

• Explore the workings and legitimacy of kingship
• What is a good King?
• Historical exemplars (Lear, Macbeth, Julius
  Caesar)
• Often turn into tragedies

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Christopher Marlowe1564-93

• Tragedies
• Tamburlaine
• Dido Queen of Carthage
• Dr. Faustus
• Edward II
• Massacre at Paris
• Jew of Malta

• MA from Cambridge
• Established blank verse as dramatic medium
  Marlowes mighty line
• Overreacher
• Killed in a brawl

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Ben Jonson1572-1637

• Educated at Westminster School -- no university
  but the most learned of playwrights
• Important comedies of humor include Every Man in
  His Humor, Volpone, The Alchemist, Bartholomew
  Fair
• Wrote and staged court masques with Inigo Jones
• Celebrated poet and conversationalist Sons of
  Ben
• Declared Shakespeare as not for an age, but for
  all time

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William ShakespeareApril 23, 1564-April 23, 1616

• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon
• Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 at age of 18
• 3 children Susanna (1583) and Hamnet and Judith
  (1585)
• 1585-92 the lost years
• 1595 record of membership in Lord Chamberlains
  Men

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Acting Companies

• 1590 -- 1642 approximately 20 companies of
  actors in London (although only 4 or 5 played in
  town at one time)
• More than a hundred provincial troupes.
• Companies usually played in London in the winter
  and spring and to travel in the summer when
  plague ravaged the city
• Members
• Shareholders
• Apprentices
• Hired men

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Boy Actors

• No women on the English stage in Shakespeare's
  day.
• The parts of women were acted by child
  actors--boys whose voices had not yet changed.
• Whole acting companies were created with child
  performers the Children of the Chapel Royal, and
  the St. Paul's Boys. The children's companies
  played regularly at Court.
• The Puritans, who disapproved of the theatre in
  general, were particularly scandalized by boys
  cross-dressing as women.

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Types of Plays

• Chronicle or History Plays
• Comedies
• Romantic
• Pastoral
• Feast of Fools
• Social
• Humors

• Tragedies
• Senecan Revenge
• De casibus -- turn of Fortune
• Fatal flaw
• Romances
• far-away adventures
• Any combination of the above

The best actors in the world, either for
tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral,pastoral-comica
l, historical-pastoral, tragical historical,
scene individable or poem unlimited. -- Hamlet
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Early Works prior to 1594

• Poetry
• Venus and Adonis,
• The Rape of Lucrece,
• sonnets
• Plautine Comedy
• A Comedy of Errors
• Courtly Comedy
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• Farcical/problem Comedy
• The Taming of the Shrew

• History Plays
• Henry VI 1,2,and 3
• Richard III
• Senecan Revenge Tragedy
• Titus Andronicus
• Romantic Tragedy
• Romeo and Juliet

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Lord Chamberlains Men

• Originally formed under the patronage of Lord
  Strange, but when he died in 1594, the players
  found a patron in Henry Carey, the Lord
  Chamberlain.
• Performed at the Theatre and the Curtain
• 1599 moved to the newly built Globe. By 1600 they
  had emerged as the leading theatrical company in
  London
• 1603 became the King's Men under a royal patent
  from James I. The company continued successfully
  until the Puritans closed the theatres in 1642.

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Theatre Interiors
Blackfriars Theatre
Sketch of the Swan Theatre
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The Globe

• One of the most famous playhouses of all time,
  and the playhouse where Shakespeare performed
  many of his greatest plays.
• Built from oak, deal, and stolen playhouse
  frames, the 3-story, 3000 capacity Globe
  Theatre, co-owned by William Shakespeare has
  become almost as famous as the playwright
  himself.

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Shakespeare Needs a New Playhouse to Compete

• The 1598 decision to build the famous playhouse
  came about as the answer to many of The Lord
  Chamberlains Mens problems.
• Lease on Blackfriars Theater ended , and the
  LCM, (Shakespeare, J R Burbage, G Byran,
  John Hemminges, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope
  and Will Sly) had nowhere else to perform their
  plays.
• Their rivals, The Admirals Men, already had
  The Rose to perform their plays.
• One little problem a lack of money.

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Paying for the PlayhouseShareholders

• James and Richard Burbage of LCM had money,
  but not enough.
• Each would own 25 of the new playhouse the
  rest would each chip in for the remaining 50.
  The rest of the men would each own 12.5 share
  (Will Kemp backed out).
• The playhouse was completed, opening in 1599.
• The circular playhouse could hold up to 3000-
  patrons
• Made money by renting out the playhouse, and
  from ticket sales for their own performances
  there.

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Theft Builds the Playhouse

• Construction began in 1599 near Thames River.
• Robert Burbages already had "The Theatre,"
  the first of
• its kind in London and an inheritance from his
  father, but the land lease it was built on
  expired in 1597.
• This playhouse should have reverted to the
  landlord Giles Allen with the land.
• Instead, Burbage tore it down and then
  discretely removed several 12 oak beams,
  taking them to form the structural frame for
  a 100 foot circular polygon, the heart of the
  new playhouse's structure.

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Location, Location, Location

• Near the river Thames, but not in central
  London - in outlying colorful district
  called Southwark.
• Not too different from what we would call a
  bad district today. Not the place to find
  respectable gentry.
• Attracted commoners and gentry alike,
  bringing people of all classes together
• Elements of Englands strict class divisions
  remained commoners were in the courtyard
  nobility were seated in the galleries.

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Advertising and Marketing

• To announce the arrival of the new playhouse,
  the LCM flew a flag with Hercules carrying a
  Globe on his shoulders to announce the imminent
  performance of Shakespeares play Julius
  Caesar.
• True to its name, above the main entrance was
  inscribed the words "Totus mundus agit
  histrionem" (_the whole world is a playhouse__),
  a phrase echoed in As You Like It ("_All the
  worlds a stage__").

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General Appearance

• Large circular structure, 3 stories high.
• A small straw thatched roof only partially
  covered the circular structure, - like a
  football stadium
• In the center, extended the 5 feet high main
  stage.
• At the back of this stage were two doors and a
  central curtain.
• Behind this were changing rooms for the
  actors.
• Above this stage was a central balcony,
  flanked by two other balconies serving as
  playhouse boxes.

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General Appearance

• Third level - house-like structure supported by
  columns - announcements were made and the flag
  would often fly, advertising plays currently
  being performed.
• Three rows of seating forming circular bands
  wrapped around the interior, called galleries.
  Cost more, but offered the comfort of seating.
• Those in the central uncovered courtyard had
  to stand through what could be a three-hour
  performance, rain or shine.

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Burnt to the Ground and Rebuilt Again

• Tragedy struck during a performance of Henry
  VIII (1613), a cannon fired during the play
  ignited the thatched roof, burning it to the
  ground.
• Rebuilt just one year later, the famous
  playhouse again opened its doors for business
  with the original's dangerous straw thatched
  roof now wisely replaced with tile.

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Popular Success 1595-1600

• Comedies
• Loves Labours Lost
• A Midsummers Nights Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• As You Like It
• Twelfth Night
• The Merchant of Venice
• Merry Wives of Windsor

• Histories
• King John
• Richard II
• Henry IV 1,2
• Henry V
• Tragedies
• Julius Caesar
• Hamlet

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A Darker Vision 1601-1607

• Problem Plays
• Alls Well That Ends Well
• Measure for Measure
• Troilus and Cressida
• Tragedies
• Othello
• King Lear
• Macbeth
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Coriolanus

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Final Works 1608-1612

• Tragedy Timon of Athens
• Romances
• Cymbeline
• Pericles
• The Winters Tale
• The Tempest
• Collaborations with John Fletcher
• Henry VIII
• Two Noble Kinsmen

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Shakespeare was buried on April 25, 1616 in Holy
Trinity Church, Stratford, where he had been
baptized just over 52 years earlier Good friend
for Jesus sake forbearTo dig the dust enclosed
here!Blest be the man that spares these
stones,And curst be he that moves my bones
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First Folio 1623

• First collected edition of Shakespeare's plays.
• Included 36 plays, 18 of which - never been
  published before
• The editors of the volume, Shakespeare's fellow
  actors John Heminge and Henry Condell, arranged
  the plays in three genres Comedies, Histories,
  and Tragedies.