Download Acting Style







Before companies were formed actors formed
troupes.
These troupes caused trouble for ‘worthy citizens’ as
they often claimed they were servants to a lord.
The queen tried to solve the issue by granting
licenses to the aristocracy to have a company of
actors.
It was a rule that these companies should only
perform for their masters
However this along with various other rules was
largely ignored.
1572 Act for the Punishment of Vagabonds ordered
actors to find a patron to be considered legal. These
patrons did nothing mush else than keep these actors
safe from the law, and had no input into the day to
day running of the company.
Queen Elizabeth granted the first license to the
Servants of the Earl of Leicester in 1574. These
Servants were James Burbage and four partners.
 In 1578 six companies had been granted
permission to perform plays. They were
1. The Children of the Chapel Royal,
2. Children of Saint Paul's,
3. The Servants of the Lord Chamberlain,
4. Servants of Lord Warwick,
5. Servants of Lord Leicester,
6. Servants of Lord Essex.

 Shakespeare's
company was granted a royal
patent a few weeks after James I became
king and as the King's Men, his company
performed plays from their repertory.
Shakespeare and fellow actors may also have
taken roles in the court masques.
 Shakespeare's
company built the Globe
Theatre circa 1598 in London's Bankside area.
It was one of four major theatres in the area,
along with the Swan, the Rose, and the
Hope.
Edward Alleyn (1566 - 1626)
Robert Armin (1568 - 1615)
Christopher Beeston (1570 - 1638)
Richard Burbage (1567 - 1619)
Henry Condell (1568 - 1627)
Nathan Field (1587 - 1619)
John Heminge (1556 - 1630)
William Kempe (1560 - 1603)
John Lowin (1576 - 1659)
William Rowley (1585 - 1642)
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Joseph Taylor (1586 - 1652)
Shakespearian acting style has often been
referred to as melodramatic due to the
exaggeration of voice and gesture.
 Actors performed their own stunts, this included
sword fighting, which had to be learnt to an
exceptional standard for it to be convincing.
 The actors had to ‘over-act’ to make sure that
their lines were communicated to the audience.
They did this by projecting their voices and
exaggerating gestures.
 Actors were almost forced to interact with the
audience because if an actor was not liked by
the audience there was a chance that they
would be pelted with rotten fruit and/or cursed
at.



Actors performing Shakespeare often only had cue
texts/scripts, this consisted of the actors line and
sometimes a few words before and possibly a
mention of the person who spoke those words. This
forced the actors to stay focused to listen and react
off each other, because they could never be sure
when it was their turn to speak or what they were
reacting to.
According to Elizabethan science, a person’s
emotional/psychological and physiological states
were closely linked. Therefore, a character
undergoing intense emotion would show certain
recognizable symptoms. One highly recognised
symptom was the face going pale or red, and
Elizabethan actors developed the ability to “change
complexion” at will – this was a highly valued talent.
Shakespearean acting style is generally thought
of today as being melodramatic. This is
illustrated by emphasized and even exaggerated
displays of emotions, as well as relatively
stereotypical characters.
 Although the melodramatic tone can certainly be
picked up from reading Shakespeare there is
more to it than that. The performances echo the
drama quite intensely through the actor’s
annunciation of the speech and their actions.
Shakespearean writing is by design and definition
supposed to be dramatically emphasized
According to Dr. Hilda Spear the dialogue and
acting style was more “theatrical” and “ranting”
than what can be seen today

Present day actors in the renovated Globe found
that clarity of speech and movement was more
important than volume or size, and much more
subtle acting was possible.
 The acoustics of the stage (once all of the
genuine oak had been installed) turned out to be
excellent, although actors tended to misjudge
the effect of their own voices at first and were
tricked into shouting when they didn’t need to.
 It is important to remember, however, that the
opinions of modern actors may bear little
relationship to the way in which Elizabethan
actors viewed their stage and gave their
performances.

One of the most obvious characteristics of
Elizabethan Theater was the lack of scenery and
props. As a playwright of these times the scene
had to be set by the dialogue. This meant the
dialogue had to be bold and rich to hold the
audiences attention as well as using the actor’s
movements and gestures to spell out intricate
details of the play that they could not access
because of lack of props. This was also used to
show the time of day because these
performances were mainly shown in the
afternoon.
 In conclusion the acting of Shakespeare’s days
was actually too complicated and delicately
intricate to be characterized as “melodramatic”.



The fool in those days never followed the script
perfectly and like comedians do to day riff or
improvise wordplay and jokes to respond to the
hecklers in the crowd. At the end of the play the
Elizabethan actors often danced, and sometimes the
fool and other comic actors would perform a jig
Some time was apparently put aside for the fool to
respond to challenges from the audience - with
spectators inventing rhymes and challenging the fool
to complete them, asking riddles and questions and
demanding witty answers, or simply arguing and
criticising the fool so that he could respond. “One of
the famous clown Tarlton’s jokes, for example, was
given in response to a woman in the audience
threatening to cuff him. She should only reverse the
spelling of the word, he told her, and she could have
her will immediately.”
 Kissing
-- we don't currently make use of this
gesture as the sign of respect it was intended
to. No one actually makes any contact with
anyone or anything when performing this
kissing gesture.
 Keeping the king to your right -- the right
hand is the side of honor, and the left hand is
a lower status position. When seated, you
should give the right hand seat to someone
you wish to honor, and your when a guest,
you should insist on the left hand seat so as
to honor your host.
 Music
of Elizabethan time has a similar rhythm and
style as the baroque music. (eg, Bach, Handel).
English ballads, church music and even lively dance
music were performed by people who belonged to
all classes.
 Native folk music was seen being played at the
dinner tables when families came together for a
meal. There of course were different breeds of
musicians, such as the travelling street minstrels
which didn’t last long because of the demand for
tavern ad theatre musicians.
 The
music could be categorised into church
music, court music, street music, theatre
music and town music. Due to the church, a
style of music evolved which was known as
the choral polyphony.
 Music was also used as an enhancement for
theatre. These plays saw the varying
emotions being expressed through poems
accompanied by music. Therefore theatre
music reached new heights of success in the
Elizabethan era.
 The
main instruments used in Elizabethan
times were the string, keyboard, wind and
percussion. The different musical
instruments were also used to indicate the
status of a person as well.
 For example, wind instruments such as the
trumpets were used to mark the arrival of
royalty. Since music was always used in
theatre, it should project a sense of
conversation to intensify the drama.
 Occasionally
music may have been played
between Acts or certain scenes, but scholars
think this was quite unusual except in the
hall playhouses, where candles had to be
trimmed and replaced between Acts.
 Unlike the situations today, in the ancient
days, a man who could not sing to win the
hearts of others with his perfect voice was
not considered to be a gentleman.
 Dancing
in the Elizabethan era was
considered "a wholesome recreation of the
mind and also an exercise of the body".
Elizabethan dance varied according to the
social class. The court dances enjoyed by
royalty, nobility and the Upper classes were
often imported from Italy, Spain or France.
 These dance forms varied considerably from
the energetic Galliard to the refined and
stately Pavane being highly sophisticated
with intricate steps and nuances, although
the old favorite English country dances were
still popular.
The lower classes enjoyed the more traditional
country dances such as the Jig, Morris Dancing or
the Brand or the Brawle. The most important
Elizabethan dances were the Pavan, Galliards
and Almain.
 These English country dances were danced by
couples in round, square, or rectangular sets in
much simpler and repetitive forms and less
intricate steps. The dances of the Elizabethan
Lower Class would therefore be very different to
those of the Elizabethan Upper Class.
 Many of the dances of the Elizabethan Lower
classes were steeped in old customs and rituals,
such as dancing around the Maypole.

Tournaments were enjoyed by both Commoners,
Royalty and Nobles, the Upper Class and the
Lower Classes. A rich member of the English
aristocracy would sponsor a tournament and
supply the money for the prizes.
 An Elizabethan Tournament was a series of
mounted and armoured combats, fought as
contests, in which a number of contestants
compete and the one that succeeds through the
final round or that finishes with the best record
is declared the winner and is awarded the prize.
 Tournaments were imported from France during
the 12th century and formed an important
element of Elizabethan military and social life
and lasted over several days.










http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/creativedevelopment
programme/productions/asyoulikeit/theatre.shtml
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethanactors.htm
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethanmusic.htm
http://wroc.academia.edu/MirekKocur/Papers/139023/BO
DY-AND-VOICE-PERFORMANCES-IN-THE-ELIZABETHANTHEATRE
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethandance.htm
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethantournaments.htm
http://www.latourdulac.com/manners/Elizabethan.html
http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/theatre/travis.html
http://shakespearean.org.uk/elizthea1.htm