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Shakespeare
Drama - 2 languages
1. Dialogue
2. Staging
Dialogue
• As readers of drama we rely on the written
word and stage directions
Staging
• Costumes - can tell time of year, time,
place, status, highlight characters
• Gesture and movement
• Lighting
• Sound
• Scenery
• All aspects of staging can work together
Aristotelian Drama
• Shakespearian drama is Aristotelian
– Order, order lost, order restored - comedy
– Order lost, order restored - tragedy
Classic Aristotelian Plotline
• Act I - Introduction
– Get to know characters, conflict, setting
• Act II - Rising Action - conflict progresses
• Act III - Climax - major character changes,
point of no return, point of highest emotional
intensity
• Act IV - Falling Action - rapid movement
towards the resolution
• Act V - Resolution - Order restored, loose
ends tied up
Types of Plays
• Shakespeare wrote three types of plays
– Comedy - always ends in a confession, a
reunion, a celebration, a wedding
– Tragedies - people die and a new order is
brought in to restore
– Histories - chronicle of English kings
Shakespeare
• “He was not of an age, but for all time” - Ben
Jonson
• Born - Stratford-upon-Avon, England - April 23,
1564
• Died April 23, 1616
• Wrote plays in London between approximately
1590-1613 - during the reigns of Elizabeth I and
James I - they have been in almost constant
production since their creation
Basewords
• Reading Shakespeare is like seeing
language created
• Contributed over 20,138 basewords to the
English language
Elizabethan drama
• Queen Elizabeth was a huge supporter of
the arts - by the end of her reign London
had more theatres than any other city in
Europe
• Raucous audiences
Globe Theatre
• 1599 - Shakespeare became part owner of
The Globe Theatre, home of the King’s
men - he was an actor as well as a writer
• Theatre - 3 story wooden building on the
banks of the River Thames in Central
London
• Held up to 3,000 people
Globe Theatre
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Open-air - plays only between April to October
Groundlings stood in the pit
No lighting
Very small scenery
Ornate costumes
Props
Sound effects
Women were not actors - young boys
More male than female roles in Shakespeare
Excitement of Shakespeare’s
plays
• Sword fights
• Humor
• Eerie supernatural events
Exploration of Human Nature
• Shakespeare created characters that
explored human nature
• Tried to see how different people dealt
with universal problems
• Insight into the human character understanding of human psychology
Alive Today
• Shakespeare’s plays are so alive because
of the themes
– Betrayal of a friend
– Death and grieving for a father
– Prejudice against someone of another race
– The pursuit of a love forbidden