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Elizabethan
Theatre
The
English
Renaissance
1570-1620

The theatre of England during the
1500s was dominated by the
writing and plays of William
Shakespeare. He is one of the most
widely read and performed
playwrights of all time. His plays
are still studied and performed
today, and many have been made
into films.
Shakespeare
The Renaissance
A period in history when many
exciting and inspirational beliefs
and works were created.
 A time of new learning and ideas
 Development of philosophy:
questioning human individuality,
intelligence and the meaning of life

A time of revival of classical art
and philosophy
 At this time England was a very
proud and powerful nation
 Queen Elizabeth I loved the theatre
and supported it
 Therefore the theatre of this time is
called ‘Elizabethan Theatre”

Queen Elizabeth I of England
‘The Swan’ Playhouse 1596
Elizabethan Theatres
Theatres were commonly called
‘playhouses’
 The first playhouse was built by
James Burbage in London in 1576
 This playhouse was called “The
Theatre”
 James Burbage’s son became a
great Elizabethan actor

The playhouses were all wooden
structures
 They had circular walls
 They had an open air centre called
‘the pit’ – this centre did not have a
roof
 The stage was raised

The stage was surrounded by
audience on three sides
 Behind the backstage wall was the
backstage area
 The backstage area was used for
dressing rooms, scenery and special
FX machinery

A. The "Hut," with machinery for lowering the "Heavenly Throne" to the stage.
B. The "Heavens"
C. Top stage, sometimes used as music gallery
D. Upper stage
E. Window stages
F. Inner stage, sometimes called the study
G. "Traps" leading down to the "Hell" under the stage
H. "Gentleman's Rooms" or "Lords' Rooms"
J. Storage lofts, dressing rooms, etc.
K. Dressing rooms
L. Backstage area
M. Main entrances to auditorium
N. Doorways connecting with gallery staircase.
O. Entrances to galleries and staircases
Playhouse stage with ‘the pit’ in front and
levels of audience seating on three sides
Playhouse seating – 2nd level
Playhouse roofs were made of
thatched straw and wood
 Musicians played from the upper
gallery or ‘musicians gallery’
 Scenery and props were usually
self supporting and painted, as in
medieval productions
 But real props were such as
furniture pieces were also used

Not Just For Plays!!
The actual stage was portable and
was sometimes moved from the
playhouse to use for ‘sporting
events’
 These ‘sporting events’ involved the
baiting and killing of animals!

Bear Baiting
Costumes
Actors wore the clothes that were in
fashion at the time except for special
types of non human characters, such as
fairies
 Even when actors were playing
characters from another time in past
history they wore the clothes of the
current period
 Costumes were beautiful, detailed and
expensive

Making costumes for “Henry IV” by
Shakespeare
Elizabethan Acting Companies
Actors belonged to companies of
ten to twenty men
 Women were not allowed to act so
males played all female roles!
 Each company had its own
manager
 Each company also had patrons
who supported them financially

The companies were professionally run
to make money
 Actors were very dedicated as this was
their career, their profession for life
 As well as acting skills they could also
sing, dance and play musical
instruments
 Backstage crew and musicians were also
paid for their work

The Hazards of Being an Elizabethan
Actor
Life was not easy for the actors because
many things could go wrong
 Playhouses could burn down – they were
made of wood and thatch!
 In times of contagious diseases such as
plague, the playhouses were closed to
stop the spread of infection, so the actors
had no way to earn a living

Winters were bitterly cold and
playhouses did not have heating
 Some companies toured their plays and
performed outdoors
 Audiences were often rough and rowdy,
unlike the polite way in which theatre
goers behave in theatres today
 Audiences loved going to the playhouses
because it was the most popular form of
entertainment in Elizabethan England

William Shakespeare
The Bard – Shakespeare 1564 - 1616
Born at Stratford-on-Avon in
England
 Shakespeare was considered a
genius
 He wrote more than 36 plays
 His plays were renowned for their
powerful language, their clever
crafting and the depth of
characterisation

Little is known about Shakespeare’s life
 He was married at 18 to Anne
Hathaway
 They had three children: a daughter and
twin sons. One of the twins, Hamnet,
died in childhood
 After his marriage he went to work as a
playwright and actor in London

How Shakespeare would have lived
Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Stratfordon-Avon
The Plays
Shakespeare wrote tragedies,
comedies and histories
 His plays dealt with deep human
experiences that his audiences
could relate to
 The histories dealt with stories of
past Kings, but were often written
to please Queen Elizabeth I rather
than being factual

Romeo and Juliet
One of his famous plays “Romeo and
Juliet” is about two young innocent
lovers torn apart by family conflict
 Although it was written 400 years ago
it still speaks to our modern audiences.
It has been made into a number of films
during the past 40 years and the one
with Leonardo di Caprio was hugely
successful

Baz Luhrman’s film version 1996
Love at first sight (at the fancy dress
party)
Juliet in Love
The Tragic End – Both Lovers Die
The language of the plays is poetic,
often written in a poetry form
called ‘iambic pentameter’
 The language is powerful with
beautiful verse and poetry
 Regardless of the poetry
Shakespeare was able to keep the
plays fast moving and exciting

The Comedies
The comedies were much more
light hearted
 More like some of the Commedia
dell’arte plays, except that they
were scripted, rather than
improvised
 The same themes were common:
love, betrayal, mistaken identity

Modern Shakespeare Theatre
Companies
There are many theatre companies
in the 21st century who specialise in
performing Shakespeare’s plays
 Bell Shakespeare in Australia
 Royal Shakespeare Company in
England
 Bell Shakespeare modernises the
settings and the costumes but not
the words

Measure For Measure – a comedy by
Shakespeare – by Bell Shakespeare Co.
Shakespeare’s role
He was a stakeholder in “The Globe”
playhouse which was built in 1599
 His plays were performed at “The Globe”
to huge audiences though not as large as
the ancient Greek audiences
 He had his own theatre company called
“The King’s Men” which was supported
by the Lord Chamberlain’s men

“The Globe”
Other Famous Elizabethan Playwrights
Christopher Marlowe
 He died at the age of 29 in rather mysterious
circumstances, probably murdered
 He wrote many plays though not as many as
Shakespeare
 His most famous play is “Doctor Faustus”; a
play about a man who sells his soul to the
devil. It is similar to the morality plays of the
Middle Ages but much more finely crafted.
 He also wrote plays much more like
Shakespeare’s including history plays about
past kings
Christopher Marlowe 1564 - 1593
Ben Jonson
 He lived a troubled life like Marlowe
 His comic plays included “Volpone” and
“Every Man in His Humour”
 These comic plays made fun of all types
of people
 Jonson also wrote special performances
for the new Royal leaders called
“Masques”. They were very elaborate
and aimed at impressing Royalty
Ben Jonson 1572-1637
The End of Elizabethan Theatre
The quality of theatre declined
 The emphasis became more on
being spectacular
 The new Puritan religion objected
and saw theatre as sinful and a
waste of money

Many inferior plays were being written
and performed
 These plays focused on violence and
bloody death, and the Puritan
government banned all plays
 By the time of the English Civil War in
1642 all playhouses were closed down
 This ban on theatre lasted for twenty
years

And so, with religion, another era of
theatre also ends…