Download Renaissance Drama

Overview of the Historical Context of
Elizabethan Drama
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Dramas before the Renaissance period were confined within the
church and later moved into the streets (strolling players).
These dramas focused mostly on biblical stories and staged on
temporary/makeshift stage (plays were performed on carts that the
players pushed around from village to village )
The kind of temporary stage that was dominant in England about
1575 was the booth stage of the marketplace – a small rectangular
stage mounted on trestles or barrels and ‘open’ in the sense being
surrounded by spectators on 3 sides
The backdrop was a cloth, usually open at the top and served as the
changing room for actors.
Before the Elizabethan period, there was no paying profession of
writing and there were no specially-designed buildings for
presenting plays until the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
A little bit more about strolling
players
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They were actors, tumblers, jugglers, all rolled into one:
they performed plays, they walked on stilts, they
juggled, they created slapstick scenes - anything to
please, to entertain and, of course, to earn themselves
not only applause but money on which to live.
At the end of their performance they called upon the
audience to be generous and went round with their hats
collecting whatever was thrown to them.
If their performance pleased the crowd they would be
well rewarded; if they did badly they would not have
much for supper that night. Life was pretty hard and
rewards unreliable for actors.
Morality plays are likely to be performed in this
manner
Morality play on a modern stage
From makeshift stage to great halls
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More refined performances took place in the great halls
of noblemen's houses, of the Inns of Court, or of Oxford
and Cambridge Colleges.
In 1603 during the Great Plague, the King and his Court
left London to stay at Hampton Court Palace and there
Shakespeare's company performed their plays to
entertain them.
The Great Halls were, again, make-shift theatres and the
Players would act in such places by invitation.
A screen would be erected at one end of the hall and
behind it there would be room for the actors to dress; in
front, they would perform their play. In general, these
would be more serious performances, often in
celebration of a special occasion.
Advantages and disadvantages of
playing in the inns
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Players were in no way responsible for their upkeep
In both Inn-Yards and the Great Halls there would be a
ready-made audience
Players always had to rely on the hospitality of innkeepers or of the noblemen and others who owned the
Great Houses
They had no storage space, so they had to carry all their
properties and costumes with them
The City of London authorities were hostile to them.
Then as now, London was like a magnet and the Players
in particular, were drawn to it since the population was
such that they could perform the same play a number of
times and still get an audience; furthermore, there was
some prestige in playing in London; everybody who was
anybody went to London to make his name
An example of a great hall in Kent
A need for a proper playhouse
Eventually the public appetite for drama became huge
and playhouses were erected on the south bank of
Thames, where most illegal businesses operated.
 The London theatre scenario during the last years of the
reign of Elizabeth was an exciting place since QE
supported the activity.
 Elizabethan plays are meant to be performed on a stage
where the needs and reactions of an audience always to
be considered (entertainment sake).
 In a city of some 100,000 people, perhaps as many as
15 to 20,000 people attended the theatre each week,
even though play were presented during mid-day, when
practically everyone had to work.
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From 1594 to 1600, 2 companies of actors operated in
London:
a) The Chamberlain’s Men (for whom Shakespeare
wrote and performed)
b) The Admiral’s Men.
Unlike their predecessors (strolling players), actors
played in structured facilities i.e. theatres/playhouses
The theatres/playhouses were similar: large, octagonal
buildings with 3 levels of spectators.
The stage was especially large (ampitheatre): a ‘thrust’
stage that projected out into an open area.
Cheapest seats (yard) at the front and spectators in
this area did not sit. They only paid a penny and stood
(2-3 hours) throughout the performance.
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These people are called groundlings. They
endured the sun, rain and snow because the
playhouses were open at the top (open-air
ampitheatre)
Only those who can afford to pay slightly more
can sit under cover (in one of the 3 tiers)
The back of the stage for actors was called ‘tiring
house’ (short for ‘attiring’)
Audience were large, excited, expectant, noisy,
and demanding (unruly)
Plays had to entertain them, whether comedy or
tragedy, or they became restless, disruptive, and
even violent (even throw things on stage)
Elizabethan Playhouses
It is customary to distinguish 2 major
classes of permanent Elizabethan
playhouse: ‘public’ (outdoor/open-air)
and ‘private’ (indoor)
Public (outdoor/open-air
playhouse)
Large, round outdoor theatres
 Maximum capacity 3,000 spectators
 Were found only in the suburbs (outside
London)
 Majority of spectators stood in the yard for
a penny (groundlings = lower class)
 The remainder sitting in galleries and
boxes for 2 pence or more (middle class)
 Audiences were socially heterogeneous,
mainly drawn from the lower classes
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Private (indoor) playhouse
Smaller, rectangular, indoor theatres
 Maximum capacity 700 spectators
 Used exclusively by Boy’s companies
 Were found only within the city of London
 Audiences tended to be better educated
and of higher social rank (high class)
 Plays usually catered for the eyes of the
Queen or King in reign
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