Download 4. THE ELIZABETHAN THEATRE R

The world of the theatre
All the World’s a Stage
The Elizabethan Theatre
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Period of Greatest Popularity
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Elizabeth I 1558 - 1603
•  Under Henry VIII drama was still
anchored to Medieval trends and
features
•  Under Elizabeth I we have
the real flourishing of Elizabethan
drama
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James I 1603 - 1625
•  Made the theatre more widely
accepted in English culture
•  Greatly contributed to
Shakespeare’s success
•  Shakespeare wrote plays suitable
for the new king
•  The most famous is Macbeth
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Acting Companies
•  Strolling actors: they
moved from town to town
•  Use of “pageants”
•  Performed wherever
they could find an audience
•  Negative reputation
because of the audience
they attracted
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An Elizabethan Inn
•  In early Renaissance
Moralities and Mysteries were performed there
•  People gathered in front of the actors’
pageants
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•  Strolling actors are fined and
imprisoned as vagabonds
•  Acting companies seek the
sponsorship of noblemen and
royalty to gain protection and social acceptance
•  These patrons support the actors by
giving them their name but no financial
support
•  Plays start to be performed
in playhouses or private theatres
1572
Vagabond Act
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The First Permanent Theatres
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London’s permanent theatres
The building of permanent playhouses in London
was a break with the past
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London’s permanent theatres
Towards the end of the 16th century,
several theatres were built.
• 
The Theatre (by James Burbage, 1576)
• 
The Curtain
(by James Burbage, 1577)
• 
The Rose
(by Philip Henslowe, 1587)
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London’s permanent theatres
Towards the end of the 16th century,
several theatres were built.
• 
The Swan
(by Francis Langley, 1595)
• 
The Curtain
(by Cuthbert Burbage, 1599)
• 
The Fortune (by Philip Henslowe, 1600)
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The architecture of theatres
The playhouses:
• 
were round, octagonal or rectangular
in shape
• 
were 12 metres high
The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s
playing company, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613.
A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named “Shakespeare’s
Globe”, opened in 1997. It is on London South Bankside.
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The architecture of theatres
The playhouses:
• 
had a diameter of 25 metres
• 
had a rectangular stage
A reconstruction of the Globe Theatre. Folger
Shakespeare Library.
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The Inside
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Internal layout
The same basic structure consisted of:
•  a stage partially covered by a thatched roof supported by two
pillars and projected into a central area
Globe Theatre Stage, 1997
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Internal layout
The structure included
• 
three tiers of galleries around the
stage with the actors’ dressing
room at the back
The interior drawing of “The Swan” by Johannes de
Witt, circa 1596. The Swan Theatre was built by
Francis Langley about 1594, south of the Thames.
The Swan was one of the largest and most
distinguished of all the playhouses in London.
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The Galleries
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The Gentlemen’s Rooms
•  Situated close to the stage
•  Reserved to the most
distinguished audience
•  Allowed perfect view of
the stage and perfect
hearing of the actors’ words
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The Heavens
•  Name of the stage ceiling
•  Depicted the planets and
the signs of the zodiac
•  Symbolically meant that
celestial bodies influence
our destinies
•  A trap door in the middle allowed
the lowering of gods or angels
onto the stage
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The Audience
The “box-offices” offered a wide range of prices
• 
a penny (=1/12 of a London worker’s weekly salary) granted
entrance to the pit (standing room around the stage)
• 
six pence granted access to seated places in the covered
galleries. Only city merchants and the nobility could afford the
price
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The Audience
• 
The spectators ate and drank during the performance
• 
They freely expressed their emotions with laughter or tears
• 
They had a relish for language and long speeches
Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love
directed by John Madden, 1998
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The Audience
•  They were eager for sensation and overwhelming emotion
•  They loved metaphor and extremes
•  They enjoyed thrills and horror
•  They loved chronicles and history plays with heroic deeds
(strong national feeling)
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Convention and Illusion
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Convention and Illusion
•  Productions employed very little scenery: the acting companies had to rely
heavily on their audience’s imagination
•  The public was forced to listen more closely to the actors’ dialogues
to understand the action and meaning of the play
•  Poetic dialogue included all the information needed to understand time,
place and reason for the action, characters’ identities and physical appearance
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The Actors
•  Actors had to join a company of a prominent figure and bear
his livery and arms (The Chamberlain’s Men of Elizabeth I and
the King’s Men of James I)
•  An actor’s shareholding depended on the sum he invested to
buy props and costumes of which he was joint owner
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The Actors
•  They had to vary their repertoire
•  They had no more than two weeks to prepare a new play
•  They often found themselves playing several roles in the
same performance
•  They should have excellent memory
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Female Roles
•  Companies included 5-6 boys to play female roles until their
voices broke
•  They learnt singing, dancing, diction and feminine gestures
and intonation from a very young age
•  Contemporary audiences found them very convincing
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The Clown and the Fool
The Clown
rough peasant whose
language
counterbalanced other
characters’ heroic or
romantic language
The Fool
professional jester
dressed in motley,
cap and bells
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The Costumes
•  Useful to identify a character as
a member of a certain class
•  Often very elaborate and colourful
•  Supported the theme of DISGUISE
as a common convention in
Elizabethan drama
•  Often discarded by the nobility, so
lavish but often inappropriate for the
play historical period
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Time of Execution
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Time of Execution
•  Shows took place in daylight: starting
approximately at 2 o’ clock to end at dusk
• The lighting came from the sun, as
the Elizabethans used no scenery and no lights
•  A flag flying on top of the theatre
informed people that the performance
was in progress.