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Renaissance Theatre: England
1560-1642
Queen Elizabeth
King James
Roots of English Drama
1. Through the study, adaption and
performance of classical Greek and
Roman drama at the English colleges
and universities
2. Through the plays written and performed
by the professional acting troupes
First “True" English Tragedy
• Gorboduc
• Written by 2 university students:
Thomas Sacksville and Thomas
Norton
• Plot and characters drawn from
English legend
• Written in blank verse -unrhymed iambic pentameter
• Modeled after Roman tragedy
Major Pre-Shakespearean
Playwright
• Christopher Marlowe
(1564-1593)
• Wrote historical
tragedies
• In blank verse
• Have 7 plays
• Most often revived
work: Doctor Faustus
The Major Elizabethan Playwright
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
1564-1616
• Playwright, actor, shareholder in the King’s
Men, householder in the Globe Theatre
• Born 1564 in Stratford-on-the-Avon
• Received a grammar school education
• At the age of 18 he marries Ann Hathaway
• They have 3 children: Ann, Hamnet, Judith
• 1584: At the age of 20 he is caught
poaching game on the land of Sir Thomas
Lucy
• Flees to London
• 1584-1594: The Dark Years
• 1590: Begins to write. Henry VI and Titus
Andronicus are performed
• 1594: Becomes a shareholder in the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men
• 1599: Becomes a householder in the
Globe
• 1613: At the age of 49 he retires to
Stratford
• Dies in 1616
The Official Canon
Contains 38 plays.
36 were published in the First Folio
There are…
• 11 Tragedies
• 16 Comedies
• 9 History plays
The Tragedies
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Hamlet
Romeo and Juliet
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Julius Caesar
Titus Andronicus
The Comedies
• Taming of the Shrew
• The Merchant of
Venice
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors
• Measure for Measure
• A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
The Merry Wives of Windsor
• The only
Shakespearean
play set in
Elizabethan
England.
• Was written for
Queen Elizabeth
who wanted to see
“Falstaff in love”
Three Types of Comedies
1. Farcical Comedies place their emphasis
on physical comedy (Shrew)
2. Serious Comedies are serious plays with
a happy ending (Merchant of Venice)
3. Romantic Comedies take place in a fairy
tale world (As You Like It)
The History Plays
• Richard II
• Richard III
• Henry IV: parts 1
and 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI: parts 1, 2
and 3
• Henry VIII
Four Production Problems
1. They are long
2. They require a large, mostly male cast,
3. Many of the major roles are difficult,
beyond the scope of a college student
4. The language is difficult to understand,
and speak
Publication of Shakespeare’s Plays
• Quartos: A small book (5”x6”) containing a
single play. 19 scripts were published
between 1594 and 1622
• Folio: A large book (8 ½” x 13”) containing
a collection of 36 plays. The first folio was
published 7 years after his death.
Good and Bad Quartos
• Good Quartos were
based on the official
prompt book held by
the acting company
• Bad Quartos were
compiled from the faulty
memory of an un-happy
actor
The First Folio
• Was published in
1623
• Contained 36 plays
• Was compiled by
two fellow actors
from the King’s Men
• Probably edited by
Ben Jonson
Private and Public Theatres
• Private theatres were the small (Capacity:
700), expensive (6d) indoor playhouses
• Public theatres were the large (Capacity:
3000), less expensive (1d) open air
playhouses
• In 1600 five public theatres -- Globe,
Curtain, Fortune, Rose. and Swan -operated just outside the city of London
First Professional English
Playhouse
• The Theatre
• Built in 1576
• By James Burbage, joiner turned actor, member
of the Earl of Leicester's Men and father of
Richard Burbage
• Built on leased land north of the city in
“Shoreditch”
• The lease expired in 1597
• Timber from the Theatre was used to build the
Globe
An Inn Yard
The Globe
• Opened in 1599
• Was the home of the Lord Chamberlain’s
Men
• Burned on June 28, 1613 during a
performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII
• Was rebuilt in 1614
• Was closed in 1642
• Dismantled in 1644
• Excavated in the fall of 1989
• Rebuilt in 1997
The Globe
1642 print by Václav Hollar
Bankside today
Location of Globe
Artist’s Concept of The Original
Globe
New Globe (1997)
New Globe (1997)
Primary Source Material
The Original Globe
1. Stage directions in the texts of
Elizabethan plays.
2. Henslowe's contract for the construction
of the Fortune
3. A Dutch visitor's sketch of the Swan
4. The 1989 archaeological excavation of
the Globe site
Sketch of the Swan
Parts of the Globe
• Pit: The courtyard where the audience
stood to watch a performance
• Forestage: The platform which jutted into
the center of the pit
• Inner below: The curtained discovery area
at the rear of the forestage
• Inner Above: The curtained discovery area
above the inner below
• Heavens: The roof over the forestage.
Blackfriars
Blackfrairs
• Was a private theatre
• Built into what had been a Dominican
Monastery
• Under the control of the Crown
• With in the walled city of London
• Between 1610 and 1642 was the winter
home of the King’s Men
Elizabethan Acting Company
• Was required to have a patron
• The patron gave the company legitimacy
and a name: The Lord Chamberlain’s Men
• Was a stock company in both the theatrical
and economic sense
• Was all male
• Women characters were played by
apprentices (young men)
• Shareholder: Held an economic interest in
the acting company – they shared in the
company’s profits
• Householder: Held an economic interest in
the playhouse – they shared in the
theatre’s profits
• Hireling: An actor (musician, stage
manager, wardrobe keeper, prompter or
stage hand) employed by the acting
company
• Gatherer: Was the most trusted member
of the company. He collected the penny
general admission from the groundlings as
they entered the theatre
• For an extra penny, the groundling could
leave the pit and watch the show from the
gallery. The extra penny went to the
householder
• One Penny = 1 ½ pounds of bread, a
pound of beef or 2/3 gallon of beer
The King’s Men
Richard Burbage
• Leading Acting
Company: 16031642
• Patron: King James
• Leading Actor:
Richard Burbage
• Resident
Playwright: William
Shakespeare
King Charles I - Oliver Cromwell
- Parliament Vs The Crown • 1642: Parliament closes all theatres to
"appease and avert the wrath of God."
• 1649: King Charles arrested, tried for
treason and executed
• Charles II flees to Scotland then France
• 1649-1658: The English Commonwealth
under Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector)
• 1658: Cromwell dies. His son Richard
comes to power.
• 1660: Crown is restored to Charles II