Download An Introduction to Elizabethan Theatre

Elizabethan Theatre
…Starring William Shakespeare
Introduction
 Throughout the middle ages
plays were performed by workers
in towns and were religious
based, often retelling stories
from the Bible.
 However, this ended after Henry
VIII’s break from Rome and
formation of the Church of
England in 1533.
 At the beginning of Elizabethan
times, there were
 strollers,
 minstrels,
 jugglers
 musicians.
 Queen Elizabeth I, ruler of
England (1533-1603) encouraged the
formation of the theatre and acting
companies.
The Evolution of the Elizabethan Theatre
INN YARDS…
 “Strolling players” – performed in different places,
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earning money
Inn-holders offered shelter to the Strolling
Players
Temporary stages were erected by the actors here
The capacity of inn-yards was 500 people
First form of commercial Elizabethan theatre
1576 – 1594 – peak of Elizabethan inn-yard theatres
Interior of an Elizabethan Inn-Yard
Amphitheatres
 James Burbage built the first
Elizabethan theatre; “The
Globe”. Construction was
similar to the Roman
amphitheatres.
 Social status and wealth
determined the seating in
Elizabethan theatre.
 Like the inn-yard, the rich
would watch from the
windows & galleries, ordinary
people from the inn-yard.
Elizabethan Playhouses
 Provided indoor venues for the production of
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Elizabethan plays
The Playhouses were more comfortable and
luxurious than other theatres
Public performances would cost between 1 to 3
pennies, while private theatre cost was 2 to 26
pennies
Suitable for winter and evening performances
because they were roofed
Food and drink was served
The Elizabethan Playhouse
Actors and Acting Companies
 Traveling companies performed wherever they could find audience
 Notorious reputation of vagabonds and thefts
 Two kinds of acting companies – adult companies and boy’s choirs
 No women were allowed onstage
 Four major acting companies: Lord Strange’s Men; Chamberlain’s
Men; Admiral’s Men; King’s Men
Actor-Audience Relationship
 The ‘thrust stage’ of Elizabethan
theatre, meant that the audience
was right up in the action of the
play. This made for a much more
intimate experience of the delivery.
 Audience were involved in the play
– shouting suggestions,
encouragements or curses to the
actors
 Dialogue revealed to the audience
the time and place of the action,
the characters’ identities and even
their physical appearances
Stage Design and Sets
 In Elizabethan times there was
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one permanent set.
The back wall could serve as a
castle, house, palace, town, etc.
An inner stage was located at the
back of the stage which could be
closed from view with a curtain
or used to represent inner
rooms, caves and hiding places.
Above this inner stage was a
balcony or upper-stage.
There was a muscians’ gallery
and high above the stage was a
turret from which a trumpeter
announced the start of the play.
Costume
 Were very important to
actors and crucial to a
performance because there
was little scenery.
 More well-established actors
owned their own
costumes/acting groups
owned costumes that were
appropriate for many roles
 Decorated with braid,
embroidery, pearls, jewels,
lace, and artificial flowers.
 Audience could distinguish
the more significant roles by
what the actors wore.
Costume and Make-up
 Strict laws about dressing
during the Elizabethan Age
– Sumptuary Law
 Make-up used by boy
actors was lead-based and
highly poisonous
 They used wigs, masks,
and different colored
suits/spent a lot of money
on clothing.
Lighting and Properties
• Plays were always acted in
daylight; at this time there
was no artificial lighting.
• Props were simple.
• Chairs would be used to
indicate the scene as being
indoors, if a lantern was
carried, it was night or a
character wore riding boots,
they’d been traveling.
Common props were swords
and banners.
The Playwrites
 Playwrights took inspiration from the
Roman theatre and writers like Seneca,
who wrote about crime, revenge, witches
and ghosts.
 Elizabethan writers introduced theatre
audiences to horror, the supernatural and
GORE…
 Famous playwrites included Christopher
Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Lyly and
Thomas Kyd.
 The most well known playwright of
Elizabethan times is William
Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare ( 1563-1616)
 Born Stratford-upon-Avon
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in 1564
Well to do parents; father
was a glover
Married Anne Hathaway in
1582
Wrote 37 plays &
about 154 sonnets
Started out as an actor for
Lord Chamberlain’s Men
(London theater co.)
 Became Principal
playwrite.
 In 1599 Lord Ch. Co. built
Globe Theater where
most of Shakespeare’s
Play’s were performed
Comedies, Tragedies and Histories
Tragedies
 Titus Andronicus
Comedies
 Romeo and Juliet
 Taming of the Shrew
 Julius Caesar
 Midsummer Night’s Dream
 Hamlet
 Othello
 King Lear
 Macbeth
 Antony and Cleopatra
Histories
 Henry VI, Henry Iv & Henry
VIII
 Richard III and Richard II
 Merchant of Venice
 Much Ado About Nothing
 As You Like It
 Twelfth Night
 Measure for Measure
 All’s Well that Ends Well
 The Tempest
Ingredients of Shakespearean Plays
 In Medias Res – always began
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plays in the middle of things.
Heightened Language - Blank
Verse and Poetry
Puns
References to Blood
Foreshadowing
Soliloquy – allowed audiences
to know what a character was
thinking like a voice over of a
soap opera
Monologues – long addresses by
one character
 References to GHOSTS and
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the supernatural
Imagery – references to
night/light (to do with
lighting in the theatre)
Asides
The last person to speak is
always the person of highest
birth.
Comic Relief
Shakespeare Today
 Elizabethan theatre is still plays a part in our day to
day lives, mostly through the influence of
Shakespeare.
 References to his work are in films, novels, plays,
musicals, songs, poetry, artwork, satire…Even today
his characters and storylines continue to inspire…
F.Y.I.
Shakespeare coined over 1600 words still used
today including countless, critical,
excellent, lonely, majestic, obscene and
its.
Said to have had a vocabulary of some 29,066
words. An average person’s today might use
just 2000 words used in everyday
conversation. With a vocabulary like that,
who needs a dictionary?
Names coined by Shakespeare:
Imogen (Cymbaline)
Jessica (The Merchant of Venice)
Miranda (The Tempest)
Olivia (Twelfth Night)
Cordelia (King Lear)