ELIZABETHAN THEATRE VENUES AUDIENCE ACTORS PLAYWRIGHTS CONVENTIONS VENUES

ELIZABETHAN THEATRE VENUES, AUDIENCE, ACTORS, PLAYWRIGHTS, CONVENTIONS

VENUES • Theatrical productions held in many locations including • Court (royal residences), universities (Oxford & Cambridge), churches, guildhalls, patrons’ homes. • Construction of theater buildings started just before Shakespeare wrote his first plays, in the 1590 s. • Built outside the jurisdiction of the city of London (across the river) because civic officials were hostile theater & tried to abolish it. • Shared the neighborhood with houses of prostitution and theaters also staged bearbaiting and bullbaiting (in which the animals were killed in front of the audience. ) • Globe theater was open air and very large—big enough to hold about 2000 people crammed together. • “groundlings” stood in the dirt in front of the stage & paid a penny; best seats cost sixpence • Used costumes, but most no sets or props, although actors could enter from below (trapdoor) and above (pulleys from the roof).

AUDIENCE: WHO CAME, WHAT DID THEY WANT AND HOW DID THEY ACT? • Short answer: EVERYONE came (house servants to Kings and Queens) and acted Very Freely • The “quality” had private boxes or bought a stool on stage; poor people stood in the dirt & trash below the stage • It was rowdy, talking back to actors, snacking, hooting, chatting to friends • Vendors circulated selling beer and snacks, which were sometimes thrown at the actors. • No sense of “fourth wall”, so actors also talked directly to spectators sometimes • No toilets, no intermissions (the place probably smelled) • Shakespeare’s main competition: Companies exclusively of boy actors. (Choirboys: Children of the Chapel Royal, and Children of Paul’s Cathedral) and bearbaiting. • Audience wanted high drama and familiar stories: Dramas, Histories (catering to rulers in the audience), and Comedies (Comedy = anything w/ happy ending, not about jokes necessarily) • Not meant to be realistic

ACTORS’ RULES AND EXPECTATIONS • Actors without aristocratic patrons had the legal status of “vagabonds and sturdy beggars, ” so had to become officially servants of some lord. • Shakespeare’s company started as “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” until they became “The King’s Men” in 1603. • Women forbidden on the stage, so boys played their parts • Main actors were shareholders in the company, so they shared the ticket revenues & costs. • No producer or director; actors determined how they would perform the play • Minimal rehearsal, maybe a week to learn a part and lots of new plays all the time. • A leading man might have to memorize 800 lines a day and performances were every day except Sunday • Very fancy costumes, but almost no sets, and acting for 2 -3000 people probably means some exaggeration