Elizabethan Theatre

Named in honor of the Queen Elizabeth I

Activitiesduring the

ElizabethanEra

During the Elizabethan Age, there was great cultural achievement, particularly in the area of music and drama. In that time, musical literacy was expected in the upper class of society. Many Elizabethans made their own music. The laborers would sing while they worked, and the townspeople would sing or play music after meals. The lute, virginal, viola, recorder, bagpipe and the fiddle were favored instruments of that time. A popular form of entertainment in the countryside was the ringing of church bells. Elizabethans also loved to hear music. Since there was no access to a recording studio, the music had to be performed. In the major towns, official musicians, better known as Waits, gave free public concerts. The wealthy people hired musicians to play during dinner.

Elizabethan Theatre

Elizabethan theater was the work of a few men: proprietors, actors, playwrights and workmen. The actors creating theater often received rewards, became respectable, and would slowly move up in social standing. Some of the brilliant actors were the Burbages (James, Richard and Cuthbert), Philip Henstoe and Edward Alleyn. The brilliant playwrights included Christopher Marlow, William Shakespeare, and Ben Johnson. The rise, maturity and decline of Elizabethan Theater coincided with Shakespeare's dramatic career. By the year of Shakespeare's death, there was a transition from plays to literature. Elizabethan drama owed its strength and richness to the fusion of many elements. It was a mirror of the whole society.

Queen Elizabeth Fashion Queen Elizabeth was a great follower

of fashion. While in private she preferred to wear simple gowns, and would reputedly wear the same plain gown for two or three days. When she was in public, she dressed to impress. Clothes were an important status symbol to the Elizabethans, and a person had to dress in accordance with their social status. It was thus in keeping that the Queen dressed more magnificent than everyone else. No one was allowed to rival the Queen's appearance, and one unfortunate maid of honor was reprimanded for wearing a gown that was too sumptuous for her. The maids were meant to complement the Queen's appearance, not to outshine her.  In the later years of the reign, the maids wore gowns of plain colors such as white or silver.

Queen Elizabeth Fashion

The Queen was never fully dressed without her make-up. In the early years she wore little, but following her attack of the smallpox in 1562, she would wear quite a lot to cover up the scars left on her face. She would paint her face with white lead and vinegar, put  rouge on her lips, and paint her cheeks with red dye and egg white. This make-up was very bad for her health, particularly the white lead, as it slowly poisoned the body. Elizabeth had to have several teeth removed as she grew older. To prevent the appearance of hollow cheeks, she would stuff rags into her mouth. It was very fashionable to wear a wig, and the Queen did so from a young age.

Notable Notes

A period of great unrest in England concerning England’s official religion

Queen Elizabeth declared that no plays could be about the current religious matters or portray current political figures.

Queen Elizabeth liked Shakespeare’s plays and gave him support and protection

If the Queen was displeased, the dramatist were hanged.

Globe Theater

Theaters held 1500-3000 people. Sanitary conditions were poor and

diseases could pass around in theaters

The theater was not popular with local merchants because it took away from business.

James Burbage created the first theatre in London in 1576, called “The Theatre”

“The Globe Theatre” was opened in 1599.

William Shakespeare and James Burbage were co-owners of the Globe.

The Globe TheatrePlaying at the Globe.Acting at the Globe was radically different from viewing modern Shakespeare on screen. The crowds that went to Shakespeare plays at the Globe were about as well dressed, attentive, and well-manned as your typical audience at a Marilyn Manson concert. Most people ended up in the “Yard” where there were no seats. Roughly 1,000 people could stand there, but lots more crammed in. Bathing was not common in those days, and the yard would get so hot and smelly that these patrons were referred to as “stinkards”. The more common, slightly kinder name was “groundlings”. These people often became intoxicated and threw objects at the actors.

The Globe/ “The Wooden O”The plays were staged in the

afternoons, using the light of day, and the audience surrounded the stage on all sides.

No scenery was used, except for occasional emblematic devices like a throne or a bed. It was almost impossible not to see the other half of the audience standing behind the players. Consequently much of the staging was meta-theatrical, conceding the illusory nature of the game of playing, and making little pretense to stage realism.

A flag flying above the globe alerted theatre goers that there was a performance that day.

The Burning of the Globe

The Globe burned down in 1613 during a production of Henry VIII, but then was rebuilt in 1614.

This was Shakespeare’s last history play and he never contributed any further plays to the Globe Theatre.

1. http://shakespeare.eb.com/

The Puritans closed the Globe in 1642 because the theater was drawing a bigger crowd than the church. Convinced theater was immoral, the Puritans made it illegal, and the Globe was torn down in 1644.

The New Globe Theatre (1997)Opened by Queen Elizabeth and is the first building to have a thatched roof in over 300 years.

William Shakespeare“The Bard”

Webster Defines “Bard” as a Tribal Poet/Singer Gifted in Composing and Reciting Verses on Heroes and Their Deeds.

William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record of his birth, but his baptism was recorded by the church, thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April. His father was a prominent and prosperous alderman in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, and was later granted a coat of arms by the college of heralds.

Shakespeare’s Personal Life All that is known of

Shakespeare's youth is that he presumably attended the Stratford grammar school, and did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge. The next record we have of him is his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582 when he was only 18 and she was 26. The next year she bore a daughter for him, Susanna, followed by the twins Judith and Hamnet two years later. Hamnet died at an early age of 11.

They had a total of 3 children

As a Professional

Between the ages of 18 and 28 he traveled to London and joined the theater as an actor.

The acting group was known as “Lord Chamberlains Men” and then later changed to “The Kings Men”.

His debut playwright was in 1590, Henry VI. From 1593-1613 he wrote 37 plays, acted,

helped manage an acting troupe and was part owner of the “Globe”

Shakespeare’s Tragedies

Hamlet: an emotionally scarred young man trying to avenge the murder of his father, the king. The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to Hamlet, telling him that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who has now become the king. Claudius also married Gertrude, the old king’s widow and Hamlet’s mother.

Shakespeare’s Tragedies

Othello:a general in the military of Venice, is victimized as a result of his love for Desdemona, the daughter of a statesman. The villain of the play is Iago, a career military man who plots revenge against Othello because Othello holds a position in which Iago feels he should have. Iago fills Othello with notions of infidelity

Shakespeare’s Tragedies

Macbeth: A noble warrior gets caught up in a struggle for power is the general topic of this play. Supernatural events and Macbeth’s ruthless wife play a major role in his downfall.

William ShakespeareApril 23, 1564-April 23, 1616 He returned to Stratford for

his latter years where he died at the age of 52 and now lies at rest in his special grave at the Holy Trinity Church.

Shakespeare’s grave reads:

Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here

Blessed be the man that spares these stones

And cursed be he that moves my bones.

Shakespeare's monument at Holy Trinity Church

Both a Poet and a Playwright

His most famous poems are English Sonnets, 154 of them. (14 lines, 10 syllables each)

His 37 plays are categorized in three types:– 1. Tragedies-fall or loss of power of people in high

places (royalty).Sorrowful endings. Romeo and Juliet was Shakespeare’s first romantic tragedy and is the most popular.

– 2. Histories-based on lives of real people. (mostly English Kings)

– 3. Comedies-Lighter form of drama happy endings.

A Few Definitions:

Playwright: One that writes plays Conflict: Struggle of opposing forces Play or Drama: Short story meant to be

performed Prologue: begins the play by presenting

background information for the play (sets the stage)

Climax: Point of highest emotional intensity in a play

Resolution: another name for ending or conclusion