Transcript The Elizabethan Stage Drama During Shakespeare’s Day

The Elizabethan Stage
Drama During Shakespeare’s Day
Can you imagine a play
performed outdoors in the daytime?
with part of the audience standing in front of the
stage for the entire production?
with male actors playing female roles?
with no background scenery?
Early English Theater
Before permanent theaters were built, wandering acting
companies performed
•in the courtyards of inns or in other open areas
•on temporary platform stages
•with the audience standing around the stage or sitting
in chairs on surrounding balconies
The First Permanent Theater
•Built by James Burbage in 1576
•Located outside the city of London
•Called “The Theater”
•Dismantled in the middle of the night, moved piece by
piece across the river, and rebuilt as the Globe in 1599
Typical Elizabethan Theaters
Theaters were three-story
circular or polygonal
structures with
•a courtyard open to the
sky
•three tiers of seats for
spectators
Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The stage jutted out into the
yard.
•“Groundlings” stood in the
yard to watch the play.
Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The gallery, or balcony,
above the stage could be
used as
•part of the play
•a seating area for
musicians
•a seating area for wealthy
spectators
Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The trapdoor in the front
part of the stage could be
used for
•burial scenes
•surprise entrances
David Gentleman
•mysterious exits
Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The ceiling over the stage,
the “Heavens,” contained
another trapdoor. Actors
could be
•lowered to the stage
below
David Gentleman
•flown over the heads of
other actors
Setting the Stage
•Acting companies did not use
•artificial lighting—actors carried torches to convey the idea
of night.
•scenery or realistic backdrops—playwrights set the
scenes with descriptive dialogue.
. . . Look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east.
Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountaintops.
from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Setting the Stage
•Acting companies did use
•props—flags, banners, swords, thrones, tables, beds
•special effects—actors appearing and disappearing
through trapdoors, cannons firing
•costumes—exquisite suits, robes,
and gowns normally reserved (by law)
for upper-class citizens and nobility
© Archivo Iconografico, S.A./CORBIS
•sound effects—music, thunder
Acting the Part
In Shakespeare’s time, all actors were male.
•Female roles were played by boy actors, who
concealed their gender by
•wearing long, full skirts
•wearing wigs
© Ali Meyer/CORBIS
•powdering their faces
Capturing the Audience
•Elizabethan theatergoers came from various social
classes, including
•nobility
•tradesmen
•wealthy merchants
•commoners
•Playwrights had to include material to appeal to all
classes.
Capturing the Audience
•Elizabethan theatergoers were active and vocal. During
a performance, they might
•eat and drink
•laugh and shout
•boo and hiss
•Actors had to move around, make grand motions, and
speak loudly to keep the audience’s attention.
Not Everyone Loved the Theater
•Puritans, city officials, and others had low opinions of
actors, plays, and theaters.
•They feared that playgoers would
•catch contagious diseases
•be morally corrupted
•They objected to
•suggestive or obscene language
•actors (commoners) wearing upper-class clothing
•scenes depicting rebellion
What Have You Learned?
1. Most Elizabethan theaters were shaped more or less
like
a. circles
b. rectangles
c. diamonds
2. Audiences consisted of commoners only.
a. true
b. false
3. Theater companies used all of the following EXCEPT
a. costumes
b. artificial lighting
c. special effects
The End