SHAKESPEARE AND RENAISSANCE DRAMA

POLITICS 1559 QUEEN ELIZABETH BANS ALL RELIGIOUS THEATRE, BUT THEATRE IS STILL VERY POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT SO THEATRE BECOMES SECULAR AND PROFESSIONAL MEANING NO LONGER FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THEATRES ARE BUILT AND ACTORS ARE “PROFESSIONALS” THEATRES HAD TO BE BUILT OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS STILL NO WOMEN

ENTERTAINMENT PLAYS HAD TO COMPETE WITH OTHER FORMS OF ENTERTAINMENT SUCHS AS PUBLIC TORTURE AND HANGINGS, BEAR BAITING, COCK FIGHTS, AND GAMBILING. SO PLAYS GOT VERY VIOLENT AND GORY EXAMPLE: TITUS ANDRONICUS

THEATRE SOURCE MATERIAL THEATRES WERE COMPETING, SO THEY HAD TO MAKE NEW PLAYS, OFTEN. PLOTS WERE NOT ORIGINAL—NO SUCH THING AS COPYRIGHT WRITERS TOOK SUBJECT MATTER FROM: HISTORY MYTHS LEGENDS OTHER PLAYS SHAKESPEARE WROTE 38 PLAYS—ONLY 2 (TEMPEST AND LOVE’S LABOR LOST) ARE ORIGINAL STORIES—ALL OTHERS ARE ADAPTATIONS. ONCE A PLAY WAS PUBLISHED ANY THEATRE COULD PERFORM IT AND PAY THE AUTHOR NO MONEY

THEATRE BUSINESS There were 2-4 theatres in operation at any given point There were plays 6-7 days a week (sometimes closed during the winter or for the plague) Most theatres were outdoors—except the theatre art Blackfriars 200 shows a year Lots of competition A playwright would have to write 4 new plays a year to make a living

PLAYWRIGHTS CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE VERY POPULAR WROTE 5 PLAYS INCLUDING: THE JEW OF MATLA DR. FAUSTUS DIED IN A BAR FIGHT BIG INFLUENCE ON SHAKESPEARE

WHO WROTE SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS AND DOES IT MATER? Kit Marlowe Edward De Vere the 6 th Earl of Oxford Queen Elizabeth I

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE WROTE PLAYS AND SONNETS 3 MAIN TYPES OF PLAYS TRAGEDIES HAMLET OTHELLO MACBETH COMEDIES A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM AS YOU LIKE IT HISTORIES RICHARD III

LEGACY SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS ARE STILL PERFORMED TODAY AND OFTEN MADE INTO FILMS PHRASES SHAKESPEARE INVENTED: Dead as a doornail (2 Henry VI) For goodness' sake (Henry VIII) All that glitters is not gold (The Merchant of Venice)("glisters") Be-all and the end-all (Macbeth)