Actors Of The Elizabethan Era                                                           Actors Of The Elizabethan Era

Who was allowed to act on the stage? During the Elizabethan era only men were allowed to act in the theatre until 1660 It was judged to be unseemly for a woman to undertake such a role. Young boys were therefore hired to act in the female roles. Elizabethan Women's clothing was extremely elaborate and was constructed with many layers of clothing. It would have taken some considerable time, and the help of a dresser, to dress in the costume of a female. Wigs, or periwigs as they were called, were readily available as they were in fashion at the time so this was not a costume problem. The make up used by Elizabethan women was! It was lead based and highly poisonous! The young boy actors were therefore very unhealthy, had unpleasant facial skin diseases and a high proportion actually died of poisoning.

Notable Actors of the Elizabethan Era and the sorts of roles they were known to play

Richard Burbage The most famous actor of the Globe Theatre of his time. Principal actor in plays written by both Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare In the 16th Century Shakespeare was known to play old men on stage

Thomas Pope Thomas Pope played the roles and characters of Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Peter in Romeo and Juliet and Costard in Love’s Labour’s Lost

Nathan Field He was named as one of the 26 actors who performed in the plays which were listed in William Shakespeare's First Folio which was published in 1623

Training Most plays in the 16th Century had some sort of training in hand-to-hand combats fitness level dancing voice they were apprenticed to acting companies, playing small roles first off

By Gashaw and Courtney