BBL4308 Shakespeare and his Contemporaries Blackfriars Theatre (Indoor Playhouse) Week Three

Let’s Recap Location of indoor playhouse? Size? The kind of audience? Other info? Let’s Recap Week Three

The Blackfriars Theatre was located in the City of London It was originally a Dominican convent The monastery estates came to be commonly known as “Blackfriars” due to the black robes worn by the Dominican monks It was no longer declared a sacred place when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, and thereafter served a number of public functions, as a depository for records, a house of parliament, and a meeting place for the Privacy Council Blackfriars was the location of many historic events such as the 1529 divorce hearing of Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) and King Henry VIII (1491-1547) Week Three

The Building consisted of “collection of rooms, large and small, cellars and yards and including seven great upper rooms”, which had formerly been one great room. www.picturesofgateshead.co.uk Week Three

Part of the Quadrangle of the Blackfriars www.picturesogateshead.co.uk Part of the Quadrangle of the Blackfriars Week Three

The First Blackfriars. Reconstruction by Effie W. Best. T The First Blackfriars.  Reconstruction by Effie W. Best.  T The stage is set for a performance of Lyly's Campaspe. Courtesy of Michael Best, Shakespeare's Life and Times. The theatre was small perhaps 46 feet (14m) long and 25 feet (7.6m) wide (14 by 8 metres). Audience had to play an admission fee (apparently fourpence); this factors limited attendance at the theatre to well off citizens and nobles. http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT This reconstruction shows an empty stage set for Lyly’s play Campaspe The Blackfriars was also a place for the nobles- many noble residences were built on the rounds, including of the French ambassador, and of Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham. It was also a resort of sorts, where the nobility went to play tennis and the leisure in the many gardens. Week Three

The site of the Blackfriars playhouse View of London from Southwark Engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar, 1647. Arrow showing the site of the Blackfriars playhouse There are 2 sites and each is located next to the other The site of the Blackfriars playhouse Week Three

James Burbage and the Second Blackfriars In 1596, James Burbage purchased this building and converted some rooms to become a larger playing space i.e. second Blackfriars theatre. He turned the rooms into an indoor or “private” playhouse. The city officials were against the theatre, therefore the Chamberlain/King’s men were unable to perform in the Blackfriars due to protest from local residents. Week Three

John Fletcher George Chapman The Knight of the Burning Pestle Burbage used the theatre for a commercial enterprise with a group called the Children of the Chapel, which combined the Choristers of the chapel with other boys, many taken up from local grammar school to provide entertainment for the Queen While it housed this company, Blackfriars was the site of an explosion of innovative drama and staging The Blackfriars company produced plays by a number of the most talented young dramatist of Jacobean literature, among them Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston. Blackfriars premiered plays by Francis Beaumont (The Knight of the Burning Pestle) and John Fletcher (The Faithful Shepherdess). The new plays by all these playwrights deliberately pushed the accepted boundaries of personal and social satire, violence on stage, and of sexual frankness. These plays appear to have attracted members of a higher social class, and the admission price (sixpence for a cheap seat). The Knight of the Burning Pestle John Fletcher George Chapman Week Three

The Tempest at Blackfriars as imagined by Walter C The Tempest at Blackfriars as imagined by Walter C. Hodges (Courtesy of Cambridge University Press) Week Three

By 1608, the King’s Men were able to use the theatre for performances By 1608, the King’s Men were able to use the theatre for performances. They consisted of the Burbage brothers, Shakespeare, John Heminge and Henry Condell (the two actors who produced the First Folio), William Sly and Thomas Evans, who are all members of the King’s Men. Blackfriars was still able to present various special effect due to its trap doors (actors come out from below stage) and wires and belts to hang props and lower actors (actors playing angels, for example). It consisted of 700 sitting. www.northen.edu/wild/th100/CHAPT5B.HTM Week Three

Innovations in the Blackfriars playhouse The Blackfriars playhouse was also the source of other innovations which would profoundly change the nature of English commercial theatrical enterprises to rely on artificial lighting, and it featured music between acts. This large space, perhaps 100 feet (30 m) long and 50 wide (30 by 15 metres), with high ceilings allowed Burbage to construct two galleries, substantially increasing potential attendance. Week Three

Trap door Week Three

Torch as artificial lighting Week Three

The King’s Men performed there without interruption until the closing of the theatres with the English Civil War in 1642. The Blackfriars playhouse fell into disrepair, and was demolished on 6th of August, 1655. http://www.luminarium.org/encylopedia/blackfriars.htm Model of second Blackfriars Theatre at the Shakespeare’s Globe Museum. Week Three

A replica of the playhouse Blackfriars Shakespearean playhouse, Staunton, Virginia A replica of the playhouse Week Three

Known Owners of the Blackfriars Sir William Moore ? - 04/02/1596 James Burbage 04/02/1596 - 01/1597 Richard Burbage 04/1597 - 13/03/1619 Winifred Burbage 13/03/1619 - 1642 Richard Robinson 1620 - ? William Burbage 1642 - 1651 Known Owners of the Blackfriars Week Three