By: Lydia, Jose, Alexis.

The Renaissance in England The climax of Renaissance drama came during the Elizabethan Age in England. This was a period in which drama was the expression of the soul of a nation, and theater became a vital force in the lives of people. Famous Elizabethan Plays AuthorPlay John Webster (c ) Thomas Heywood (c ) Thomas Kyd ( ) Francis Beaumont ( ) Beaumont and John Fletcher (1579 – 1625) The Dutchess of Malfi A Woman Killed with Kindness The Spanish Tragedy The Knight of t he Burning Pestle The Maid’s Tragedy

Three Elizabethan Dramatists Towering above all the brilliant actor-playwrights responsible for the glory of the Elizabethan period, three produced plays that never lost their appeal. The plays of Marlowe, Johnson, and Shakespeare continue to be produced today. Christopher Marlowe ( ) introduced the first important use of blank (unrhymed) verse, the “mighty line” of English poetic drama. He wrote Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, and Edward II.

Ben Jonson ( ) was a master of English comedy. He wrote Volpone, The Jew of Malta, and Edward II. The Humors To the Elizabethans, the word humor (or humour, as the British spell it0 referred not to an attitude of amusement, but to a personality trait. Scholars believed that all matter was made of four elements- air, earth, fire, and water- and that the human body was composed of these four elements, each having its own effect on the personality.

The Humors ElementBody FluidPersonality Air Fire Water Earth Blood Yellow Bile Phlegm Black Bile Sanguine- light-hearted, happy-go-lucky Choleric- angry, hot-tempered Phlegmatic-dull, listless Melancholy The humor of most interest in Elizabethan plays is that of black bile, represented by earth and the melancholy personality. The melancholy character fell into three main types: the lover, the malcontent and the intellectual. Hamlet is an excellent example of the intellectual melancholy humor.

William Shakespeare ( ) is consider by many people to be not only the greatest Elizabethan dramatist but perhaps the greatest dramatist of all time. Shakespeare’s character felt emotions-love, jealously, ambition, joy, and grief- that are as universal today as they were four hundred years ago.

The Elizabethan Playhouse The design of Elizabethan theaters was inspired by inn yards, where the audience stood around a platform stage or watched the onstage action from rooms surrounding a courtyard. Behind the stage was the tiring house, a room that functioned as the actors’ dressing room. In the center rear was a curtained recess called the of the stage study, or inner body.

The Elizabethan Playhouse cont. In the center of the second-level acting area was a shallow balcony, the tarras, behind which a curtain called the arras was often hung to conceal another recess called the chamber. This area might have been used by musicians, or even members of the audience. The Heavens, a roof supported by two ornate columns, was above the stage. Above the Heavens was what appeared to be a small house, which was appropriately called the scenery hut.

The Elizabethan Playhouse cont. The members of the audience who paid a penny to stand in the pit were called groundlings. The groundlings were typically apprentices, soldiers, sailors, country folk, and “cut purses,” the Elizabethan equivalent of present-day pickpockets.

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon, England, in By 1594 Shakespeare was established in London, where he become a shareholder in the acting company known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men. In 1599 his company built a new theatre called the Globe. When the company purchased Blackfriars Theatre in 1608, Shakespeare was also a shareholder. He did do some acting-even appearing before Queen Elizabeth I- but his major contribution was as playwright. He is credited with 37 plays.

The Theatre Space Shakespeare wrote most of his plays for his acting company’s own theatre, the Globe. There was not one Globe, but two; when the first burned down in 1613 a new theatre was promptly erected in the same spot. The new Globe was torn down in 1644, after the Puritan government closed all the theaters, and no contemporary pictures of either theatre are known to exist.

Styles of Costumes In Shakespeare’s day both male and female roles were played by men; most actors performed in contemporary costumes, with little attempt at period authenticity. For the wealthy, Elizabethan dress meant luxurious materials in a wide range of colors and textures, trimmed with jewels, embroidery, fur or lace. Male costumes featured doubles- short jackets that ordinarily opened up the front, with a standing neckband, and often a short shaped skirt.

Styles of Costumes cont. The most notable element of female costumes was the farthingale, a hoop that extended the hips greatly- sometimes as much as three or four feet.