The Elizabethan Stage What Theaters Were Like During Shakespeare’s Time

How It Started Elizabethan Theater evolved from 2 things: Elizabethan Theater evolved from 2 things: 1. Religious Pageants (plays about the Bible) 2. Morality Plays (also called “the mysteries)” these contained characters like Death, Kindness, Virtue, Everyman like Death, Kindness, Virtue, Everyman

The Actors Those who acted in the plays were not real actors: they were groups of acrobats, mimes, musicians, and even working-class people

Before there were theaters, plays took place in: Hotel courtyards Town squares Village halls Fairgrounds

The Stage A bunch of boards were laid across barrels to create a stage (where the phrase “treading the boards” comes from) A curtain ran behind the boards, not in front of the stage The stage was covered by a roof, but the rest of the theater was not Plays were held during the day, because there were not lights

About the Theater Few props and little scenery were used Fantastic, elaborate costumes were worn Women were not allowed on the stage, so men performed their roles Disease often forced theaters to close for a while.

More About the Theaters: Overall Design The open air arena, called the 'pit' or the 'yard', had a raised stage at one end and was surrounded by three tiers of roofed galleries with balconies overlooking the back of the stage. The stage projected halfway into the 'pit' Design was similar but far smaller version ( crowd capacity) than the Coliseum of the Roman period (50,000 crowd capacity) allowing the maximum number if playgoers in the space available

Audience Capacity 1500 plus. Up to 3000 people would flock to the theatre and its grounds

What if I had to pee? Where’s the bathroom? There wasn’t one. People relieved themselves outside. Sewage was buried in pits or disposed of in the River Thames.

Lighting and Heating Natural lighting as plays were produced in the afternoon. There was no heating. Plays were performed in the summer months and transferred to the indoor playhouses during the winter

The audience sat according to their rank in the society: GROUND LEVEL: The “groundlings” (or poor people) Seats cost 1 cent TEIR ONE: The lower class/Seats cost 2 cents TEIR TWO: The middle class/Seats cost 3 cents TEIR THREE: Upper class and Royalty/Seats cost 4 cents

How a Playwright Sold His Play Writers proposed an idea for a play to a theater company If the company manager liked the idea, he’d pay the writer to write the play Sometimes, a manager would come up with his own idea and ask a playwright to turn it into a play The going rate was 4 pounds per play ( about $700-$1000 of our money). Once sold, the play was the property of the company

Notes: Theater came from 2 things: religious pageants and morality plays Actors were not real actors: they were acrobats, mimes, musicians, and working-class people Before there were theaters, plays took place in hotel courtyards, village squares, town halls, and fairgrounds

Notes: Early stages were made by placing boards on top of barrels (“treading the boards”) The curtain ran behind, not in front of, the stage There was a roof over the stage Plays were held during the day, since there were no lights

Notes: Few props and scenery were used Women were not allowed on-stage, so men played their roles Costumes were elaborate Disease often forced the theater to close

Notes The groundlings sat in the open area in front of the stage: “the pit” Audience capacity was 1500+, although 3000 crammed in There were no bathrooms Plays were in the afternoon to use the sunlight No heat; plays performed in the summer

Notes: People sat according to rank: ground level-groundlings (1 penny) tier 1-low class (2 pennies) tier 2-middle class (3 pennies) tier 4-royalty/upper class (4 pennies)

Notes To sell a play, a playwright told his idea to a company If the company liked it, they’d buy it Once bought, the play belonged to the company If the owner of a company had his own idea, he’d pay a playwright to write it The cost per play was about 4 lbs ($700- $1000)