1. ELIZABETHAN DRAMA

2. A PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION
APRIL 1564
Shakespeare’s birth
NO «THEATRES» IN LONDON By
The Theatre (1576)
The Curtain (1577)
The Rose (1587)
The Swan (1595)
The Globe (1599)
The Fortune (1600)
During Shakespeare’s lifetime, English dramaturgy underwent a PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION

3. THE MIDDLE AGES Medieval drama was mainly religious MIRACLE PLAYS
MYSTERY PLAYS
MORALITY PLAYS
INTERLUDES:
First form of SECULAR DRAMA
WHERE did performances take place?
Churches
In the streets (CYCLES)

4. THE MIDDLE AGES REFORMATION BREAK WITH TRADITION
Decline of English religious drama
Development of secular forms of dramatic entertainment

5. TRAVELLING ACTING COMPANIES
QUESTIONABLE SOCIAL and MORAL STATUS
ACTING was a PRECARIOUS BUSINESS
Small companies
Forced to adapt to a great variety of venues
(streets, inns, taverns, halls, private houses…)
Performed both when invited and uninvited!

6. ARISTOCRATIC PATRONAGE
An increasing number of aristocrats chose to hire acting companies to increase
their own prestige
Main companies in Shakespeare’s time:
Lord Admiral’s Men
Lord Chamberlain’s Men
The players that were attached to a lord enjoyed a better social and financial status

7. PERMANENT PLAYHOUSES in the LONDON AREA
Instead of responding to invitations/asking permission to perform, acting
companies began to invite spectators to pay fixed charges to enter the
PLAYERS’ OWN DEDICATED THEATRE-SPACE
Gradual formation of a THEATRE-GOING PUBLIC
people a week
COMMERCIAL THEATRE became an essential element in the life of Londoners

8. THE WOODEN «O» WHAT DID AN ELIZABETHAN PLAYHOUSE LOOK LIKE?
Three-stored, polygonal or circular buildings
Wooden structure, thatched roof
CAPACITY: people
[The Globe: up to 1600]
500  Galleries
1100  Pit

9. THE WOODEN «O» Terms to remember: Pit («Groundlings») Galleries Stage
Balcony
Heavens
Trap-doors
Tiring house
Flag
Props

10. THE WOODEN «O» Was ATTENDANCE expensive? NO!
Just 1 PENNY for a «Pit ticket» (the equivalent of a pint of beer)
Tickets for the galleries were more expensive, of course
Commercial theatre was an affordable form of entertainment, suitable for the pockets of ALL SOCIAL CLASSES
EXCEPTIONS:
Monarch and higher aristocrats
And, therefore, ALL LEVELS OF EDUCATION
PRIVATE PERFORMANCES AT COURT

11. OVERCROWDED, INSALUBRIOUS and UNSAFE
THE WOODEN «O»
OVERCROWDED, INSALUBRIOUS and UNSAFE

12. THE WOODEN «O» WHEN did performances take place?
Performances were held in the AFTERNOON  saving the cost of candles
WHERE?
OUTSIDE THE CITY BOUNDARIES
Shoreditch and Southwark
Outside the City’s jurisdiction, because AUTHORITIES were HOSTILE to this «SINFUL» form of entertainment
Plague and diseases
Crime
Sin

13. EXPLORE FURTHER Entertainment in Elizabethan England:
Shakespeare’s audience:

14. EXPLORE FURTHER Elizabethan playhouses:
Indoor playhouses: