1. Drama During Shakespeare’s Day
The Elizabethan Stage
Drama During Shakespeare’s Day

2. Can you imagine a play performed outdoors in the daytime?
with part of the audience standing in front of the stage for the entire production?
with male actors playing female roles?
with no background scenery?

3. Early English Theater
Before permanent theaters were built, wandering acting companies performed
in the courtyards of inns or in other open areas
on temporary platform stages
with the audience standing around the stage or sitting in chairs on surrounding balconies

4. The First Permanent Theater
Built by James Burbage in 1576
Located outside the city of London
Called “The Theater”
Dismantled in the middle of the night, moved piece by piece across the river, and rebuilt as the Globe in 1599

5. Typical Elizabethan Theaters
Theaters were three-story circular or polygonal structures with
a courtyard open to the sky
three tiers of seats for spectators

6. Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The stage jutted out into the yard.
“Groundlings” stood in the yard to watch the play.

7. Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The gallery, or balcony, above the stage could be used as
part of the play
a seating area for musicians
a seating area for wealthy spectators

8. Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The trapdoor in the front part of the stage could be used for
David Gentleman
burial scenes
surprise entrances
mysterious exits

9. Typical Elizabethan Theaters
The ceiling over the stage, the “Heavens,” contained another trapdoor. Actors could be
David Gentleman
lowered to the stage below
flown over the heads of other actors

10. Setting the Stage Acting companies did not use
artificial lighting—actors carried torches to convey the idea of night.
scenery or realistic backdrops—playwrights set the scenes with descriptive dialogue.
. . . Look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountaintops. from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

11. Setting the Stage Acting companies did use
props—flags, banners, swords, thrones, tables, beds
special effects—actors appearing and disappearing through trapdoors, cannons firing
sound effects—music, thunder
costumes—exquisite suits, robes, and gowns normally reserved (by law) for upper-class citizens and nobility
© Archivo Iconografico, S.A./CORBIS

12. Acting the Part In Shakespeare’s time, all actors were male.
Female roles were played by boy actors, who concealed their gender by
wearing long, full skirts
wearing wigs
powdering their faces
© Ali Meyer/CORBIS

13. Capturing the Audience
Elizabethan theatergoers came from various social classes, including
nobility
wealthy merchants
tradesmen
commoners
Playwrights had to include material to appeal to all classes.

14. Capturing the Audience
Elizabethan theatergoers were active and vocal. During a performance, they might
eat and drink
laugh and shout
boo and hiss
Actors had to move around, make grand motions, and speak loudly to keep the audience’s attention.

15. Not Everyone Loved the Theater
Puritans, city officials, and others had low opinions of actors, plays, and theaters.
They feared that playgoers would
catch contagious diseases
be morally corrupted
They objected to
suggestive or obscene language
actors (commoners) wearing upper-class clothing
scenes depicting rebellion

16. What Have You Learned?
1. Most Elizabethan theaters were shaped more or less like
a. circles b. rectangles c. diamonds
2. Audiences consisted of commoners only.
a. true b. false
3. Theater companies used all of the following EXCEPT
a. costumes b. artificial lighting c. special effects

17. The End