1. Elizabethan Drama

2. Shakespeare and Elizabethan Drama
= Queen Elizabeth I
Shakespeare
1564 – born Stratford on Avon (England)
Family had money – given an excellent education
1582 – married Ann Hathway – had twins
1584 – left Stratford (family stayed)
went to London
Actor/director of Lord Chamberlain’s Men (Theatre Co.)
Financial partner in building The GLOBE THEATRE in England
Projecting stage = theatre in the round

3. Shakespeare Plot lines – interesting / complicated No scenery
Set design was not included in his plays or theatre
Lines of description to help with creation of the scene
Elaborate costumes
Never resembling who they were depicting (Julius Caesar in Elizabethan clothes)
Boys played women's parts
1611 – Shakespeare retired = $
1616 – died and buried – Trinity Church

4. Four Periods in Shakespeare’s Writing
1590 – 1594 – learning his craft  playwright
1594 – 1600 – History Plays (Henry’s, Richard’s, Julius Caesar)
England needs one central King so that power will lead to good government – absolute authority
2 themes: Romantic comedies
Romeo and Juliet
12th Night
Women are cleverly portrayed, charming, can out wit supposed male superiors
– Tragedies
Hamlet – “revenge”
Othello – “jealousy”
Macbeth – “political assassination”
King Lear – “old age”
1609 – Problem Plays
Tempest
Winter’s Tale