1. English Renaissance Theatre

2. Elizabeth I 1558 - 1603 The Golden Age of England Theatre flourished
Playwriting becomes a viable and more respected profession
Professional actors gain popularity
Acting companies form, sponsored by royal and/or noble patrons
One of the most creative periods in all of history

3. Elizabethan Theatre Actors
Performances develop into entertainment rather than celebration so an actor can support himself by acting
All actors were men – women are not allowed on stage
Actors still considered vagrants
must be “sponsored” by a patron, actors are the patron's servants
Acting companies must be licensed by the crown
Public performances were outlawed within the city limits so a theatre community builds on the “South Bank”

4. Playwrights Christopher Marlowe 1574 – 1637 Tamburlaine (c.1587)
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (c.1589)
The Jew of Malta (c.1589)
Wrote for The Admiral’s Men
Possibly an atheist, possibly a spy for England
Was he also Shakespeare?

5. Playwrights Ben Johnson 1572 – 1637 A Tale of a Tub (c.1596)
Volpone (c )
Also wrote masques for James’ court (acted by courtiers, not actors)
Acted (poorly) & wrote for The Admiral’s Men
Poet & playwright

6. Playwrights Thomas Kyd 1558-1594 The Spanish Tragedie (c. 1585)
May have written a version of Hamlet before Shakespeare did!!!
arrested as a heretic in 1593

7. William Shakespeare
actor, poet, playwright

8. Shakespeare’s Life Ophelia (detail). By John Everett Millais, 1851–52.
Born: 23 April 1564 (estimated based on baptism records), Stratford-upon-Avon
Education: Free Stratford Grammar School
Good base in Latin & the Classics (Terence, Platus, etc.) that he would liberally borrow from for his plots later
Married Anne Hathaway (he’s 18, she’s 26)
3 kids: Susanna, and twins Hamnet & Judith
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men
Actor first
Later becomes “resident” playwright
Buys into his own acting company
1603 – they become the King’s Men under James I
Death: 23 April 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon
Ophelia (detail). By John Everett Millais, 1851–52.

9. Shakespeare’s Work POET = wrote 154 sonnets & 2+ narrative poems
Prose
Blank verse
Iambic pentameter
ACTOR = starts with Lord Admiral’s Men as an actor, then begins writing
PLAYWRIGHT
36 plays published in the First Folio (1623)
3 categories: history, tragedy, comedy
Sources: Terence, Petrarch, Holinshed's Chronicles

10. Shakespeare’s Plays Tragedies to know: Comedies to know:
Romeo & Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth
Othello (1st specifically black role!!!)
Comedies to know:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Tempest
Histories to know:
Henry VI (3 parts)
Richard III
Titus Andronicus

11. Elizabethan Conventions
Costumes
Actors wore clothes of the day regardless of the time period of the play
**exception: plays set in Greece & Rome!

12. Elizabethan Conventions
Set & Props
Very little of either used…
That’s why you get so many declarative lines in Elizabethan plays.
“I die”
“Is this poison?”

13. Theatres
Pre Renaissance = travelling pageant wagons, in noblemen’s ballrooms or halls
1576 – James Burbage builds “The Theatre” (1st permanent performance space) on the South Bank

14. Elizabethan Conventions
The Theatres
Standard characteristics:
Open air - usually round - Thrust stage - no lights
Terms to know:
Galleries
Pit
Groundling (Penny-stinker)
Heavens
Hell
Hut
Inner stage