This would become difficult for plays such as Henry IV or any other history play that was essentially about the government. Theatres in Early Modern England were not like the theatres we have today, they were open-air which means they were much like our modern sports stadiums and the audience tended to act much like modern sports spectators.
The plays were lighted mainly by natural light, and could not take place at night or in bad weather Hodges As seen in the picture to the left of the Globe Theatre, the rectangular stage thrust out into a circular area called the pit.
When audiences were purchasing tickets for a play they could choose to either sit here in the pit or to sit in the balconies Albright Elizabethan general public or people who were not nobility were referred to as groundlings. They would pay one penny to stand in the Pit of the Globe Theater Howard The upper class spectators would pay to sit in the galleries often using cushions for comfort.
Rich nobles could watch the play from a chair set on the side of the Globe stage itself, so an audience viewing a play may often have to ignore the fact that there is a noble man sitting right on the stage Elizabethan Era. Theatre performances were held in the afternoon, because there was no artificial lighting, this required the imagination of the audiences during scenes that were to take place at night Elizabethan Era.
Men and women attended plays, but often the prosperous women would wear a mask to disguise their identity Elizabethan Era. Even though women did attend theatre, and even Queen Elizabeth herself loved the theatre women who attended theatre were often looked down upon. In fact if a woman was attending the theatre it was generally assumed she was a prostitute. This is because the theatre was considered an unseemly place, and most people thought that women should be at home with their children Howard Since most theatre performances were often three hours long Henry IV would have been somewhere around two and a half , the behavior of the audience became very rowdy, the audiences did not keep quiet, or arrive on time, or remain for the whole performance they would simply get up and leave whenever they felt like it.
They joined in on the action occurring on stage, interrupted the actors, and even sometimes got on the stage. They also talked during dull moments, and threw rotting vegetables, especially tomatoes at the actors Elizabethan Era. A performance of Henry IV was probably very distracting in a Shakespearian theatre. Shakespeare must have thought so too, moving his play company out of open-air theatres in to perform at Black-friars which were an indoor theatre that was supposed to produce a more refined audience Elizabethan Era.
Actors would be asked for these credentials - they were treated with suspicion! Plays were regulated. Plays were subject to censorship - the content of plays was checked to ensure that they did not contain political or religious elements which might threaten the state.
Elizabethan plays were often bawdy and the audiences were rowdy. The Lifestyle of Elizabethan actors The popularity of the Elizabethan theater increased enormously. The standing of Elizabethan Actors improved when the purpose-built theaters were introduced.
A play could attract as many as people to the theater and the Elizabethan actors were the equivalent of today's superstars. Many of the major Elizabethan Actors became stake holders in the theaters and became wealthy men. They mixed with the nobility and played before royalty. Elizabethan Actors Famous Elizabethan actors. This helped to give the theater a more acceptable reputation by drawing comparisons to the great classic plays of the Greeks and Romans.
The sheer size of the amphitheatres drew in the audiences and the cash. They were built in a lavish style and provided exciting visual effects, using ropes for flying entrances, trap doors for surprising entrances and exits.
There was a constant demand for new plays and a high turnover of different plays. There was little time for rehearsals. There was one problem with the Elizabethan amphitheater - it was open to the elements and therefore only suitable for winter performances.
Was there any point where the actor would actually speak to the audience directly? For example like now a days one actor might ask the actor, Can you believe this guy? Like that. Hey Justin I was wondering what types of characters they had in the Elizabethan era theatre? Like protagonists and antagonists… Stuff like that! Thanks Jemma. Jemma, every type of character you can imagine was right there on the Elizabethan stage.
His tragedies were full of strong protagonists like Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth. Excellent summary! There are no dialogue words in those in those scenes to denote the specific setting.
So how did he do it? Interesting question John. Shakespeare normally left clues in the spoken text for the audience to determine setting if it was not clear, however you have said this is not the case in this example. B how do these convention help in shaping the overall story of the film,esp.
In the scene where mercucio dresses as a female? Sorry Deborah, unfortunately I am unable to offer any worthwhile information on the comic conventions in Twelfth Night. Hi Justin, I am wondering if you have any information on comic conventions in Twelfth Night? I would be very interested to read your thoughts and gain better insight. I came a little late to this party, looking for a discussion of the aside in stagecraft and found just what I was looking for here. Thanks for that, I was having a hard time finding concise notes on Elizabethan theatrical conventions.
Thank you so much for this. Very useful. This is really helpful. It is often so difficult to pin point exactly how to explain students how this style of theatre works and to give them other examples other than Shakespeare. Skip to content Historically, Elizabethan theatre refers to plays performed in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Table of Contents. Post navigation Previous Previous. Next Continue.
The cheapest place was in front of the stage where ordinary people stood. There was very little scenery — a character would tell the audience where the scene was set. Faustus and The Jew of Malta. His predecessors -Marlowe, kyd, Greene and Lyly paved the way and Shakespeare marched on taking English drama to a level which could not be surpassed till today The main features of the English drama of that time are — revenge themes, ghastly melodramatic scenes, inner conflict, hero-villain protagonists, tragic-comedy ….
Elizabethan tragedy dealt with heroic themes, usually centering on a great personality by his own passion and ambition. In Poetics, he wrote that drama specifically tragedy has to include 6 elements: plot, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle. The Plot is the most important part of a tragedy. Normally the plot is divided into five acts, and each Act is further divided into several scenes.
According to Aristotle, tragedy has six main elements: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle scenic effect , and song music , of which the first two are primary. Tragedy can show us our ties to others and strip us of our differences. The tragedy may be horrific, but there is something about the way that people step up and come together to protect each other and fight for a common cause that can remind everyone that they have a place in this world.
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