Drama of the English Renaissance
• Flourished again from 1558 ( with the accession to the throne of Elizabeth I) to 1642 (when the Puritans closed down all the theaters)
• The plays had a great quality  they became the major literary contribution to the English Renaissance
• They reflected the humanistic spirit human nature was exalted
• Themes about heroes and heroines, human types taken from contemporary society and also English history
• Strong emotions, disruptive passions, joyful and humour of common people were expressed-

Travelling companies of actors
• Drama became important thanks to them
• They held the status of servants of a Lord and they called their companies after him (e.g. the Earl of Leicester's Men, the Chamberlain's Men, who became the company of James I in 1603 and their name changed into King's Men)
• No woman in the company
• Acting was considered immoral
• Young boys played woman's roles
• Before playhouses were built , the actors used to act on movable platforms in innyards, in town squares or in the manor houses.

The Elizabethan Playhouse
• Circular or polygonal in shape
• The stage: rectangular platform  called "apron" stage
• No roof, no seats and no scenery
• Spectators paid only a penny
• Around the theater walls there were seats only for higher social classes
• Performances in daylight and when they were in progress there was a flag that flew.

Renaissance Playwrights
• They wrote plays to provide entertainment and make money
• They were sold to a company and they became their property
• In the printed copy the name of the company was written
• The English drama's founders (from the 1570s to 1590s) were called "University Wits": Marlowe, Greene and Nashe, men of Cambridge education and Lyly, Peele and Lodge of Oxford
• Lyly (1554-1606): famous for "Endymion"(1591), "Midas"(1592) and some romantic comedy, followed by Shakespeare
• Marlowe (1564-1593): the most talented of the "University Wits". Famous for 4 tragedies: "Tamburlaine", "Edward II", "Doctor Faustus" and "The Jew of Malta". He prepared the way for Shakespearean tragic heroes (Macbeth and King Lear) and he introduced blank verse to British drama
• Thomas Kyd (1558-1594): no university education. His "Spanish Tragedy" was about revenge (like Hamlet).

Shakespeare ( Stratford- Upon-Avon 1564-1616)
• The most extraordinary playwright of the Renaissance
• He attended the local grammar school, then he married and he had 3 children. He moved to London to.
• Member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Firstly and actor and then a playwright
• 37plays: histories, comedies, tragedies and romances
• HISTORIES: about kings (from King John to Henry VII). The aim was to pay homage to Queen Elisabeth. He wrote also roman plays such as Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus. Characters torn between private feelings and public duty also tragedies
• COMEDIES: the best known comedies are: The Comedy of Error, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Twelfth Night). The plot: before there is a group of contrasting characters and then a relationship with one another. The hero or heroine ultimately find love
• TRAGEDIES: Hamlet , Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Romeo and Juliet: except for this, in all the other tragedies the protagonist is alone and in the end will die
• ROMANCES: Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, Pericles and The tempest. In the end there is always a moral message.

Shakespeare's greatness
• Control of organization around a central theme
• Command of dramatic conventions
• Great skill in the use of rhyme, blank verse and poetic imagery
• Characters: whole range of human passion. All kinds of people throughout the ages
• Vocabulary of 30.000 words: also new words and phrases that are still in use today.

Influence of the Classics on drama
• Greek and Latin writers were influential, especially Plutarch and Seneca
• Thomas North in 1579 translated Plutarch's Parallel Lives (source book for some Shakespearean plays)
• Seneca was admired and imitated. In his tragedies: highly rhetorical style and inclusion of blood-thirsty details, ghosts and magic.