ELISABETHAN THEATRES (Making Waves)

-Medieval English drama

They were based on the Bible and religious stories; the characters were didactic and the moral was explicit. They were performed anywhere: in the Church in the streets but the population called for entertainment therefore theatres were built.

-Playhouse

The first theatre was ‘the Theatre' built in 1576, it was so successful that were built other theatres. Thus, when Shakespeare arrived in London, there was flourishing drama scene, theatre and actors as well. The Puritans considered plays immoral so theatres were built on the south bank of the river. In 1599 Lord Chamberlain's Men decided to dismantle ‘The Theatre'  and rebuilt in Southbank calling it The Globe, this area became quickly the centre of ‘theatreland'. In 1613 was a ire at the Globe and it was immediately rebuilt but in 1644 it was destroyed by Puritans to build homes and only in 1944 the Globe opened again its doors.

-Shakespeare's Globe

The main season was winter, because the risk of spreading the plague increased during summer. Theatres were closed when plague killed more than 50 people in a week. During summer acting companies travelled.

-Performances

Performances took place during the afternoon and were acted only by men and boys (à Shakespeare often exploits to create sexual ambiguity). Most of the theatres were very large and could hold large audience. The audiences were made of all sorts of classes. Whose paid one penny had to stand on the ground ( that's why they are called groundlings), the others sat in galleries or in the stage itself. The groundlings made performances particularly memorable: they mediated between the stage and the actors. There was no scenery and the audience had to imagine the scene by the language of the actors. There was no curtain, and there were no intervals so plays had a very quick pace. The platform stage was pushed out into the audience who stood around it on the three sides. This created a sense of intimacy and made the soliloquy a form of communication between them.

-Elizabethan theatres

They were noisy and sometimes violent places. The audience had none of our deference: they did not keep quiet, or arrive in time or remain for the whole performance. The director was not considered as important as the principal actor. Clowns were great favourite with the crowds. The clowns served several functions in Shakespeare works. He provided the audience with some light-hearted fun after a dramatic scene and a moment of respite for the audience, musician and actors. Londoners considered going in theatres an important part of their lives.

DRAMA (The Context)

-The end of Medieval Drama

Henry VII's schism from Rome hastened the end of Medieval religious drama. Misteryes continued to be performed in religious festival then  they were banned in order to avoid conflict between Catholics and Protestants.

-Drama of the English Renaissance

Drama flourished again from 1558 to 1642, during these years drama became the major genre for English writers to express themselves in. they appealed to people from all social classes.

Elizabethan drama presented heroes and heroines larger than life as well as human types taken form contemporary English society. Its language expressed strong emotions and passions but also gave voice to the humour of common people. Elizabethan drama also dealt with themes taken from English history in order to express pride in the nation's achievements.

-Travelling Companies of Actors

Drama spread thanks to travelling companies of actors, who held the status of servants of a Lord and called their companies after him. There were no women because acting was considered immoral. Young boys played women roles. Performances took place on movable platforms until the theatres were built.

-The Elizabethan Playhouse

The Elizabethan playhouse was circular or polygonal in shape. The stage consisted in a rectangular platform which projected into the theatre's central pit. This area had no roof and no seat and was occupied by the groundlings. Around the theatre, galleries provided better and more expensive seats. The performance took place in daylight. If a flag flew from the top of the playhouse it meant that a show was in progress. Elizabethan plays had no scenery, the audience had to imagine it.

-Renaissance Playwrights

Elizabethan playwrights wrote plays to provide entertainment and make money. Plays were sold to a company and became property of it. If a printed copy was made, the name of the company was usually written on the frontispiece of the text.  The group of playwrights who founded English drama were called ‘University Wits' because they were all men of university education. The best known of the University wits are Lily and Marlowe.

-Shakespeare

Little is known about his early life, except that he was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon into a middle-class family in 1564. He was a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, he was firstly an actor and later became the playwright of the company. He died in 1616.

Shakespeare wrote 37 plays. They can be classified as histories, comedies and tragedies.  The historical plays had the function of paying homage to Queen Elizabeth and the Tudors, the family who ensured greatness and prosperity to the English nation. The Roman plays can be considered histories, they revolve around characters torn between private feelings and public duty. For this they belong to the category of tragedy.

Shakespeare's comedies generally presents a group of contrasting characters who are brought through adverse circumstances to a closer and more lasting relationship with one another. The hero meets a challenge and ultimately finds love while wrong are redressed. In Shakespeare's tragedies the action is usually concentrated on a single, isolated, individual who finds himself in opposition to a social group or the universe. Fate is ever present and the tragic hero takes a course of action which is fatal to himself.

-Shakespeare Greatness

Shakespeare had great skill in use of rhyme, blank verse, and poetic imagery. He created an unequalled range of characters, portraying the whole range of human passion with strength and conviction. He coined a great amount of new words and phrases which have entered the language and are still used today.

-Influence of the Classic on Drama

The Greek and Latin writers who were most influential were Plutarch and Seneca. Plutarch's Parallel Lives was a source-book for some of Shakespeare's plays, while Seneca was much admired and imitated for his tragedies.