Page 92 exercise 6.

Queen Elizabeth I loved watching (1) plays, but these were generally performed in indoor playhouses for her pleasure. She would not (2) have attended the plays performed at the playhouse such (3) in the Globe. The upper-class nobles would have paid for the better seat in the “Lord’s Room”, paying 5p for the privilege. The “groundlings” were the standing members of the audiences. For one penny, (4) which was the price of a loaf of bread, they could stand in the open yard. They used (5) to put the money in a box at the theatre entrance, hence the term “box office”. The gentry would pay to sit in the galleries, often using cushion for comfort. Rich nobles could watch the play (6) by a chair set on the side of the stage itself. The crowd of the spectators ate and drank during the performance and freely expressed their emotion. They loved metaphor and extremes and (7) were deeply moved (8) by long speeches and soliloquies. Horror, macabre scenes and revenge tragedies were (9) so popular, as (10) well as history plays where heroic deeds, battles and weapons evoked strong feelings. People used to applaud any notable event during the play, but it was only (11) at the end that they could be really noisy. There was often a “jig”, a comic song and dance story, and the company would announce the next play in the repertoire. The audience would show their approval or disapproval of the choice by calling (12) the company, whistling and even throwing things.

 

Page 92 exercise 7.

Key words: play, nobles, gentry, company, metaphor, soliloquy and audience.

During the time of Elizabeth I, who loved to attend privately to the theatrical performances, the English people went to the Globe to assist to the staging of comedies and tragedies. The audience was divided according to the social class to which people belong, and depending on how the single individuals had paid upon entry. During performances it was possible to eat, drink and express their own emotions, even if the real applause was allowed only at the end of the play. The elements most popular among the audience were: metaphors, dialogues and soliloquies from the emotional point of view, battles and revenge from the point of view of the action.

 

Page 92 exercise 2.

1

A The Globe stands a few hundred yards from its original site.

B ON FOOT Shakespeare's Globe is best accessed on foot. There are excellent footpaths along the river from Waterloo and from Southwark Bridge. The Millennium Footbridge is 50 metres from the Theatre.

BY BIKE There are uncovered public bike racks on Bankside and New Globe Walk, both 10 metres from the Theatre. There is also a Transport for London 'Barclay's Cycle Hire' docking point on New Globe Walk.

BY UNDERGROUND The local stations are Blackfriars on the District and Circle Lines (10 minute walk) Mansion House on the District and Circle Lines (10 minute walk), London Bridge on the Northern and Jubilee Lines (10 minute walk), Southwark on the Jubilee Line (15 minute walk), and St Paul's on the Central Line (15 minute walk).

BY TRAIN The major local stations are Blackfriars ( 10 minute walk) London Bridge (10 minute walk), Cannon Street (15 minute walk), Blackfriars (15 minute walk) and Waterloo (25 minute walk).

BY BUS Local routes include:

45, 63, 100 to Blackfriars Bridge

15, 17 to Cannon Street

11, 15, 17, 23, 26, 76 to Mansion House

381 , RV1 to Southwark Street

344 to Southwark Bridge Road

BY CAR AND TAXI Where possible, visitors are advised to arrive by public transport or by taxi. There is an NCP car park on Upper Thames Street on the north side of Southwark Bridge (open 24 hours, seven days a week). Limited parking is possible on New Globe Walk and the surrounding area on display of a blue disabled badge. Black cabs may be found all year round on Southwark Bridge. During the theatre season there is a regular supply of cabs outside the main foyer on New Globe Walk.

BY BOAT Bankside Pier is 10 metres from the Theatre.

BY HIRED COACH There is a setting down point on Southwark Bridge, with approximately 40 uneven steps leading to the riverwalk. Wheelchairs can access Shakespeare's Globe by taking Sumner Street on the right beyond the bridge and turning right into Emerson Street which leads into New Globe Walk.

C You can book a performance going on the “book online” into the site, going to the box office of the theatre or calling the telephone number +44(0)2074019919.

 

2

The Globe Exhibition & Tour gives you an opportunity to learn more about this unique building and its most famous playwright, Shakespeare. During the tour guides entertain tourists bringing them "back in time" at the time of construction of the theatre (1599) and at the time of its reconstruction in 1990. Beyond this fixed schedule, you can take advantage of a special temporary exhibitions that change throughout the year. Until 26 September 2013, the London Metropolitan Archives in Clerkenwell is displaying documents from Shakespeare’s lifetime along with maps, photographs, prints and models exploring his relationship with the city. The work of construction of the facility continues today, because during the summer the inside of the theatre is prepared for the presentations which will begin in January. Another initiative of the current theatre of Shakespeare is the “The Globe to Globe festival”, a once-in-a-lifetime marathon, you can see over six hundred actors perform in the Globe’s ‘wooden O’, to present fourteen world premières to over 85,000 people.

3

A

B During the first years of Elizabeth’s reign, the English playing companies used inns, inn yards, college halls and private houses for their performances. It was not until 1576 that the actor-manager James Burbage built the Theatre in Shoreditch, the first purpose-built playhouse in London. Shakespeare joined the resident troupe at the Theatre in the 1580s and the company (later known as the Chamberlain’s and then the King’s Men) flourished there for 20 years. In 1596 a dispute arose over the renewal of the lease and negotiations were begun to acquire a disused hall in the precincts of the old Blackfriars priory to use as an indoor theatre. James Burbage died in February 1597; in April the lease expired, but the dispute continued for two years, during which time the company performed at the nearby Curtain playhouse. In Christmas 1598 the company sought a drastic solution: they leased a plot near the Rose, a rival theatre in Southwark, demolished the Theatre and carried its timbers over the river. To cover the cost of the new playhouse, James Burbage’s sons Cuthbert and Richard, offered some members of the company shares in the building. Shakespeare was one of four actors who bought a share in the Globe. By early 1599 the theatre was up and running and for 14 years it thrived, presenting many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, wadding from a stage cannon ignited the thatched roof and the theatre burned to the ground ‘all in less than two hours, the people having enough to do to save themselves’. The theatre was quickly rebuilt, this time with a tiled roof. Shakespeare may have acted in the second Globe, but he probably never wrote for it. It remained the home for Shakespeare’s old company until the closure of all the theatres under England’s Puritan administration in 1642. No longer of use, it was demolished to make room for tenements in 1644.

4

A Decorated with mythological symbols and figures, and is often draped in hangings.

B The word Heaven stands for the roof over the Globe stage, painted with stars, moons, and signs of the zodiac. This image reflects the Renaissance belief in the influence of the movements of the stars upon the world below.

C At the Globe the term backstage describes the area behind the frons scenae, though in other theatres this term can also be used to refer to all the departments working behind the scenes on a production. At the Globe, this backstage area is called the Tiring House.

D The surface of the stage was covered by a roofed space (called attic) where sound effects are created. It is from the attic that the actors would be lowered through the trap door onto the stage. It is also used as a rehearsal space, and to store props.