Week Four-Theatres, Actors and Acting in Shakespeare's time.

WEEK 4 - THEATRES, ACTORS AND ACTING IN SHAKESPEARE’S TIME

QUESTION: What were the theatres or ‘playhouses’ of Shakespeare’s time like and how were plays staged in them? 

There were two different types of theatre during the Elizabethan era; there were outdoor theatre (amphitheatres/public playhouses) and indoor playhouses (halls/ private playhouses)

Indoor playhouses were smaller than outdoor playhouses with a capacity of around 500 rather than the thousands that could view outdoor theatre; they were open to the public but charged an entrance fee ranging from 6d to 2s and 6d rather than the 1d paid for standing in the yard at outdoor playhouses. The first permanent indoor playhouse was st Pauls in 1575; however until 1609 only boy companies really played in indoor theatres and they only performed once a week rather than every day like the adult actors. Indoor theatre was attended by more educated people due to the cost and the plays included more music and props, they were wordier than action filled. The stages of indoor theatre were smaller than that of outdoor theatre, about half the size, there were seats on stage called stools where the rich sat to watch the plays and also to be seen by audiences, this meant there was less space for the actors to perform, which was another reason the plays performed in indoor theatre was less action filled. The plays were lit by candlelight and some natural light form windows rather than just natural light, this meant there would be small breaks regularly during the play for candles to be replaced and trimmed.

Outdoor playhouses had a central yard open to the sky to let natural light in, the stage then came out into the yard and was like a raised platform. There was then a roof over the actual stage area called the heavens, there was an area behind the stage called the tiring house where actors dressed and waited to come onto the stage above this was rooms for storage and aces to a room level with the heavens to work special effects from. There was then seating all around the yard on several levels that was roofed.

Most playhouses were built of a brick base and timber walls, the roofs were then thatched or tiled. They were built by businessmen who saw the opportunity to make money from theatres as they were rising in popularity, the companies that were then leased the theatres gave the owners a share of usually around half the income.

The first playhouse was built in 1567 and was called the red lion just outside the city walls; there isn’t much evidence of how successful it was however due to more playhouses being built afterwards we can assume it did reasonably well. In 1576 brayne who built the red lion also built the theatre with help from James Burbage, after this more theatres were built and companies also performed in the yards of inns. The playhouses were popular however officials didn’t like them as they thought the caused disruptiveness and attracted undesirables such as thieves, this is why most playhouses were built just outside of the city walls so officials had no power over them, the south bank of the river (where the globe was eventually built) was outside of the city walls and already had entertainments such as taverns and brothels so people were already going to these areas form entertainment.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed at the globe theatre built by Shakespeare’s company the chamberlain men, the company had previously played at the theatre owned by the Burbage’s (Richard Burbage was the companies leading actor) however the land it was built on was leased and the owned refused to renew the lease in 1597, the burbages could afford to lease a new site so they offered five of the chamberlain men including Shakespeare to become part owners of the new theatre for £10 each. They agreed and leased land on the Southbank near the rose theatre. The timbers of the theatre had been saved and stored by a builder on the north side of the river, when the weather got better he transported this across the river to the Southbank, this was a good place for the globe as it was outside the city and people already went to Southwark to be entertained. They used the cheapest materials to build the globe as they were struggling for money. The original globe the opened in 1599 and was a major success. The original globe burnt down in an hour in 1613 due to a cannon being shot during a performance of Henry VIII , however it was soon rebuilt in the exact same spot however with better materials as the company now had money.

Costumes were not historically accurate in the plays, they wore more elaborate clothes often second hand from actual Nobel men, the stage often didn’t have many props apart from what was absolutely necessary such as thrones and graves exits and entrances were in plain view of the audience however there were some special staging features with people descending from the heavens on cord and rising from below stage or ‘hell’. Special effects were also created by using drums offstage for thunder.

QUESTION: Who were the actors of Shakespeare’s plays and how did the experience of being an actor differ from the experience today?

During Shakespeare’s era most roles were played by men, women’s role were played by younger boys however some of the more comical women’s roles would have been played by clowns as women were not allowed to perform in England until 1660 nowadays women generally play women’s roles so this is different to what it would have been like in the Elizabethan era. The actors had to be very athletic and well rounded, they needed to be able to fence on stage, sing/play instruments and dance, this isn’t a thing that is expected of actors now however they are all skills that actors could still use.  Boys who wanted to become actors started at a young age and joined companies and were trained by more experienced actors. The actors mainly worked in London as this is where the large playhouses were however they did also go on tour to other places in the uk and also in Europe, there were things called shareholder systems where actors that were part of a company earned more than hired men and also shared the costs of running the company and profits, you were likely to make more in London which is another reason most actors were based in London. The companies varied in size, a wealthy company could have 8-12 senior actors (the sharers) 3-4 boys who were training and playing women’s parts. Then there were stagehands and tiremen who helped actors change backstage and then some musicians.  There was no such thing as copyright in the Elizabethan era so to stop people plagiarising scripts actors would be given only their lines and their cue lines, this would have been difficult as they wouldn’t of known what else was going on in the play. Theatre was often performed during the day as the use of elec5ticitywasnt available so the actors relied on natural lights, lighting in modern theatre is helpful to set atmosphere so this made the actors jobs harder as they had to portray what time of day it was/ what the weather was like in the play. The experience of an actor was different as the way that theatre was set up in the Elizabethan era was different to modern day, they didn’t have as much technology so found other ways to deal with issues. 

Week Three- Shakespeare's London and Elizabethan audiences.

WEEK 3 - SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON AND ELIZABETHAN AUDIENCES

QUESTION: What was London like in Elizabethan times and who were the people attending the theatre?

Shakespeare worked in Elizabethan London, although he lived in Stratford. London was the biggest city and the wealthiest in England so this was where theatre was most popular. The people who live in London were richer than those who live in villages and towns, the people of London had more money to spend on entertainment so there were permanent playhouses in London due to this demand, and furthermore London was also the home to royalty and rich noble men who became patrons of theatre companies. The wealthys interest in theatre is apparent with records showing that Shakespeare’s company performed to the court of king James around 15 times per year between the years of 1603- 1613.

London at the time was also the largest growing city as people were migrating from the countryside and Europe, every available space was built on with it being estimated that London grew from around 50,000 to 200,000 residents between 1550 and 1600. The city was tightly packed and streets were narrow and dirty with people disposing of waste out of their windows onto the cobbled narrow streets and with little to no drainage the only thing that cleaned anything were scavenging birds, the city was also very loud with horses moving through the streets and street traders shouting. Nobody in the city drank water as it was not clean so they drank ale, the wealthier people drank wines.

There was alot of diesaese in the city with the black plauge killing 10,000 in 1593, this meant all theatres closed to try and prevent the spread of the plauge 

The city was centred around the river Thames and the only way to cross was London bride or the boats called ‘water taxis’.

Whilst there was a very high number of wealthy people in the city there were also poor people who were illiterate, due to this the globe theatre used flags to indicate what kind of show was going on that night as they couldn’t read. Black showed tragedies, white was comedy and red was history. The theatre was a very crowded place with more men than women generally. The richest didn’t need to go to the play houses as they could just have them put on in their courts.

It cost around 1 penny to stand in the yard of the globe, which wasn’t much money as there was 240 pennies to £1. For 2 pennies you could buy a seat on the benches in the lower galleries, for a few more pennies you could also sit on a cushion to make your seat more comfortable. The most expensive seats were ‘the lord’s rooms’ which started at a cost of 6 pennies. The low cost of the theatre is what made it so popular. The price for a standing ticket in the yard was the same as a price of bread at the time, however standing wasn’t very pleasant with there being no toilets and the ground being covered in ash and nut shells, it is also reported that the put smelt of garlic and some people said that no good citizen would been seen in the yard.  Audience member were not well behaved either, they would boo villains and cheer heroes and there were also many thieves. This many have been due to the fact they were all slightly drunk all the time. 

Week Two- Shakespeare's life and biography.

WEEK 2 - SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE AND BIOGRAPHY

RESEARCH: Research Shakespeare’s life, ensuring you include information about his origins, family, relationships, the world he lived in and questions surrounding his work. 

William Shakespeare was baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26th, 1564. His exact birthdates is unknown due to him living 400 years ago however it is thought he was actually born April 23rd. His parents were named john and Mary Shakespeare he was the oldest to His siblings Gilbert, Richard, Edmund, Anne, who died at seven, and Joan.
He came from a wealthy household with his father being a wealthy businessman and also town bailiff. His life was not necessarily easy though due to the fact his two older sister had died in infancy, deaths in childhood were common in the Elizabethan era especially due to the spread of the bubonic plague which had killed 1/5 of Stratford’s population This means he was most likely educated at the local grammar school where he studied Latin plays until around the age of 15 meaning he had a much higher education than most of the people living in England at that time.  

Shakespeare married at 18 to a woman named Anne Hathaway, who was 26 at the time and pregnant with his child, Susanna, this is likely the reason they married as having a child out of wedlock was highly frowned upon at the time. They then had a further two children together in 1585 named Judith and hamnet, hamnet however died at 11 in 1596. Some people might suggest that Shakespeare and Anne had a strained relationship due to the amount of time Shakespeare spent away from home in London and the fact they had a relatively small amount of children in comparison to other families of this time. Due to the small amount of children he had his direct family and any family links we would have today do not exist and the family died out. His family life doesn’t have much mention is his  life so we don’t know much more about it.

Anne Hathaway and william shakespeare 

After Shakespeare having a family not much is defiantly know about what he did for a living or how he ended up writing theatre, the next first definite mention of him was in 1592 when he was mocked by an established playwright. After this we have records of him being an actor and playwright in London for two decades. He also had a business partnership with The Lord’s Chamberlains Men – a major acting company. It was clear he was well known as his name was used as a selling point as he was established as a writer and people knew his work would be good.

He gained financially from his partnership with The Lord Chamberlains Men; his wealth shows as he went on to buy the second largest house in the town of Stratford the new palace in 1597. He wrote his final plays around 1613 and then died on April 23^rd 1616 after having been gradually getting older. It is speculated however that he died of an infectious disease as his brother in law had died the week prior to Shakespeare’s death. He was buried in the holy trinity church in Stratford-upon-Avon.