theatre

• Social:

  > Showcased the idea that Elizabethans were living in a ‘Golden Age’. The theatre developed because the Queen approved of it and enjoyed the plays. They were performed for her at court.
• Religion:

  > Puritans remained opposed to the excesses of theatre as a frivolous and Godless activity and after Elizabeth’s reign in 1642, they even had the theatres shut down briefly.
• Religion:

  > When a great earthquake struck the south-east of England in 1580, many considered it a sign of God’s anger at the theatre.
• Government:

  Initial attitudes to theatre:

  > Actors were seen as a threat to law and order, and acting was not considered a respectable profession. In 1572, Parliament passed a law that said actors were to be punished as vagabonds
• Government:

  Attitudes in the 1570s onwards:

  > The Queen, like the nobility, used their patronage to support her own troupe of players, ‘Queen’s Men’. They performed plays like Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’, which made the Tudors look good.
• Government:

  Attitudes in the 1570s onwards:

  > The popularity of theatres led Elizabeth and her government to see its potential for propaganda and also for encouraging social stability.
• Government:

  Attitudes in the 1570s onwards:

  > By the end of Elizabeth’s reign there were seven major theatres and 40 companies of actors. For example, The Globe opened in 1599.