Leisure, theatre and pastimes

• Going to the theatre became a popular pastime in Elizabethan England, it led to the building of many new theatres, e.g. The Theatre at Shoreditch
• Theatres included a standing area called the pit, poor people stood to watch the performance
• Only men were allowed to act in the theatre, boys played the roles of women
• Cultures

  • Higher society
  • Lower society
• Inns and taverns

  An important part of every social ritual
• By Elizabeth’s time the upper classes saw their culture as superior
• Theatre was universally popular
• Popular cultural pursuits

  • Drinking
  • Gambling on bear-baiting
  • Cockfighting
  • Cards
  • Dice
  • Racing
  • Wrestling
  • Running races
  • Football
• Tobacco smoking was new and expensive but growing by the end of Elizabeth’s reign
• Intellectual pursuits

  • Reading the classics
  • Studying music
  • Hunting
  • Hawking
• Huge inequalities existed within Tudor society
• Ordinary people also took part in wrestling, running races and football