Theatre

• Theatre was affordable - it cost one pence to stand in the pit. By 1595, 15000 elizabethans were visiting every week. The globe could hold up to 3000 people
• Burbage was one of the most celebrated actors of the time. His brother James built the globe theatre
• Theatre was thought to encourage crime. Members of the audience had to be careful of cutpurses
• Theatres were thought to spread disease. In 1593 and 1603 they had to be closed because of the plague
• Theatre was a form of entertainment. They could laugh out loud, something they couldn’t do in church
• Different coloured flags were used to signal what was being performed:

  red for history, white for comedy and black for tragedy
• The wealthier audience members would sit in the galleries
• The heavens were the roof over the stage. Ropes and rigging for scene changes and dramatic entrances was stored here
• At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign there were no purpose built theatres so you would have to go to the inn to watch a performance
• The Juliet balcony was used in plays such as Romeo and Juliet, but it was also where the nobility would watch plays, to be seen by the poorer public
• William Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlains Men company as an actor and as principal playwright again in 1594
• Edmund Tilney was Master of the Revels in 1578 to ensure all plays were censored to promote only good things about the queen and bad things about her enemies. Due to only 10% of the population being literate, this meant that theatre was a main way of spreading messages
• Purpose built theatres were new in elizabethan England
• Theatres were open to the elements and those who stood I the pit often needed a hat to protect themselves from the elements
• Many acting companies had patrons jn the form of well known nobles to bring prestige and wealth
• The queen loved watching plays at court and was a major reason theatre became popular
• Religious groups such as puritans often opposed theatres saying people should spend their free time praying
• all theatres were in Southwark at the end of Elizabeth’s reign - in 1596 the city of London authorities said all theatres needed to be outside city walls
• Actors would put in their costumes in a tiring room
• Theatre was universal across society
• from 1572 all actors who didn’t belong to a company could be called vagabonds
• Shakespeare wrote 38 plays
• There were no female actresses in the Tudor era, so female parts were played by men and young boys