Shakespeare's Life in Theater Kelly Mitchell, Kaitlinn Mitrow, and Laura Gilbody

London Playhouses and Other Sites The actors performed at court, in halls at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and at the Inns of Court. “In the provinces the actors usually staged their plays in churches (until around 1600) or in guildhalls.” Shakespeare’s theaters began being built not long after he wrote his first plays. His theaters were either outdoor or public playhouses that could seat large numbers of people and indoor public places for a smaller audience. The more famous public playhouses are The Captain, The Fortune, The Rose, The Sawn, The Globe, and The Hope that are all located on the Bankside, which is a region across from Thames, South of the city of London.

London Playhouses and Other Sites Cont. The Church of England shared the neighborhood with Paris Garden and houses of prostitution, where bearbaiting and bullbaiting were taking place. The weather helped Shakespeare’s company when, the snow hiding their activity and the freezing of the Thames allowing them to slide the timbers across to the Bankside without paying tolls for repeated trips over London Bridge. When the first Globe burnt down, they immediately made another one at the same location.

Inside the Theatre Most were open-air playhouses The Rose and the Globe were polygonal or kind of circular; the Fortune was square. “these buildings were at 72 feet (the Rose) to 100 feet (the Globe), but they were said to hold vast audiences of two or three thousand.” Audience members would pay more to get a seat higher but most stood in the open center near the stage

Inside the Theatre Cont. The audience in the “yard” would not have a ceiling, there for they would pay less. o “They stood on a floor that was sometimes made of mortar and sometimes of ash mixed with the shells of hazelnuts.” The upper class would pay to be in seats covered and higher up. The stage was also covered and the ceiling would be referred to as “the heavens”. Next to the stage would be the dressing rooms and a place for the actors and actresses to be while the show was going on.

Inside the Theatre Cont. The Private Theater in Blackfriars The stage was lit by candles It was built across the narrow end of the hall, with boxes flanking it The rest of the hall offered seating room only. This could only seat less than a thousand, which was a quarter of the globe. It cost a minimum of sixpence to get in, while the globe was one penny for standing room.

Staging and Performance Changing Scenes o During the time of Shakespeare's plays they did not have curtains to end scenes. o To end scenes without any curtains Shakespeare had his characters exit the stage. He then has new characters enter, when staring another scene. o When a character needs to stay on stage for the next scene, they will make the scene change clear either by dialogue or props o Another difference from today's theaters scene change, is that back then they did not have scenery on stage to move or change to different decor. o The setting of the play was sometimes not even known to the audience due to the writer choosing not to specify it.

Staging and Performance Cont. The "Bare Stage” o The Bare stage is just that, an almost bare stage. This type of stage was mainly used during Shakespeare's era o On stage there was usually only, if needed, a bed, a table, and three tombs. Even though most could hold more than just the actors and few props o The Bare stage also had many different levels to it, which included: A trap door beneath the stage, to resemble a ghost entering. The gallery was shared by spectators, to resemble a high balcony or window. Ropes and winches were also provided to appear that the actors were rising and lowering from or to the "heavens".

Staging and Performance Cont. Performers o During the time period that Shakespeare wrote his plays there were only male actors. o Women did not take place in performing on stage. Women stayed a part of the audience until o Boys fulfilled the roles of women until they were mature enough to become a male

Business Arrangements “Philip Henslowe owned the Rose and leased it to companies of actors, who paid him from their takings.” Shakespeare and other principle actors had the status of “shares” and a right to a share in the takings and also the responsibility of expenses. “Although Shakespeare and his fellows prospered, their status under the law was conditional upon the protection of powerful patrons.” Shakespeare was under the power of lord chamberlain and, after the accession of King James in 1603, the king.

Life in Theatre Used to have an all male performance; the males would even play the female His acting company was known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and later as the King’s Men. They put on performances in a lot of places but most of the time performed in their own theaters. They performed in places as nice as the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James and as informal as churches and guildhalls in the countryside. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men staged their plays at the original theatre known as “The Theatre”

Life in Theatre Cont. After 1599 they performed “in the outdoor theater most associated with Shakespeare’s name—the Globe.” Later on they still used the Globe but also staged plays at an indoor, private theatre called the Blackfriars. Also in the Folger Shakespeare library is the Elizabethan Theatre. o “Regularly used for plays, concerts, readings, and educational programs” o “Its rafters, multiple levels, and plaster-and-timber walls evoke the London innyards where plays were also sometimes staged.”

Work Cited "Shakespeare's Theater-Folger Shakespeare Library." -Folger Shakespeare Library. Folger, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2011