HISTORY OF THEATRE PART 6

ELIZABETHAN THEATRE THE GLOBE THEATRE  THE Globe Theatre in London is a round wooden building with an uncovered courtyard in the middle  Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is built along the lines of the theatre Shakespeare acted in and is called an Elizabethan public theatre  2 current day festivals still perform Elizabeathan style theatre; Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Utah Shakespearean Festival  No original Elizabethan theatre is still standing

Elizabethan Theatre  Elizabethan public theatres were free standing buildings constructed of wood and plaster  They were either round or multisided and in the center was a large courtyard that was open to the elements  The Buildings were 3 or 4 stories tall and protruding into the center of the courtyard was a three sided stage about 5 feet tall

Elizabethan theatre  The stage had at least one trap door in it so that characters could enter from below  High above the stage was a sheltering roof that gave the actors some protection from the sun and rain  The roof, beautifully painted to suggest the sky was called the “heaven”  The poorer members of the society would stand and watch the play, these are referred to as groundlings  The richer members of the audience paid a second or third penny for admission to the seats on the second or third tier, where they were protected from the outside elements  What was most unusual about Elizabethan Theatres was that the sets stayed neutral they never changed, the dialogue described where the action was taking place

Elizabethan Theatre SHAKESPEARE’S PLAY  Shakespeare's plays do not depend on an illusion created by scenery, costumes or lighting  Their performance conventions were quite different from todays  For example to change the location of the action, one set of characters exited as another set entered through a different door.  The audience immediately understood that the scene had changed SHAKESPEARE  Shakespeare died in 1616  In 1642 a civil war broke out in England during which the king was beheaded and the victorious Puritan government made theatre illegal  All the wood and plaster theatres fell into disuse or were torn down  By the time King Charles II was restored to the throne no Elizabethan public theatres were left

Renaissance Theatre in Italy  Literature, painting and architecture the Renaissance was in full flower  Architects saw the ruins of ancient Roman theatres all around them  They rediscovered De Architectura a book by a Roman named Vitruvius that included lengthy descriptions of what ancient Roman theatres were like  It was translated from Latin to Italian in 1486  The Italians made what they thought were improvements to theatres * About the same time the English were building their wood and plaster theatres the Italians were rediscovering the glories of ancient Rome