Theatre Has Never Again Been as Popular as It Was During the 19th Century True False

Theatre Civilization Of Early Modern England

Melissa Thomas 2009

Long before the invention of modern technologies, such as radios and televisions, movies, video game systems and the always popular internet, people in the Elizabethan age created an elaborate system of activities and events to keep themselves entertained. "...they were expressive and eloquent, ostentatious and pleasure-loving, non industrious or hardworking, but bold and self-confident, markedly fearless of death, mercurial and inconsistent, loving change, above all, passionate" (Rowse 353). And 1 of their chief passions was theatre.

Theatre was for people in Early Modern England what telly is for united states of america today. People went to the theatre to be entertained, and the poor and the rich alike gathered in playhouses in the afternoon to see plays performed. Shakespeare was i of the most pop playwrights of this time and often if you were going to go see a play performed it was most probable written past him. Henry IV was one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, mainly because people of this time loved the character of Falstaff(Weil 4).

Going to a play in early on mod England non only involved the actual human action of going to meet the play, but it was also most paying coin to enter the playhouse and mingle with observe and be observed by people of both sexes and many different social classes(Howard 73). There was a wide range of social and educational levels in Shakespeare's audience, especially since the brothels of London were close to where the theatres were congenital. (All-time).

Even though most everyone went to theatre productions in that location were not many theatre's actually built in London. Theatres were instead built on the Due south banking concern of the Thames River. This was to avoid the strict regulations of London at the time. The city of London did non approve of theatre considering public performances were idea to exist a breeding ground for the plague and for unseemly behavior (Howard 73). The theatre often served equally a place for prostitutes and their customers, and many people did not like the fact that the theatre immune several different social groups to mix together (Howard 75). Also since theatre performances took identify in the center of the day they took worker's away from their jobs which was frowned upon (Greenblat 32). There were no toilet facilities in the theatres and people relieved themselves outside. Sewage was buried in pits or disposed of in the River Thames, this improper sanitation could take been responsible for outbreaks of the plague, which was the only time when then at that place was less of an audience at the theatres (Elizabethan Era).

Even though theatres moved out of London to avoid certain persecution they were still censored. There was a government branch called the Office of the Revels that's task was to brand sure that plays did not present politically or socially sensitive fabric (Greenblat 18). Earlier every theatre performance an official would read a manuscript of the play, taking out whatsoever cloth they deemed offensive (Greenblat 19).  This would get hard for plays such as Henry IV or any other history play that was essentially nearly the government.

Theatres in Early Modern England were non like the theatres we have today, they were open-air which ways they were much similar our mod sports stadiums (and the audience tended to act much like modern sports spectators). The plays were lighted mainly by natural light, and could not have place at nighttime or in bad weather (Hodges 43).

As seen in the picture to the left of the Globe Theatre, the rectangular stage thrust out into a circular area called the pit. When audiences were purchasing tickets for a play they could choose to either sit hither in the pit or to sit in the balconies (Albright 47). Elizabethan general public or people who were non dignity were referred to every bit groundlings. They would pay 1 penny to stand in the Pit of the Globe Theater (Howard 75). The upper grade spectators would pay to sit in the galleries often using cushions for comfort. Rich nobles could watch the play from a chair gear up on the side of the Earth stage itself, so an audience viewing a play may ofttimes have to ignore the fact that there is a noble man sitting right on the stage(Elizabethan Era).

Theatre performances were held in the afternoon, because at that place was no artificial lighting, this required the imagination of the audiences during scenes that were to take place at night (Elizabethan Era). Men and women attended plays, simply often the prosperous women would habiliment a mask to disguise their identity (Elizabethan Era). Even though women did attend theatre, and even Queen Elizabeth herself loved the theatre women who attended theatre were often looked down upon. In fact if a adult female was attending the theatre information technology was generally causeless she was a prostitute. This is because the theatre was considered an unseemly place, and most people thought that women should be at home with their children (Howard 76).

Since about theatre performances were often iii hours long (Henry IV would have been somewhere around two and a half), the behavior of the audience became very rowdy, the audiences did non go on quiet, or make it on time, or remain for the whole performance they would simply get upwardly and leave whenever they felt like it. They joined in on the action occurring on stage, interrupted the actors, and even sometimes got on the phase.

They besides talked during dull moments, and threw rotting vegetables, especially tomatoes at the actors (Elizabethan Era). A performance of Henry IV was probably very distracting in a Shakespearian theatre.  Shakespeare must have thought so also, moving his play company out of open-air theatres in 1609 to perform at Black-friars which were an indoor theatre that was supposed to produce a more refined audience (Elizabethan Era).

It'south thought that while the upper class theatre goers were better behaved that the groundlings they were non without their streaks of bad behavior. The upper class spectators probably cheered for upper course characters in plays such every bit Westmorland or Prince Hal. And of form lower class spectators would cheer for lower class characters, and if these two social classes were ever dueling in a play, it was practical pandemonium in the theatre (Audiences). The audiences would besides cheer for the good guys, and boo the bad ones.

Though we know a footling flake about the behavior of  theatre audiences we do not know much near the actual Elizabethan stage, yet because plays of this time were written expressly for this stage, we can get an idea past looking at the stage directions in the play(Albright 38).

Though the theatre seems rudimentary compared to our theatres today, Shakespearian plays were not without special effects. Special effects were a spectacular addition at the Elizabethan theaters thrilling the audiences with  smoke effects, the firing of a real canon, fireworks (for dramatic battle scenes) and spectacular flying entrances from the rigging in the heavens(Elizabethan Era).The stage also featured trap doors to serve as graves, or to allow ghosts to rise from the world.

In that location was a wall covered with a curtain that separated the back of the stage from the actor'due south dressing room, this wall was called the arras, in Act 2, Scene 4 of Henry Four, the prince tells Falstaff to hide from the Sheriff past hiding "behind the arras", this would have been where the role player hid. Not all theatres were set upwardly similar this, in that location were some indoor theatre's that had a pit that was filled with chairs, but considering only the very wealthy could afford admission to these theatres they were often considered individual(Hodges 55).

Fifty-fifty though theatres in Shakespearian England did not employ the employ of scenery, theatre companies put a lot of effort into developing their costumes with great care. An interim company held their costumes to be their most valuable items (Hodges 54). The costumes however became a subject of controversy when some aristocrats felt that actors could use them to disguise their social status, outside of the play-house (Howard 145). Costumes were as well used to disguise the genders of actors. All actors in the theatre during Shakespeare'due south fourth dimension were men, so young boys were playing female person's parts, and they needed costumes that made them believable as females.

Fifty-fifty though Historians take managed to reconstruct the appearance of original theatres, even building the New Globe in London, much of the information on how plays were performed during this time has been lost, the only affair that gives us an thought as to how these plays were performed is the stage directions found in the text.  We don't know much about the actors and how they chose to play the parts, except from what is written in first manus accounts of the plays (Howard 48).

The plays were performed daily with a different play every twenty-four hour period; because the plays inverse daily they needed some way to advertise what was to be shown that afternoon, and so Flags were put up on the 24-hour interval of the functioning which sometimes displayed a film advertising the next play to be performed. Color coding was also used to advertise the type of play to exist performed - a black flag meant a tragedy, white a comedy, and red a history (Elizabethan Era).

Only as we don't know much about the theatre, or about the way the plays were actually performed we don't know much about when Rex Henry Iv was actually performed. It is by and large assumed that the play was written and in functioning by 1597(Lamb nine), this is non documented. The earliest performance nosotros are certain of took place in 1600 when the play was acted in court for the Flemish ambassador. There were other courtroom performances in 1612 and 1625(Lamb 15). These performances would take been considerably different than the performances described in a higher place. They took place in the houses of nobility, and at best a play company was asked to perform for "royals" near a dozen times a year (Gurr 25).

When they did perform for the court, there was a considerable corporeality of money paid for special effects, and scenery that would not take been used in the normal theatre performances. But the biggest difference in these performances is that they were of class inside and not virtually as crowded and members of nobility were considerably better behaved than the commoners that were found at the play-houses. So when plays took place at court at that place was typically no rotten vegetable throwing, and no shouting out by the audience members (Gurr 27).

Henry Iv does not announced to accept been popular equally a play in court, so when information technology was seen information technology was probably with the distractions described earlier. However, it appears that the distractions were non distracting to theatre goers of the time; this play was actual one of Shakespeare'due south more loved plays (Lamb 17). The play was printed in 1598, 1599,1604,1608,1613, 1622, 1623, 1632 and 1639 (Lamb 17). This huge number of printings means that the play was oft performed and was a "commercial success". Then more than often than not when a red flag was flight over a theatre it meant yous were in for a performance of Henry Four.  This is idea to be considering audiences loved the graphic symbol of Falstaff, more likely than not they cheered when he was on phase, and laughed at him profusely (Lamb 17). In fact the character was such a crowd pleaser that Shakespeare put him in ii more plays.

We may not know much virtually the style that Shakespearian plays were acted or performed or what the theatre looked like exactly. Nor practise we really know precisely how the audiences acted, but thanks to the scripts of the plays, and historical journals we can make some educated guesses.

Works Cited

Albright, Victor. The Shakespearian Phase. New York: Columbia University Printing, 1926.

Alchin, L.Thousand. "History of the Elizabethan Era." Elizabethan Era. 04 MAR 2008. Elizabethan Era. 11 Nov 2008      <http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/history-of-the-elizabethan-theatre.htm>.

Best, Michael. "Shakespeare's Life and Times." Cyberspace Shakespeare Editions. 2005. University ofVictoria:Victoria. 01 Nov 2008 <http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT.com>.

Greenblatt, Stephen. "Shakespeare's world." Norton Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.,1997.

Griffing, Jessica. "Audiences." 2006. 09 November 2008 <http://world wide web.angelfire.com/fl5/theatre/jess.html>.

Gurr, Andrew. The Shakespearean Stage, 1574-1642: 1574-1642. Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Hodges, Walter. The Globe Restored. New York: Coward McCann Inc.,

Howard, Jean. The Stage and Social Struggle in Early Modernistic England. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Lamb, Sidney. Cliff'due south Complete Shakespeare'due south King Henry 4 Part i. Foster City CA: IDG Books Worldwide, 2000.

Rowse, A.L. The Elizabethan Renaissance. New York: Charles Scribner'due south Sons, 1972.

Weil, Herbert and Judith Weil. The Offset Part of Rex Henry Four, New Cambridge Shakespeare, 1997.

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Source: http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/henry4/papers/mthomas.htm

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