Renaissance Theatre: England

1560-1642

Queen Elizabeth King James

Roots of English Drama

1. Through the study, adaption and

performance of classical Greek and

Roman drama at the English colleges

and universities

2. Through the plays written and performed

by the professional acting troupes

First “True" English Tragedy

• Gorboduc

• Written by 2 university students:

Thomas Sacksville and Thomas

Norton

• Plot and characters drawn from

English legend

• Written in blank verse --

unrhymed iambic pentameter

• Modeled after Roman tragedy

Major Pre-Shakespearean

Playwright

• Christopher Marlowe

(1564-1593)

• Wrote historical

tragedies

• In blank verse

• Have 7 plays

• Most often revived

work: Doctor Faustus

The Major Elizabethan Playwright

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

1564-1616• Playwright, actor, shareholder in the King’s

Men, householder in the Globe Theatre

• Born 1564 in Stratford-on-the-Avon

• Received a grammar school education

• At the age of 18 he marries Ann Hathaway

• They have 3 children: Ann, Hamnet, Judith

• 1584: At the age of 20 he is caught

poaching game on the land of Sir Thomas

Lucy

• Flees to London

• 1584-1594: The Dark Years

• 1590: Begins to write. Henry VI and Titus

Andronicus are performed

• 1594: Becomes a shareholder in the Lord

Chamberlain’s Men

• 1599: Becomes a householder in the

Globe

• 1613: At the age of 49 he retires to

Stratford

• Dies in 1616

The Official Canon

Contains 38 plays.

36 were published in the First Folio

There are…

• 11 Tragedies

• 16 Comedies

• 9 History plays

The Tragedies

• Hamlet

• Romeo and Juliet

• Othello

• King Lear

• Macbeth

• Julius Caesar

• Titus Andronicus

The Comedies

• Taming of the Shrew

• The Merchant of

Venice

• As You Like It

• The Comedy of Errors

• Measure for Measure

• A Midsummer Night’s

Dream

The Merry Wives of Windsor

• The only

Shakespearean

play set in

Elizabethan

England.

• Was written for

Queen Elizabeth

who wanted to see

“Falstaff in love”

Three Types of Comedies

1. Farcical Comedies place their emphasis

on physical comedy (Shrew)

2. Serious Comedies are serious plays with

a happy ending (Merchant of Venice)

3. Romantic Comedies take place in a fairy

tale world (As You Like It)

The History Plays

• Richard II

• Richard III

• Henry IV: parts 1

and 2

• Henry V

• Henry VI: parts 1, 2

and 3

• Henry VIII

Four Production Problems

1. They are long

2. They require a large, mostly male cast,

3. Many of the major roles are difficult,

beyond the scope of a college student

4. The language is difficult to understand,

and speak

Publication of Shakespeare’s Plays

• Quartos: A small book (5”x6”) containing a

single play. 19 scripts were published

between 1594 and 1622

• Folio: A large book (8 ½” x 13”) containing

a collection of 36 plays. The first folio was

published 7 years after his death.

Good and Bad Quartos

• Good Quartos were

based on the official

prompt book held by

the acting company

• Bad Quartos were

compiled from the faulty

memory of an un-happy

actor

The First Folio

• Was published in

1623

• Contained 36 plays

• Was compiled by

two fellow actors

from the King’s Men

• Probably edited by

Ben Jonson

Private and Public Theatres

• Private theatres were the small (Capacity:

700), expensive (6d) indoor playhouses

• Public theatres were the large (Capacity:

3000), less expensive (1d) open air

playhouses

• In 1600 five public theatres -- Globe,

Curtain, Fortune, Rose. and Swan --

operated just outside the city of London

First Professional English

Playhouse

• The Theatre

• Built in 1576

• By James Burbage, joiner turned actor, member

of the Earl of Leicester's Men and father of

Richard Burbage

• Built on leased land north of the city in

“Shoreditch”

• The lease expired in 1597

• Timber from the Theatre was used to build the

Globe

An Inn Yard

The Globe• Opened in 1599

• Was the home of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men

• Burned on June 28, 1613 during a performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII

• Was rebuilt in 1614

• Was closed in 1642

• Dismantled in 1644

• Excavated in the fall of 1989

• Rebuilt in 1997

The Globe

1642 print by Václav Hollar

Bankside today

Location of Globe

Artist’s Concept of The Original

Globe

New Globe (1997)

New Globe (1997)

Primary Source Material

The Original Globe

1. Stage directions in the texts of

Elizabethan plays.

2. Henslowe's contract for the construction

of the Fortune

3. A Dutch visitor's sketch of the Swan

4. The 1989 archaeological excavation of

the Globe site

Sketch of the Swan

Parts of the Globe

• Pit: The courtyard where the audience stood to watch a performance

• Forestage: The platform which jutted into the center of the pit

• Inner below: The curtained discovery area at the rear of the forestage

• Inner Above: The curtained discovery area above the inner below

• Heavens: The roof over the forestage.

Blackfriars

Blackfrairs

• Was a private theatre

• Built into what had been a Dominican

Monastery

• Under the control of the Crown

• With in the walled city of London

• Between 1610 and 1642 was the winter

home of the King’s Men

Elizabethan Acting Company

• Was required to have a patron

• The patron gave the company legitimacy

and a name: The Lord Chamberlain’s Men

• Was a stock company in both the theatrical

and economic sense

• Was all male

• Women characters were played by

apprentices (young men)

• Shareholder: Held an economic interest in

the acting company – they shared in the

company’s profits

• Householder: Held an economic interest in

the playhouse – they shared in the

theatre’s profits

• Hireling: An actor (musician, stage

manager, wardrobe keeper, prompter or

stage hand) employed by the acting

company

• Gatherer: Was the most trusted member

of the company. He collected the penny

general admission from the groundlings as

they entered the theatre

• For an extra penny, the groundling could

leave the pit and watch the show from the

gallery. The extra penny went to the

householder

• One Penny = 1 ½ pounds of bread, a

pound of beef or 2/3 gallon of beer

The King’s Men

• Leading Acting

Company: 1603-

1642

• Patron: King James

• Leading Actor:

Richard Burbage

• Resident

Playwright: William

ShakespeareRichard Burbage

King Charles I - Oliver Cromwell

- Parliament Vs The Crown -• 1642: Parliament closes all theatres to

"appease and avert the wrath of God."

• 1649: King Charles arrested, tried for treason and executed

• Charles II flees to Scotland then France

• 1649-1658: The English Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector)

• 1658: Cromwell dies. His son Richard comes to power.

• 1660: Crown is restored to Charles II