Elizabethan Theatre History Performances Writers Finale

Elizabethan theater derived from several sources. A crucial source was the mystery plays that were part of religious festivals in England and other parts of Europe during the Middle Ages. The mystery plays were complex retellings of legends based on biblical themes, originally performed in churches but later becoming more linked to the secular celebrations that grew up around religious festivals. Other sources include the morality plays that evolved out of the mysteries, the "University drama" that attempted to recreate Greek tragedy. Later, in the 17th century, the Commedia dell'arte and the elaborate masques frequently presented at court came to play roles in the shaping of public theater.

Temporary companies of players attached to households of leading noblemen and performing seasonally in various locations existed before the reign of Elizabeth I. These became the foundation for the professional players that performed on the Elizabethan stage. The tours of these players gradually replaced the performances or the mystery and morality plays by local players, and a 1572 law eliminated the remaining companies lacking formal patronage by labelling them as vagabonds. At court as well, the performance of masques by courtiers and other amateurs, apparently common in the early years of Elizabeth, was replaced by the professional companies with noble patrons, who grew in number and quality during her reign.

The local government of London was generally hostile to public performances, but its hostility was overmatched by the Queen's taste for plays and the Privy Council's support. Theatres sprang up in suburbs, especially in Southwark, accessible across the Thames to city dwellers, but not controlled by the London corporation. The companies maintained the pretence that their public performances were mere rehearsals for the frequent performances before the Queen, but while the latter did grant prestige, the former were the real source of the income professional players required.

2 Performances

The stage on which Elizabethan plays were performed was essentially a platform surrounded on three sides by the audience, only the rear being open for entrances, exits, and seating for musicians to accompany the frequent songs. Theatres built specially for plays, of which there were several by 1600Events January January 1 Scotland adopts January 1st as being New Year's Day February February 17 Giordano Bruno burned in a stake for heresy July July 2 Battle of Nieuwpoort: Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau defeat Spanish forces under Archduke Alber, had an upper level which could be used as a balconyA balcony Balcony (from Italian balco scaffold; cf. High German balcho beam, balk), a kind of platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade. Sometimes balconies are adapted for ce, as in Romeo and JulietRomeo y Julieta is also a brand of Cuban cigars. Romeo & Juliet is also a quest episode in the RuneScape. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young star-crossed lovers. It was probably first performed on Jan, or as a position for an actor to harangue a crowd as in Julius Caesar.

One distinctive feature of the companies was that they included only males. Until the reign of Charles I, female parts were played by adolescent boys in women's costume.

3 Writers

The growing population of London, the growing wealth of its people, and their fondness for spectacle produced a dramatic literature of remarkable variety, quality, and extent. Although most of the plays written for the Elizabethan stage have been lost, over 600 remain extant.

The men (no woman, so far as is known, wrote for the stage in this era) who wrote these plays were primarily self-made men from modest backgrounds. Some of them had educations at either OxfordUniversity of Oxford Motto Dominus Illuminatio Mea ("The Lord is my Light") ( Psalm 27) Established c. 1096 School type Public Chancellor The Right Hon. Chris Patten Vice-Chancellor Dr. John Hood Location Oxford, United Kingdom Enrolment 17,000 total (5,6 or CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is the second-oldest academic institution in the English-speaking world (after Oxford). According to legend, the University was founded in 1209 by scholars escaping Oxford after a fight with locals. Cambridge and the University, but many did not. The university men often looked down on those writers who lacked education. Although William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 ( O. May 3, 1616 ( N. has a reputation as the greatest writer the English language has ever known. Indeed, the English Renaissance has often been called "the age of Shakespe was an actor, the majority do not seem to have been performers, and no major author who came on to the scene after 1600Events January January 1 Scotland adopts January 1st as being New Year's Day February February 17 Giordano Bruno burned in a stake for heresy July July 2 Battle of Nieuwpoort: Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau defeat Spanish forces under Archduke Alber is known to have supplemented his income by acting.

They were not men who fit modern images of poets or intellectuals. Christopher Marlowe was killed in an apparent tavern brawl, Shakespeare had associates in the London underworld and supplemented his income with money-lending, while Ben Jonson killed an actor in a duel. Several probably were soldiers.

The writers were poorly paid for their labors. Once a play was sold to a company, the author received no further benefits from either performance or publication. Many supplemented their income writing pamphlets; in spite of this most who did not die young died poor.

4 Finale

The rising Puritan movement was hostile to the theatres, which the Puritans considered theater to be sinful for several reasons. The most commonly cited reason was that young men dressed up in female costume to play female roles. Theatres were located in the same parts of the city in which brothels and other forms of vice proliferated. When the Puritan faction of Parliament gained control over the city of London at the beginning of the English Civil War, it ordered the closing of all theatres in 1642 - though this was largely because the stage was being used to promote opposing political views. By the time that the restored monarchy re-opened the theatres in 1660, the English King and many writers had spent years in France and adopted the fluorishing French theatre of Louis XIV as the model for new plays. The Elizabethan style, with its multitude of scenes, multitude of characters, melange of genres, and mixture of verse and prose became obsolete except in revivals of the old Elizabethan classics (and many of these were edited to conform to the new taste).

For 50 years, drama had been the highest form of literature in English, and the Elizabethan writers had gained a reputation through much of Europe, as attested in Don Quixote and elsewhere, as the finest dramatists since the Roman Empire. After the closing of 1642, English literature adopted the novel as its major form for storytelling, and no plays of real significance would be written in English until Irishmen such as George Bernard Shaw, John Synge and Oscar Wilde revived the art more than two centuries later.

5 List of playwrights

6 List of players

7 Other significant people

George Buc, Master of the Revels 1609 - 1622
Cuthbert Burbage , entrepreneur
James Burbage, entrepreneur
Philip Henslowe, entrepreneur
Francis Langley , entrepreneur
Edmund Tilney , Master of the Revels 1579 - 1609

8 List of playhouses

The Theatre
The Curtain
The Rose
The Swan
Globe Theatre
The Fortune

9 External link

Shakespeare and the Globe from Encyclopaedia Britannica; a more comprehensive resource on the theatre of this period than its name suggests

Theatre William Shakespeare

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Home > Elizabethan theatre

1 History