Theatre in the Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan Era

The  English Elizabethan Era is one of the most fascinating periods in the History of England. The Elizabethan Era is named after the greatest Queen of England- Queen Elizabeth I. The Elizabethan Era is not only famous for the Virgin Queen but also for the era itself – Great Explorers, such as Sir Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. Queen Elizabeth recognized the importance of the arts to the life and legacy of her nation. She was fond of the theatre, and many of England's greatest    playwrights were active during her reign, including Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson, and William Shakespeare.

The  Elizabethan  Theatre

    The theatre as a public amusement was an innovation in the social life of the Elizabethans, and it immediately took the general fancy. During the first years of Elizabeth’s reign, the English playing companies used inns, inn yards, college halls and private houses for their performances. It was not until 1576 that the actor-manager James Burbage built the Theatre in Shoreditch, the first purpose-built playhouse in London. So London's first theater was built when Shakespeare was about twelve years old; and the whole system of the Elizabethan theatrical world came into being during his lifetime. The great popularity of plays of all sorts led to the building of playhouses both public and private, to the organization of innumerable  companies of players both amateur and professional, and to  countless difficulties connected with the authorship and licensing             of plays. 

Elizabethan Theatrical Costumes

   The Elizabethan theatre costumes were colourful, vibrant and  eye catching. Almost every color of clothing had its own meaning and conveyed an enormous amount of information during the Elizabethan era and this meaning was totally understood by the audience. The types of materials and fabrics had a great effect too. Costumes were expensive, so usually players wore contemporary clothing regardless of the time period of the play.

 The Elizabethan women’s clothing was very elaborate and was structed with many layers of clothing. On the other hand, the men’s costume at the Elizabethan theatre was a shirt, stockings, britches, doublet which was a well fitted coat, sleeves separate, same stiff high collar and an overcoat. Also, a cape and hat.

Elizabethan Performances/Actors/Playwrights

Women never performed in plays, so young boys played female  characters. They had to use wigs. The performances took place in the afternoon because it was too dark at night. There was no stage crew as there is today. Actors had to do everything themselves - from making costumes to setting the stage. Plays were organized by acting companies. They performed about 6 different plays each week because they needed money to survive. They had almost no time for rehearsals.

    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. The men who wrote these plays were primarily self-made men from modest backgrounds. Some of them were educated at either Oxford or Cambridge, but many were not. Although William Shakespeare and Ben     Johnson were actors, the majority do not seem to have been  formers, and no major author who came on to the scene after 1600 is known to have supplemented his income by acting.

The Globe

  

        Shakespeare joined the resident troupe at the Theatre in the 1580s and the company (later known as the Chamberlain’s and then the King’s Men) flourished there for 20 years.                                                  

In 1596 a dispute arose over the renewal of the lease and negotiations were begun to acquire a disused hall in the precincts of the old Blackfriars priory to use as an indoor theatre. James Burbage died in February 1597; in April the lease expired, but the dispute continued for two years, during which time the company performed at the nearby Curtain playhouse. In Christmas 1598 the company sought a drastic solution: they leased a plot near the Rose, a rival theatre in Southwark, demolished the Theatre and carried its timbers over the river. To cover the cost of the new playhouse, James Burbage’s sons Cuthbert and Richard, offered some members of the company shares in the building. Shakespeare was one of four actors who bought a share in the Globe. By early 1599 the theatre was up and running and for 14 years it thrived, presenting many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, wadding from a stage cannon ignited the thatched roof and the theatre burned to the ground ‘all in less than two hours, the people having enough to do to save themselves’. The theatre was quickly rebuilt, this time with a tiled roof. Shakespeare may have acted in the second Globe, but he probably never wrote for it. It remained the home for Shakespeare’s old company until the closure of all the theatres under England’s Puritan administration in 1642. No longer of use, it was demolished to make room for tenements in 1644.