The development of drama

Origins

At the beginning performances were religious celebration in the Churches and then outside. This performances, called "mystery plays" were acted by laic people and not by monks and they were played in English and not in Latin

Reasons for the development

Drama became very important during Elizabethan age because there is more interest from the people that listened to the plays in the medieval towns and villages (listening > reading)

The first theatres were built on the South Bank because in the city of London it was illegal

Globe theatres

First Globe Theatre

Built in 1598 and opened in 1599

Situated on the south Bank of the River Thames

People reached the theatre crossing the river with a ferry or walking on the London Bridge

People knew that theatre had a performance because there was a flag on the top

In 1613 a cannon used for special effects hit the thatched roof that fell and set off the fire in the theatre

Second Globe Theatre

Built in the 1614 in the same place of the first

Closed down in the 1642 by the puritans because they considered theatres immoral

Delomished in 1644

Third globe theatre

Built in 1993 thanks to an American actor and open in 1997 by Queen Elizabeth II

The audience

Spetactors ate and drank during the performance

They expressed their feeling with laughter, tears

They loved emotions and for this reasons they wanted thrills, horror, chronicles and history plays with heroic national feeling

Actors

They had to join a company and bear the livery and arms

They had to vary their repertoire in two weeks preparing also several roles in the same performances and this is the reason why the needed a good memory

There were no girls

In the company there were 5 or 6 boys who played female roles and for this reason they learned how to dance, how to sing and the voice and the intonation of girls

Structure of the Elizabethan Theatre

They were circular or octagonal

There was the yard or pit where the poorer spectators stood (groundlings)

One place cost one penny

There were the roofed galleries where the richest people stood

One place cost two pennies

The stage was called the "apron stage" and it was the place where the actors played (at least 12 actors)

Over the tage there was the "shadow" (thatched roof) which protected from the rain

In front of the stage there was the "trap door" used for apparitions and for burials

Behind the stage there was an "inner stage" used in Romeo and Juliet. It was important for discoveries and as tombs or an hiding place

There was no curtain

There was an "upper stage" used as a place for the musicians

There were two doors for entrance and for exits

The actor used them to go to the "tiring house" where they dressed up and where they changed their costumes

Differences between Elizabethan and modern theatres

Elizabethan theatres

There was no curtain and the actors played close to the audience

The plays took place in daylight and they usually started at 2 p.m.

There was no scenery. The time and the places were usully mentioned in the dialogue

Women didn't act in Shakespeare's time and female parts were acted by boys

There was much more interactions from the audience because people stood very close to the stage and they felt close to the actors

The seats were cheaper

Everyone could see a play in the theatre because it was cheap

People could eat and drink and if the play was not good, the audience started to thrown everything

Special effect were very rare: there was a trap door for apparations and there was music played by musicians

Modern theatre

Actors are separated from the audience by a curtain

Actors play in bright light

The scenery is carefully built

Women and men act in every theatre production

There isn't any kind of contact between tthe actors and the audience. Stage is far from the place where the audience is

The seats cost very much

Today going to the theatre is a formal event because tickets are expensive

It's not permitted to eat anything in the theatres

There are a lot of technological devices: microphones, stage lights and music played by the radio