Little theatre or culture

1
The Middle Ages 500 -- 1500

• Little theatre or culture
• First half was called Dark Ages
• Life expectancy was 30 - 35 - less for women
• Catholic Church shut down drama from 6th until
  10th century.
• Church reinstated drama by incorporating dramatic
  activities in worship (most of the audience could
  not read, so Bible stories were acted out).

2
Corpus Christi Plays

• Also known as Mystery plays (because they were
  acted by trade/mystery guilds).
• Each guild would act out different scenes from
  the Bible on moving wagons.
• Eventually suppressed by Protestant authorities
• Shakespeare did see some in his youth

3
Morality Plays

• Survived into Shakespeares time and had a bigger
  impact on his writing
• Taught morality through allegory (characters and
  events are symbols representing truth about human
  life - contemplation, free will, imagination)

4
Public Theatre Prior to the Shake

• No public theatre
• Traveling troupes of actors would act wherever
  they could
• First public theatre built by James Burbage in
  1576
• The Theatre

5
Shakespeares Time

• Elizabethan Era
• Queen Elizabeth was on the English throne - 1558
  - 1603

6
London

• Largest city in Europe
• 190,000 - 200,000
• Cultural center of England

7
Religion

• Time of unrest in Religion
• The church had power, but not as total as it had
  had in the past
• Elizabeth was Protestant, therefore England was
  Protestant
• Shakespeare presents wide range of views -- his
  position is unclear

8
Politics

• Absolutism
• She never married to protect her power -- called
  the Virgin Queen

9
The Renaissance

• 1485 -1649
• Encompasses Elizabeths era
• Later in England than in France
• Rebirth of classical interest in drama, the arts,
  and the potential of humankind

10
Theatre Duplicated the Ancient Greek
Neoclassical Rules

• However, Greek theatre would not combine tragedy
  with comedy, would not to permit violence on
  stage, and there could be only one plot.

11
Major English poets - Shakespeare, Spencer, Milton

• Competing playwright - Ben Jonson

12
Science -- Alchemy

• The earth was still considered to be the centre
  of the universe.
• Gailileo confirmed Copernicus - but not until
  1610 -- too late to affect any but the latest
  Shakespeare plays
• Belief in witchcraft was still prevalent (even
  kings believed in power of witchcraft and magic)

13
William Shakespeare

• Born April 23, 1564
• Stratford-upon-Avon
• Died April 23, 1616

14
Grave

• Shakespeares grave reads
  Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear To
  dig the dust enclosed here Blessed be
  the man that spares these stones And cursed be
  he that moves my bones.

15
Parents

• John Shakespeare and Mary Arden
• Father was a prominent citizen gentleman

16
School

• Attended Free - school one of Stratfords
  most prized institutions
• Grammer, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry,
  Astronomy, Music

17
Reading

• Shakespeare read everything he could that was in
  print
• French and Italian plays, legends, folk plays,
  mythology, historical chronicles and the Bible

18
Marriage -- Anne Hathaway

• He was 18 - she was 8 years his senior
• 3 Children - Susanna (6 months after wedding)
  Twins Hamnet and Judith in 1585

19
Disappeared

• From 1585 -- 1592 we have no record of
  Shakespeare.

20
The Shakes Theatre

• The rowdy nature of the audience has been
  overdone.
• No females actors -- Young boys played female
  roles.
• No scenery. Language creates setting and
  introduces characters.

21
Playwrights Turned Away From Religious Topics

• Burbagess Theatre modeled after bear-baiting
  pits
• Playhouses were often closed due to religious
  persecution and the plague.

22
The Globe

• Burbages sons dismantled their fathers
  Theatre (lease problems) and rebuilt on the
  Southbank.
• The original lumber was used to build the famous
  Globe Theatre.
• Has eight sides, though it is often referred to
  as circular.
• The Pit- 1 cent for the groundlings -- Open to
  the sky 70 feet in diameter surrounded by
  galleries.

23
The Galleries

• The galleries were for wealthy patrons -- the
  most prominent citizens sat on the side of the
  stage
• Cost 2-12 cents
• The Globe could hold up to 3,000

24
The Stage

• Rectangular
  5 1/2 feet tall
  40 by 27 wider than
  deep Removable for bear
  bull baiting
• Trap door in stage led to Hell
  
• Above the curtained balcony was Heaven

25
The Effects

• Thunder rolling a cannon ball across the floor
  of the Hut (above the stage)
• Real cannons were used used for sound
• Destroyed 1613 by fire from cannon during Henry
  VIII
• Rebuilt in 1616

26
The Shakes s Troupe

• Lord Chamberlains Men
• 1603 -- James I (of King James Bible Fame) came
  to power and adopted the troupe
• Renamed The Kings Men
• Macbeth was written in honor of the Scottish
  king.
• Macbeth also called the unmentionable

27
The Shakes s Language

• Blank Verse - Poetry that does not rhyme, but has
  a musical tune to it. This is because it is
  written in Iambic Pentameter which is a line of
  five beats, with each beat having two syllables.
  The stress is most often on the second syllable
  of each beat.
• Prose - Common language which does not
  necessarily have a rhythmical sound to it.
  Usually spoken in Shakespeares plays by servants
  and the lower classes.

28
Sonnet and Rhyming Couplet

• A poem usually of 14 lines that have a particular
  rhyming scheme, and always have two lines that
  rhyme at the end. The best example in Romeo and
  Juliet are the two Chorus parts. The prologue
  having a rhyming scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG.
• SOLILOQUY A speech made by an actor when he is
  alone. It reveals his thoughts and feelings to
  the audience but not to other characters.

29
ASIDE

• Aside and actors words supposedly not heard by
  others on stage.

30
The Odd Stuff

• Only the Bible is read more than Shakespeare
• To this day, Shakespeare is the leading
  playwright of all time (hes the leading
  contemporary playwright)
• He was /is such a mystery that there is still
  debate over who he is
  
• Some people believe he was really Edward de Vere
  - Earl of Oxford
  
• Some even think the writer was a woman

31
The First Folio

• Published in 1623 by his theatrical colleagues
• Outsold only by Bible
• 1,200 printed - 230 survived
• 29 bound

32
Shakespeare

• Shakespeare never attempted to have his plays
  published during his lifetime and he made no
  money off their publication.
• He was not of an age, but for all time Ben
  Jonson

33
You Speak The Shake

• Assassin, without rhyme or reason, in pickle,
  vanished into thin air, hoodwinked, cold comfort,
  point your finger, bid me good riddance, send me
  packing, laughing -stock, the devil incarnate,
  sorry sight, eyesore, dead a door nail, heart of
  gold, full circle, budge an inch , fair play,
  foregone conclusion.