Renaissance Theatre: England 15601642

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Renaissance Theatre England1560-1642
Queen Elizabeth
King James
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Roots of English Drama

• Through the study, adaption and performance of
  classical Greek and Roman drama at the English
  colleges and universities
• Through the plays written and performed by the
  professional acting troupes

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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

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Major Pre-Shakespearean Playwright

• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
• Wrote historical tragedies
• In blank verse
• Have 7 plays
• Most often revived work Doctor Faustus

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The Major Elizabethan PlaywrightWilliam
Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare1564-1616

• Playwright, actor, shareholder in the Kings 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

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• 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
  Chamberlains Men
• 1599 Becomes a householder in the Globe
• 1613 At the age of 49 he retires to Stratford
• Dies in 1616

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The Official Canon

• Contains 38 plays. 36 were published in the First
  Folio
• There are
• 11 Tragedies
• 16 Comedies
• 9 History plays

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The Tragedies

• Hamlet
• Romeo and Juliet
• Othello
• King Lear
• Macbeth
• Julius Caesar
• Titus Andronicus

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The Comedies

• Taming of the Shrew
• The Merchant of Venice
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors
• Measure for Measure
• A Midsummer Nights Dream

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Three Types of Comedies

• Farcical Comedies place their emphasis on
  physical comedy (Shrew)
• Serious Comedies are serious plays with a happy
  ending (Merchant of Venice)
• Romantic Comedies take place in a fairy tale
  world (As You Like It)

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The History Plays

• Richard II
• Richard III
• Henry IV parts 1 and 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI parts 1, 2 and 3
• Henry VIII

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Four Production Problems

• They are long
• They require a large, mostly male cast,
• Many of the major roles are difficult, beyond the
  scope of a college student
• The language is difficult to understand, and
  speak

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Publication of Shakespeares Plays

• Quartos A small book (5x6) containing a single
  play. 19 scripts were published between 1594 and
  1622
• Folio A large book (8 ½ x 13) containing a
  collection of plays. The first folio was
  published 7 years after his death.

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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

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The First Folio

• Was published in 1623
• Contained 36 plays
• Was compiled by two fellow actors from the Kings
  Men
• Probably edited by Ben Jonson

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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

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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

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The Globe

• Opened in 1599
• Was the home of the Lord Chamberlains 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

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The Globe1642 print by Václav Hollar
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Artists Concept of The Original Globe
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New Globe (1997)
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New Globe (1997)
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Primary Source MaterialThe Original Globe

• Stage directions in the texts of Elizabethan
  plays.
• Henslowe's contract for the construction of the
  Fortune
• A Dutch visitor's sketch of the Swan
• The 1989 archaeological excavation of the Globe
  site

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Sketch of the Swan
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Parts of the Globe

• Pit 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.

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Blackfriars
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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
  Kings Men

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Elizabethan Acting Company

• Was required to have a patron
• The patron gave the company legitimacy and a
  name The Lord Chamberlains Men
• Was a stock company in both the theatrical and
  economic sense
• Was all male
• Women characters were played by apprentices
  (young men)

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• Shareholder Held an economic interest in the
  acting company they shared in the companys
  profits
• Householder Held an economic interest in the
  playhouse they shared in the theatres profits
• Hireling An actor (musician, stage manager,
  wardrobe keeper, prompter or stage hand) employed
  by the acting company

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• 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

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The Kings Men

• Leading Acting Company 1603-1642
• Patron King James
• Leading Actor Richard Burbage
• Resident Playwright William Shakespeare

Richard Burbage
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- 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
• 1949-1658 The English Commonwealth under Oliver
  Cromwell (Lord Protector)
• 1658 Cromwell dies. His son Richard comes to
  power.
• 1660 Crown is restored to Charles II