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Elizabethan Theater
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The Elizabethan Era

• Queen Elizabeth I embodied power and beauty
• It was an extravagant and brutal age
• The first theaters in England appeared
• William Shakespeare

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Drama in the Elizabethan Age

• - After defeating the Spanish
• Armada, England became intensely
• Interested in the past.
• Playwrights were practical men
• bent on making a living
• Once a playwright sold his manuscript, he had no
  personal
• right to it
• Plays were written to be acted ,
• not read

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Playhouses

• Private small, roofed buildings for the wealthy
  people
• Public usually the backyards of inns
• Famous theaters the Rose, the Swan, the Globe,
  and the Fortune

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Structure

• Public theaters were either
• a round, square, or octagonal
• wooden structure which
• consisted of
• unroofed courtyard
• roofed galleries
• platform stage
• tiring-house
• curtained discovery space
• hut
• trapdoor

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Seating

• Determined by the wealth and the social status of
  the people.
• The wealthiest people took the best seats

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Dialogue

• The playwright used poetic dialogue
• to
• paint a picture of the scene
• establish the time and the place of
• the action
• familiarize the audience both with
• the characters identities and their
• physical appearances
• Soliloquies and asides were also
• used to compensate for the absence
• of an elaborate stage.

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Picture of the setting

Why should I war without the walls of Troy That
find such cruel battle here within?
Troilus and Cressida
Time of the action Look Hector, how the
Sun begins to set How ugly the night comes
breathing at his heels, Even with the veil and
darking of the Sun, To close the day up, Hectors
life is done.
Troilus and Cressida Physical
appearance O, she doth teach the torches to
burn bright It seems she hangs upon the cheek of
night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiopes
ear Beauty too rich for use, for earth too
dear! Romeo
and Juliet
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Costumes

• Elaborate and colorful costumes
• Communicate the message of the character, show
  his/her social status, profession

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Acting Companies

• Before the theaters were built performances were
  put on by traveling troupes
• They had the reputation of being vagabonds
• Many people gathered and sometimes behaved
  disorderly

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Actors

• The typical Elizabethan acting company comprised
  of
• shareholders
• salaried actors
• apprentices
• Actors were expected to be able to
• sing
• clown
• fence
• perform acrobatic feats
• dance

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The Globe Theater

• Built in 1599 by Cuthbert Burbage
• Shakespeare put on most of his plays in there and
  acted in some of them
• In 1642 the theater was completely destroyed

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Sources

• http//www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-age.
  htm

http//www.enotes.com/william-shakespeare/shakespe
ares-globe-theater
http//www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/Springfie
ld/eliz/artsarchitecture.html
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Thank you for your attention! Presenters Des
sislava Georgieva Aneliya Stoyanova