Elizabethan Theatres Theatres did not have

Scenery Curtains Special lighting Women actors

Theatres were built around roofless octagonal courtyards

The 1st theatre was built in 1576 and called The Theatre

Elizabethan Theatres When the flag on the bell tower of the

theatre was flying that let people know a play was to be performed

Plays lasted 2-2 ½ hours without any stops!

The Globe Theatre 1598-The Globe was built.

Most of Shakespeare’s plays were performed here since he was one of he owners. The acting company for The Globe was known as The Kings Men

1613-The Globe was destroyed by fire. The Globe (as well as most theatres) could hold from 2-3,000 people for a play

The Globe Theatre Continued A WHITE FLAG, flying above the theatre

meant a performance was being held “Groundlings”, or “penny pinchers”-

name given to those who stood because they stood on the ground and their admission price was one penny

For a penny more one could sit in the gallery on large, backed chairs called “degrees”

The Globe Continued There was little, if any scenery, but the

costumes used were authentic and beautiful

Black Plague closed the theatre for several months

The Globe burned down in 1613 when wadding from a canon shot during a performance of Henry VIII, lodged in the thatched roof. All escaped through two small doors

William Shakespeare He is nicknamed The Bard.

Bard is a name given to a nationally exalted poet

Born on April 23, 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon in England and died on April 23, 1616 at the age of 52.

Parents were John Shakespeare who was a glover (tanner) and mayor of Stratford- his mother was Mary Arden. She came from a wealthy landowning family.

William Shakespeare Continued November 28-December 1, 1532

Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. He was 18, she was 26

Anne and William had 3 children: Suzanna, Hamnet, and Judith (Hamnet and Judith were twins)

Hamnet died at age 11, putting an end to the Shakespeare name

William Shakespeare Continued Somewhere between 1585 and 1592,

Shakespeare left Stratford for London In London, he began working as an actor.

He was with a theatre company called Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

In 1593, the theatres closed because of the Black Plague. The actors had to begin traveling to the countryside. This is when he began to write.

William Shakespeare Continued His big break as a playwright came when

the acting group performed Twelfth Night for Queen Elizabeth I

This then made him a prominent playwright and actor

In 1590, Shakespeare began writing but under another name

In 1594, he put his name to his first play, Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare’s Works Shakespeare wrote

3 types of plays Romantic Comedies

(17) Histories (6) Tragedies (10)

Shakespeare’s England Plague

Overcrowded conditions and many slum areas Bubonic plague broke out frequently (black

boils, spitting of blood, death within three days, caught from fleas and rats)

Occurs in overcrowded areas where there is filth and waste

Sanitation Filthy city, houses stacked on top of one another No sewers or drains except for a gutter in the

middle of the street where garbage pails were emptied

Queen Elizabeth 1558-1603 The extreme

importance of this woman was that everyone loved her for her achievements

Elizabeth was under suspicion of conspiring with other Protestants to dethrone Queen Mary

Queen Elizabeth Continued Elizabethan I was Queen of England

and Wales four hundred years ago. She was on the throne for 45 years, and was such an impressive person that we refer to her reign as the “Elizabethan Age”

Queen Elizabeth affected the life of William Shakespeare by having actors and writers do plays about what was happening in the government.