Renaissance TheaterShakespeare & Friends

English Renaissance Theater

1300- 1600-Queen Elizabeth loved theater and revamped

the theater world of England-The feudal system of the Middle Ages was

falling out-Cities were growingPrinces & Rulers were taking back their power

Ren. Th. Cont.

-It was the start of permanent theater locations-Still a men only industry, but women are

popping up in the travelling theater-People would stand shoulder to shoulder to

watch performances-Now, The Court is watching the same plays as

the commoners.

Ren Th. Cont.

-However, upper-classes are developing private theaters and writing other plays.

-Few new plays were being written for public theaters, but there were enough from the previous decades to keep the theaters alive.

-Travelling bands of actors were playing by their own rules.

Ren. Th. Cont.

Street theater is now a thing:Commedia Dell’Arte is created-Players use the streets and town squares as

performance spaces-Travelling carts are now a theater space-Improvisation-based-Lots of set characters and scenarios and the

dialogue is then improvised

Commedia Dell’arte

Ren. Th. Cont.

The Globe Theater and others like it: -First few buildings were made of wood, not a

lot of longevity-They were three stories high and the idea was

that from wherever a person was in the audience, they could see the show

-On a busy theater day, there would be 10,000 theater goers

The Globe Theater

Ren. Th. Cont.

- The same play was rarely done twice in a row, or even twice in a week.

- The actors were learning unbelievable amounts of new material all the time

- Young boys were used in place of women in productions

- Costumes were pricey, so actors typically used contemporary clothing

Ren. Th. Cont.

-William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson are the main playwrights

-Most were not academics and had no formal education

-Marlowe died in a bar fight & Jonson died in a duel.

-No ownership of a play, once a company bought it, it was theirs

- Many playwrights wrote collaboratively

Ren. Th. Cont.

-With so many plays coming out all the time, they relied on the brain power of working in groups

-This also meant that they had to split their already miniscule pay

-The typical or standard format of the play dialogue was verse

- For Shakespeare, Iambic pentameter

Ren. Th. Cont.

Genres included:History plays: Richard III, Henry V

(Shakespeare)

Tragedy: Faustus (Marlowe), Hamlet (Shakespeare)

Comedy: Twelfth Night, Midsummer (Shakespeare)