Shakespeare Pre-Reading Articles

7/29/2019 Shakespeare Pre-Reading Articles

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Shakespeares Life and Times Teacher Notes:

Do Now Topic: What did Ben Jonson mean when he said Shakespeare was not of

an age but for all time?

The groups are as follows:

1. Shakespeares Biography2. The Plays

3. Theatre Experience in Shakespeares Time

4. The Globe Theatre

5. Costumes and Sets

Students read their own article individually for Day One. On the notesheet, they

can take notes on their topic and write down two Essential Questions they have

about their topic (either things they learned and think are important for others to

know or questions they would like to answer).

Students will have the first class period to take notes on their article. Day Two

will give them 20 minutes to finish reading if they havent done so, and the

rest of the class period to present to groups with students who read the four

other articles. They will take notes on their handout.


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ARTICLE #1: What was Shakespeares LIFE like?

Biography: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon. The son of John Shakespeare

and Mary Arden, he was probably educated at the King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford,

where he learned Latin and a little Greek and read the Roman dramatists. At eighteen, he married Anne

Hathaway, a woman seven or eight years his senior. Together they raised two daughters: Susanna, who

was born in 1583, and Judith (whose twin brother died in boyhood), born in 1585.

Little is known about Shakespeare's activities between 1585 and 1592. Robert Greene'sA Groatsworth

of Witalludes to him as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare may have taught at school during this

period, but it seems more probable that shortly after 1585 he went to London to begin his

apprenticeship as an actor. Due to the plague, the London theaters were often closed between June

1592 and April 1594. During that period, Shakespeare probably had some income from his patron,

Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first two poems, Venus and Adonis(1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594). The fomer was a long narrative poem depicting the rejection

of Venus by Adonis, his death, and the consequent disappearance of beauty from the world. Despite

conservative objections to the poem's glorification of sensuality, it was immensely popular and was

reprinted six times during the nine years following its publication.

In 1594, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's company of actors, the most popular of the

companies acting at Court. In 1599 Shakespeare joined a group of Chamberlain's Men that would form

a syndicate to build and operate a new playhouse: the Globe, which became the most famous theater of

its time. With his share of the income from the Globe, Shakespeare was able to purchase New Place,

his home in Stratford.

While Shakespeare was regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time, evidence indicates that both he

and his world looked to poetry, not playwriting, for enduring fame. Shakespeare's sonnets were


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composed between 1593 and 1601, though not published until 1609. That edition, The Sonnets of

Shakespeare, consists of 154 sonnets, all written in the form of three quatrains and a couplet that is

now recognized as Shakespearean. The sonnets fall into two groups: sonnets 1-126, addressed to a

beloved friend, a handsome and noble young man, and sonnets 127-152, to a malignant but fascinating

"Dark Lady," whom the poet loves in spite of himself. Nearly all of Shakespeare's sonnets examine the

inevitable decay of time, and the immortalization of beauty and love in poetry.

In his poems and plays, Shakespeare invented thousands of words, often combining or contorting Latin

French and native roots. His impressive expansion of the English language, according to the Oxford

English Dictionary, includes such words as: arch-villain, birthplace, bloodsucking, courtship, dewdrop,

downstairs, fanged, heartsore, hunchbacked, leapfrog, misquote, pageantry, radiance, schoolboy,

stillborn, watchdog, and zany.

Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays. These are usually divided into four categories: histories,

comedies, tragedies, and romances. His earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as

Henry VIand The Comedy of Errors, but in 1596, Shakespeare wroteRomeo and Juliet, his second

tragedy, and over the next dozen years he would return to the form, writing the plays for which he is

now best known:Julius Caesar,Hamlet, Othello,King Lear,Macbeth, andAntony and Cleopatra. In

his final years, Shakespeare turned to the romantic with Cymbeline,A Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.

Only eighteen of Shakespeare's plays were published separately in quarto editions during his lifetime; a

complete collection of his works did not appear until the publication of the First Folio in 1623, several

years after his death. Nonetheless, his contemporaries recognized Shakespeare's achievements. Francis

Meres cited "honey-tongued" Shakespeare for his plays and poems in 1598, and the Chamberlain's Men

rose to become the leading dramatic company in London, installed as members of the royal household

in 1603.

Sometime after 1612, Shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to his home in Stratford. He

drew up his will in January of 1616, which included his famous bequest to his wife of his "second best

bed." He died on April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later at Stratford Church.


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ARTICLE #2: What were Shakespeares PLAYS about?

Shakespeare: Types of Plays

All Shakespeare's plays fall into one of the four

categories of tragedy, comedy, history, or romance.Tragedies

Generally, tragedies end with the death of the

protagonist, and often with that of several of the

principals. Do not think, however, that tragedies are simply gloomy. Several of them, notably

Hamlet, contain much wit and dry humor. Great tragedies, such as Shakespeare's, do not leave

their audience sad, but exalted, even if in tears. We often come away feeling we have

understood something new about ourselves or the world.

Comedies

The comedies may or may not be very funny, but they usually end with the marriage of the

principal couple and often with that of other couples as well. However, the comedies are not

uniformly lighthearted. Some contain bitter and disturbing scenes. What mainly distinguishes

Shakespeare's comedies from his tragedies is that the comedies look forward to the future. In

the tragedies, we almost always witness the end of something important. Usually it is not just

the end of the life of theprotagonist and some of his friends, but that of an entire historical era

or royal dynasty.

Histories

The history plays deal with actual events and people, and they end in whatever way is dictated

by the historical facts. These plays, although based on known events and historical figures, are

often as fanciful in details as the tragedies and comedies. Shakespeare was not really ahistorian, and he used historical events as ways of stimulating his imagination, not of recording

what actually happened.

Romances

Romances are plays that have so much of the fantastic or supernatural that they fit none of the
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three more traditional categories. Shakespeare's romances are the work of his last years, and

they seem to amount to a kind of farewell to the stage.

Appeal and Influence

Since his death Shakespeare's plays have been almost continually performed, in non-English-

speaking nations as well as those where English is the native tongue; they are quoted more than

the works of any other single author. The plays have been subject to ongoing examination and

evaluation by critics attempting to explain their perennial appeal, which does not appear to

derive from any set of profound or explicitly formulated ideas. Indeed, Shakespeare has

sometimes been criticized for not consistently holding to any particular philosophy, religion, or

ideology; for example, the subplot ofA Midsummer Night's Dream includes a burlesque of the

kind of tragic love that he idealizes inRomeo and Juliet.

The strength of Shakespeare's plays lies in the absorbing stories they tell, in their wealth of

complex characters, and in the eloquent speechvivid, forceful, and at the same time lyric

that the playwright puts on his characters' lips. It has often been noted that Shakespeare's

characters are neither wholly good nor wholly evil, and that it is their flawed, inconsistent

nature that makes them memorable. Hamlet fascinates audiences with his ambivalence about

revenge and the uncertainty over how much of his madness is feigned and how much genuine.

Falstaff would not be beloved if, in addition to being genial, openhearted, and witty, he were

not also boisterous, cowardly, and, ultimately, poignant. Finally, the plays are distinguished by

an unparalleled use of language. Shakespeare had a tremendous vocabulary and a corresponding

sensitivity to nuance, as well as a singular aptitude for coining neologisms and punning.


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ARTICLE #3: What was THEATER like in Shakespeares times?

To really understand Shakespeare, you need to see his plays live on

stage. Its a sad fact that today we normally study Shakespeare out

of a book, but its important to remember that Shakespeare wasnt

writing for todays literary audience; he was writing for the

masses, many of whom couldnt read or write.

Exploring the context of Shakespeares theater gives you a fuller

understanding of his plays.

The Theater Experience:

The experience of visiting a theater and watching a play was very different in Elizabethan times. You

were not expected to be still and silent throughout the performance like you are today. Rather, it was

the modern equivalent of going to see a popular band.

Major Differences:

The audience would eat, drink and talk throughout the performance

Theaters were open air and used natural light

Plays were performed in the afternoon in the daylight

Women never performed and the female characters were often played by boys

Plays used very little scenery, instead using language to set the scene

The Changing Status of Theater:

Shakespeare saw the publics attitude towards theater change during his lifetime. Theater was once

considered to be a disreputable pastime and was frowned upon by the Puritan authorities, who were

worried that it might distract people from their religious teachings. During the reign of Elizabeth I,

theaters were banned within the city walls of London (even though the Queen enjoyed the theater and

gave it her patronage).


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Over time, theater became more popular and a thriving entertainment scene grew on Bankside, just

outside the city walls. Bankside was considered to be a den of iniquity with its brothels, bear-baiting

pits and theaters good company for the worlds greatest playwright.

The Acting Profession:

Theater companies were extremely busy. They would perform around six different plays each week,

which could only be rehearsed a couple of times beforehand. Also, there was no stage crew like we

have today; every member of the company would have to help make costumes, props and scenery.

The Elizabethan acting profession worked on an apprentice system, making it very hierarchical. Even

Shakespeare would have had to rise up through the ranks:

Theater in Shakespeares Time

It is a good idea to look at the situation of the theatre, before and while Shakespeare was writing. The

reason is clear; the situation would limit what Shakespeare could do.

Firstly, there weren't many theatres. This is a massive limitation if you want to put a play on. Most

theatre companies, at the time, travelled around. The actors, or players, would stop in a 'playing-place'.

This might be a market square, village green or, the most popular, a tavern's courtyard.

They would set up their theatre right there. This would usually be a wooden trestle stage, which was

easy to carry and easy to set up.

It wasn't until 1576 that the first custom-made theatre was built. This was called, appropriately, The

Theatre. The Theatre was built in north London, outside the city limits. From 1576 to when

Shakespeare died in 1616, about a dozen theatres were built in London. At that time, London had a

population of just 200,000. That growth is like modern day multiplex cinemas.

Perhaps the most significant limitation for Shakespeare would be the theatres. When the custom made

theatres were built, the stage consisted of three main areas. Have a look at the picture above.


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ARTICLE #4 What was Shakespeares CULTURE like? 1

Elizabethan England Marriage - Attitude towards love and marriage

Comparable to these days wherein every woman would look forward to that day whenthey have to walk in the aisle, Elizabethan marriages was also one of the highlight ofevery woman's life. The chief difference is, back then; the woman possesses very littleright in choosing her husband.

It is foolish to marry someone because of love even if love may occur sometimes inmarriage. The matrimony is arranged by families of the bride and the groom in order forthe two sides to benefit from one another.

Mostly, it was arranged for wealth and reputation. Families oflandowners were expected to marry just to augment their land

possession.

Couples may even only see each other for the first time duringthe wedding day itself! This was rampant among lofty nobility,however people in the lower class would normallyarranged the marriage with the children of friends andneighbors.

Thus, the lower the status a family holds in the society then thelarger power a person may have in choosing lifetime mates.Because of this practice, the marriage will too often fail.

Among the famous couple who experienced disastrous marriage were Lord Darnley andMary Queen of Scots; Robert Dudley and Amy Robsart; and Edward earl of Oxford andAnne Cecil. Still, successful marriage is not a myth since there were the 2nd Earl ofBedford and his 3rd countess: and 7th Baron and Lady Berkeley.

Elizabethan Era marriage normally takes place through the help of a miniature picturegiven by the man. The picture is a symbolism of the traits and looks of the girl he wishesto marry. Women were regarded as second class citizens and they were expected to tiethe knot despite of their social standings.

Single women were regarded as witches. With parent's consent, a boy and a girl wereallowed to marry at the age of 14 and 12 although it was not common for marriage totake place on such a young age. Boy would often not marry until they reached the age ofconsent, 21.

Ironically, the dowry in marriages in Elizabethan England would benefit the male. Adowry is a certain amount of cash, property, and goods that bride would bring during theactual ceremony. It is known as her share.The husbands were given all the rights to takeover their wives thus the girl would became the man's property.
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Like today, Elizabethan England marriage ceremony was considered to have a religiousintonation. The ceremony would vary but the prerequisites before the matrimony wasalways the same.

It commenced with the Crying the Banns in where the intention of the couples to marrywas made into public. It will be announced into three consecutive Sundays or Holy daysthus when there were any objection, at least such party was given the time to speak out.

Wedding invitations were not provided.

Gifts were rarely offered but it was their tradition to celebrate the occasion with a blastthus the event is carefully planned beforehand. The menu comprise of exotic dishes likepeacock.

Daily Life in England during the Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan period in England had a daily life based on social order: the monarch asthe highest, the nobility as second rank, the gentry as third, merchants as fourth, andlaborers as fifth. The queen was believed to be God's representation here on Earth.

They also believed that God had formed these social ranks and had showered blessingson each rank. Their Parliament had also regulated the clothes that can only be worn byeach rank. For a laborer to wear clothes of the rich was not allowed and considered to bea defiance of the order.

The Elizabethans had a high regard for family in acommunity. They believed that families were role models forthe community. They were standardized and followed a

deep respect for the importance of hierarchy.

They had customary rulings for the behavior of children thatwere taken from Bible passages. These passages wereexplanations on the duty of parents in properly raising theirchildren and likewise the responsibility of children to respectand obey their elders.

Another law stated that when an individual dies, there was a need to write in aninventory all of the possessions accounted to that individual because this was aninformative source or the remaining witness on how the subjects of Elizabethan era

lived.

People from every social rank began to acquire more household properties during theperiod of Queen Elizabeth. It was noticeable how houses were constantly changing.

For reasons of privacy and comfort, medieval structures using a barn pattern weremodernized and added up more chambers or divided rooms. Other town houses inLondon and big country properties were usually owned by counselors and courtiers ofthe Elizabethan time. These became great representations of architectural style duringthe period.


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Despite the developing awareness of the significance of comfort in any household, dailylife in England during the Elizabethan era was still very difficult for the majority of thesubjects. The Westerners ate at least two day meals, which are dinner and supper.

The middle and low ranks ate vegetables and grains. The nobility class ate sweet foodand meats. Generally, life expectancy reached until 42 years old, but of course the richer

rank had lived years longer than that.

All the more Elizabethan problems with sickness and diseases were worsened by thetown's low sanitary measures. The treatment and procedures for medical attention were

unorganized and fell short to complete the need; even people who were able to seekmedical help had to go through painful procedures and other medication problems.

Worst, the poor ranks had to undergo their medication through the traditional form ofhealing that was solely based on superstitious beliefs.

ARTICLE #5 What was Shakespeares CULTURE like? 2England Fashion during the Elizabethan Age

Fashion in England during the Elizabethan Age was considered a way of self-expressionfor all members of the social ranks.

For women, fashion was simple but made attractive. It covered the skin from the neck tothe ankle. During this time, women worked hard to achieve a small waistline becausegowns had a tight body piece to show off the tiny waistline. Details like ruffles wereaccentuated to the gowns to denote the high status of the woman-wearer in the society.

The gowns also had some sort of a puffy sleeve.Shoes were not important since they were coveredby the long dresses. They also accentuated theclothing with biggold necklaces and a hood-like detailto cover the neck area. But as time evolved, so doestheir fashion, too. Waistlines had shifted into straightfigures.

The ruffled sleeves became fitted to the arms withvarious small detail pieces held onto it.

There were changes in styles for men's fashion. The early part of the Elizabethan era hadmen sporting embroidered vest-looking and front-buttoned shirts with loose pants untilthe knee. The rich men wore finely-made-of-leather shoes, a flat silk or velvet hat, or atall hat like a crown that was made of feathers of fabric.Later on, they were dressed in cloaks held by a crucifix and chain with fine stockings insilk, and bonnets or hats with a plume on the side. Like women's clothing, men's clotheswere detailed with inconvenient ruffles, too. It was inconvenient because these ruffleswere stiff and about eight inches in width.
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Similarly, the ruffles also revealed the status of men in thesociety. The gems attached to the clothing were also heavy.Boys and girls also wore dresses of the same styles. Dressingwas regarded as an art form that is why Elizabethan people tooktime and effort to dress themselves.

Aside from clothing, hair was also an important factor in

Elizabethan fashion in England. They made all efforts to weartheir hair in fabulous styles and at the same time put joy andpride on themselves for this.

Most likely, they took a long wait to get their hair done inwonderful styles and do not mind about the cost it would takethem. They managed to stay in parlors or barbershops for the

longest time just to make their hair looked fantastic.Even when men went bald, they wore wigs to put up with fashion trends of the time.Men's beards were also made sure that trims were done to fit the trend. Women hadundergone hair bleaching to secure the right color for their hair. Sometimes, they also

detailed it with hair accessories or hats to greatly emphasize the look.

Fashion was considered an important lifestyle in the Elizabethan era. Fashionrepresented social status of men and women and gave them a sense of pride. Both wentthrough extreme measures just to achieve the look that they want or every timetheir fashion changes.

Elizabethan Hygiene

I do not know about you, but generally, one shower or bath per week is terrible hygieneby today's standards. In fact, anything more than every other day is considered

unsanitary. Unfortunately, bathing was not quite as simple during the Elizabethan timesas it is today.

Therefore, lower class citizens (making up the bulk of the Elizabethan era people) wouldmaybe only bathe a few times in a single year. For the upper class, they had a little bitmore luxury and were able to bathe roughly once every couple of weeks.

The bathing itself was probably not the most sanitary of things. Generally it was taken inan old wooden tub. These tubs were typically placed next to fireplaces so that it wouldwarm the water. However, the water itself was likely fairly dirty.They did not have treatment plants like they do today. The water that they tookbaths in

was considered unfit to drink. So do you think that a good bath in such water would bevery hygienic at all? It probably was not.

Hair itself did receive a little bit better treatment. Unlike today though, they did not haveshampoos and conditioners for hair treatment. Typically their hair was washedseparately from their bathing and the only thing added was a form of lye soap. This waslikely done more frequently among the citizens of the Elizabethan era.

The way of life was pretty unhygienic during Elizabethan period by today's standards.There was no running water, you did not have indoor toilets, and there was no toilet
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paper. Instead of toilet paper, people would typically use clumps of grass or hay forcleaning.To top it off London and other places were overly crowded and this made for a hugemess all the time. The unhygienic conditions along with overpopulation is probably whatcaused the Bubonic plague and other problems to spread so easily from one person toanother.

ARTICLE #4: The Globe Theater

Early in 1599 Shakespeare, who had been acting with the Lord Chamberlain's Men since 1594, paid into the

coffers of the company a sum of money amounting to 12.5 percent of the cost of building the Globe. He did soas a chief shareholder in the company, and by doing so he helped to establish a uniquely successful form of

commercial operation for the actors of the time. This investment gave Shakespeare and the other leading actors

both a share in the company's profits and a share in their playhouse.

At this time, officially approved playhouses and officially approved acting companies had been in existence in

London for only five years. The Lord Chamberlain's Men was one of only two companies licensed to perform

within the London city limits. (For more on this subject,see Sidebar: Shakespeare and the Liberties.) The othercompany used the Rose playhouse, owned by an impresario and his ex-actor son-in-law.

The second best playhouse

Shakespeare's company built the Globe only because it could not use the special roofed facility, BlackfriarsTheatre, that James Burbage (the father of their leading actor, Richard Burbage) had built in 1596 for it inside

the city. The elder Burbage had a long history as a theatrical entrepreneur. In 1576 he had built the first

successful amphitheatre, known as The Theatre, in a London suburb. Twenty years later, when the lease on TheTheatre's land was about to expire, he built the theatre in Blackfriars as its replacement. But the wealthy

residents of Blackfriars persuaded the government to block its use for plays, so Burbage's capital was locked up.

He died early in 1597, his plans for the future of theatre in London frustrated.

Thus, the members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men were forced to rent a playhouse. At the end of 1598, theydecided to build one for themselves. Because the inheritance of Burbage's sons, Cuthbert and Richard, was tied

up in the Blackfriars, they formed a consortium with Shakespeare and four other actors, who became co-owners

of the new Globe. The same shortage of cash made the consortium reluctant traditionalists; they gave up the

idea of an indoor theatre in the city. The old playhouse was one of their few remaining resources, but they couldnot use it in situ because the lease had expired, so they dismantled it, took the timbers (illegally) to make the
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skeleton of their new amphitheatre, and kept the basic auditorium shape of The Theatre for the new building.

The success of the Globe

For all its hurried construction in 1599, the Globe proved a triumph. Its first decade of use made it a favourite

not just with subsequent generations of theatregoers but with the company itself. In later years the troupe paid a

lot to keep it going. At least two circumstances provide evidence for this statement. In 1608, when the companycould finally fulfill James Burbage's original plan for the Blackfriars, the members chose, extravagantly, to

operate the two theatres together, using the open-air Globe in the summer and the roofed Blackfriars in the

winter. Had they chosen to, they easily could have rented one of the buildings to another company, since therewas a shortage of playhouses in London in this period. But they kept both for themselves. They were given a

second chance to transfer full-time to the Blackfriars in 1613, when the Globe burned to the ground, its thatch

accidentally set alight by a cannon during a performance ofHenry VIII. By then the Blackfriars was alreadybeginning to bring better profits than the Globe, since the smaller house size was more than compensated by its

higher prices. Instead, bearing the cost out of sentiment and traditional loyalty, the company members dug deep

into their own pockets and rebuilt the Globe more splendidly than before.

Technically, the 1599 Globe and its 1614 replacement span an era in the history of theatre design. The first

Globe, based on the skeleton of the original Theatre of 1576, was unique not just as the most famous example of

that peculiar and short-lived form of theatre design but because it was actually the first to be built specifically

for an existing acting company and financed by the company itself. Shakespeare designedAs You Like It,Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello,All's Well That Ends Well,Measure for Measure,King Lear,Macbeth,Antony

and Cleopatra, Coriolanus,Pericles, and The Winter's Tale, not to mention Troilus and Cressida and Timon of

Athens, for performance there.

The design of the Globe

The design of the original Theatre responded to a mix of traditions. Its name, which up to then had been used

for atlases (such as Mercator's) rather than for playhouses, drew attention to the Roman theatre tradition. Its

circular shape, though, reflected not the D-shape of a Roman amphitheatre but the gatherings of crowds in acircle around the actors in town marketplaces, where all the players of 1576 got their training. The concept of

building a scaffold with three levels of galleries surrounding a circular yard mimicked the arrangement for

audiences of existing bearbaiting and bullbaiting houses. The stage, a platform mounted in the yard, was thekind of thing that traveling companies set up in inn yards.

The old Theatre was a 20-sided structure, as near to a circle as Elizabethan carpentry could make it. It stood

more than 30 feet (9 metres) high, with three levels of seating in its galleries. Audience access was either

through two narrow passageways under the galleries into the standing room of the yard around the stage or uptwo external stair towers into the rear of the galleries. Five of the 20 bays of the galleries were cut off by the

frons scenae, or tiring-house wall, behind which the actors kept their store of props, costumes, and playbooks

and prepared themselves for their performances. The stage was a 5-foot- (1.5-metre-) high platform protrudingfrom the tiring-house into the middle of the yard. Two posts upheld a cover over the stage that protected the

players and their expensive costumes from rain. The audience standing in the yard had no cover, though when it

rained they could pay more and take shelter in the lowest gallery.

The Globe reproduced this old shape, with a few innovations mainly in the fresh painting and decoration of thestage area. Each of the four London amphitheatres that scholars know most about, the Rose, the Swan, the


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Globe, and the Fortune, had auditorium bays of a certain size, about 10 feet 6 inches (roughly 3 metres) from

front to back and an average width of 14 feet (about 4 metres). The Globe and Fortune, and probably the Swan,had 20 bays in all, while the smaller Rose had 14. Seating in the form of degrees (wooden benches raked

upward to the rear), along with the roofing over the topmost gallery, provided all the comfort short of a cushion

that Elizabethans expected. A few rooms were reserved for the most privileged on the stage balcony itself.Including the space for nearly a thousand customers to stand in the yard around the stage, the small Rose had a

total capacity of about 2,400 people, while contemporary estimates of total audience capacity at the Swan and

the Globe claimed 3,000.

The stage was large, 43 or 44 feet (about 13 metres) across and 27 or more feet (some 8 metres) deep. The twostage posts were substantial, since they had to uphold the large cover, or heavens, which had a trapdoor in it

with a windlass for winding boys playing gods down onto the stage. Below the heavens trapdoor was one in the

stage, which served as the entry point for King Hamlet's ghost and the grave for Ophelia. The tiring-house wallhad two doors on its flanks for entrances and exits and a central opening, normally covered by a set of hangings

(Polonius's arras) that concealed the caskets in The Merchant of Venice and Hermione's statue in The Winter's

Tale. Above the three openings, a balcony ran the width of the stage wall, the central room of which was used

for scenes that required an upper window or balcony or the walls of a town.

Playing at the Globe

The experience of watching a performance at the Globe was radically different from that of viewing modern

Shakespeare on-screen. The plays were staged in the afternoons, using the light of day, and the audiencesurrounded the stage on all sides. No scenery was used, except for occasional emblematic devices such as a

throne or a bed. It was almost impossible not to see the other half of the audience standing behind the players.

Consequently, much of the staging was metatheatrical, conceding the illusory nature of the game of playing and

making little pretense of stage realism. (For more on this subject,see Sidebar: Performance in Shakespeare'sTheatre.)

Rebuilding the Globe

The Globe was pulled down in 1644, two years after the Puritans closed all theatres, to make way for tenementdwellings. In 1970 the American actor Sam Wanamaker, who was driven by the notion of reconstructing a

replica of the Globe, established the Shakespeare Globe Playhouse Trust. Seventeen years later a

groundbreaking ceremony was held on a Bankside site near that of the original Globe, and in 1989 thefoundations of the original building were discovered buried beneath a historic 19th-century building. Although

only a small percentage of the original theatre could be examined, the discovery of these foundations enabled

scholars to make certain design adjustments. They changed the planned 24 sides to 20, for instance, and, usingthe angles revealed by the archaeologists, they made the whole polygon 99 feet (30 metres) in outside diameter.

By referring to a number of extant Elizabethan buildings for clues to the structure, style, interior, and roofing,

scholars and architects completed the design of the Globe Theatre reconstruction. Using traditional methods andmaterials, with only a few concessions to modern fire regulations and the like, builders completed work on the

new theatre in the mid-1990s. It is now part of a larger complex of buildings known as the International

Shakespeare Globe Centre.

The new theatre is not a perfect replica of the original building. It is made, for example, from new green oak,like the Fortune, not from the 23-year-old timbers of a dismantled building, like the original Globe. Its design is


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still speculative in key areas, such as its size, the shape of the stage, and the decorations. In addition, certain

compromises had to be made to satisfy the constraints of fire-safety regulations. These entailed making thestairways and access doors wider, increasing the number of entrances to the yard, positioning sprinkler valves in

the ridging of the thatched gallery roofing, and including conduits for electrical wiring. These provisosand a

restriction on the size of the audience at any performance to a maximum of 1,600, roughly half the number thatattended the original Globehave secured the right for the new Globe to be used once again as a theatre.

The basic justification for attempting to reconstruct the Globe in a faithful version of the original is that it canbe used to learn more about Shakespeare's plays. The Globe was Shakespeare's machine, financed and built by

the company that intended to use it. How it worked and what it produced have a great deal to offer to studentsof Shakespeare's playsthose written pre-texts, as they have been called with some justice, which record all he

thought his fellows needed to know when they staged his plays. Everything that has been wrung from these pre-

texts in the last four centuries is enhanced by a better knowledge of Shakespeare's original concept.

ARTICLE #5: Costumes and Sets inShakespeare's TheaterAny part of the costume was likely to be decorated with braid, embroidery, pinking (pricking in patterns)

slashing, or puffing, or it might be encrusted with pearls, jewels, or spangles or trimmed with lace or artificial

flowers. Men's clothing, like that of women, was gorgeous with color and ornamentation. The many parts ofmale attire contributed to the ornate and colorful effect of the ensemble. Men wore hats even indoors. Feathers

and jewels were normal ornaments. A small flat cap like a beret with a narrow brim continued to be worn by

craftsman and many citizens of London. Masculine hair styles varied greatly. Sometimes the hair was cutclosely at the sides, but it could be brushed up and held with gum, or it might be curled all over the head.

Shakespeare plays were presented during the warmer months in circular, open-air public theaters. The stage was

a platform that thrust into the pit- a standing room area for the lower-class; boxes were situated in three galleries

around the theater. In the colder months plays were performed in so-calledprivate indoor theaters for a more elite audience. The acting style for the

early Elizabethan plays was heroic and exaggerated, like the plays

themselves.

One of the most memorable stages of Elizabethan time was the The GlobeTheater, a 17th -century English theater in Southwark, London, notable for


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the initial and contemporary productions of Shakespeare's plays and of the dramatic works of Ben Jonson,

Beaumont and Fletcher, and others. The Globe was constructed In 1599 by the famous English actor RichardBurbage, in partnership with Shakespeare and others. The octagonally-shaped outer wall of the theater enclosed

a roofless inner pit into which the stage projected; around the pit were three galleries, one above the other, the

topmost of which was roofed with thatch. In 1613 a cannon, discharged during a performance of Shakespeare'sHenry VIII, set fire to the thatched roof and destroyed the building. The theater was rebuilt in 1614, but 30

years later was razed by Puritans. A brewery now stands on the site.

The stage sometimes known as three-quarter round, was a platform surrounded on three sides by the audience.

This form was used for ancient Greek theater in the 20th century. The thrust stage mayAccurate information concerning the clothes worn in the earliest production of

Shakespeare plays is sadly deficient. Even in a play set in ancient Rome, the actors wore

the dress of their own time.

In modern times we draw a distinction between "theatrical " and "ordinary" clothes. Weeven distinguish between plays that are dressed in the clothing of people of another times

or places. We consider these to be "costume plays."

English dress during the age of Shakespeare reflected the vitality and the high points ofthe period. Although the upper class and the even great merchants of earlier eras had alsodressed in rich and colorful fabrics, the sixteenth century saw an elaboration in dress that

had nor been common. The names of parts of the Elizabethan wardrobe indicate their

foreign origins: French hose, French hood, Venetians, Spanish bonnet.

Elizabethan men and women of the upper class dressed more for display than for comfort, and even theirundergarments were designed to contribute to their appearance. The garment worn next to the skin by both

sexes was a shirt, though in the case of the women it was called a "smock" and was ankle- length. There is some

evidence that men wore drawers called "trousers.''

Elizabethan clothing was very intricate, and the amount of time that must have been consumed in donningcostumes with so many independent parts to be tied or pinned together is a marvel to the modern observer. The

main feminine garment usually consisted of at least two parts: bodice and skirt (known as a kirtle or petti coat).

A triangular piece known as a "stomacher" formed the front section and was joined to the bodice proper at thesides by ties, hooks, or pins.

A variety in materials, color, and ornaments characterized the Elizabethan women's outer garments. have been

by a wall or appended to some sort of end stage. The stage generally creates a sense of greater intimacy, as if

the performance were occurring in the midst of the auditorium, while still allowing for illusionistic effectsthrough the use of the upstage end and adjacent off-stage.

Elizabethan women delighted in gorgeous dress. But despite the richness of their attire, men frequently

outshone them in complexity of costume and the variety of cuts the contemporary fashion provided.

Lastly, the costumes and sets of Shakespeare's time influenced the production of the plays. The costumes aidedin the visual affects of the plays as did the lighting and the sound effects. The stages and sets created a realistic

setting for a specific location. The different style of stages were changed to the rapid growth of Shakespeare's

plays.


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