How Did Elizabethan Theater Affect Popular Entertainment?

The theatre has been a part of entertainment since ancient Greece, around 4th century BC or thereabouts. The theatre grew out of festivals in honor of the god Dionysus. Aeschylus created the first play in her honor. The first Greek plays were all tragedies but eventually comedy made its way and these plays were performed at festivals all over Greece. Through the centuries theater played the main role of entertainment from noble and royalty to the common person in any city or village, and as we move into the twenties

When they came all they did was put their money in a box outside the only door. There were no newspapers, no magazines, almost no novels, and only a few cheap books, so people went to watch to learn things. They attended for romance, imagination, idealism, and art; those looking for food for the imagination had nowhere to go but to the playhouse. Another big thing was women weren't aloud on stage as they are now. All the parts were played by men, even the women parts. There were pick pockets and people who caused trouble. If the pick pockets were caught they were tied to a post on the stage. Sometimes there'd be riots in the crowd. We still have costumes and props and actors like today. We still have different types of seating. Plays are and were written about history and various other things. Honestly there are a lot of things that are different from our theatre compared to Shakespeare's day theatre. But the shows were and are still

Queen Elizabeth came to be known as one of the greatest rulers of the English empire. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a more efficient government was created. The church was unified, the English empire was expanded, and language, literature, and theater flourished to a greatness that would be impossible for almost any other period of English history, or any other European empire, for that matter, to match. Although there was a great rise in literature,it was theater that catapulted to greatness during Elizabeth's reign. Out of Elizabeth's era came Elizabethan theater. Elizabethan theater has such a variety of topics, that would make it virtually impossible to talk about in ten pages.

How much influence from the Elizabethan era was infused into Shakespeare's plays? Especially since it was a time of religious reformation and fluctuating political relations, in which England was very much in the thick of. The events and

cost 1 penny, to sit cost 2 pennies and for a wealthy person to sit

The 19th century was a time period full of disagreements and wishful thinking. During this time, African Americans were trying to become free from slavery. This led to a Civil War. The 1800’s were a hard time for African Americans, after the Civil War many expressed their thoughts and feelings through plays like Minstrel Shows and other forms of theatre.

Imagine watching the famous plays of William Shakespeare being performed right in front of yours eyes at the amazing Globe Theater. William Shakespeare was part owner of The Globe Theater. The famous Globe Theater was a place where outstanding plays were performed. This theater held people from all over the world to watch performances. In the article “The Elizabeth Era” states that “often the Queen would come to the Globe Theater to watch Shakespeare’s work “(Alchin). The Globe Theater has great significance to British history because of the building structure, the actors, the performances, the fire accident, and its impact on England and its people.

Elizabethan society discouraged and encouraged shakespeare's writings by becoming a very popular person to the public. He became a very big public person by being an actor, a playwright, and very big part of a company. The website states, “As an actor, a playwright, and a partner in a leading acting company, he became both prosperous and well-known” (“Shakespeare’s life”). This quote explains how he became very well known to the public because he made many achievements. Shakespeare

Due to the increasing popularity of music, theater became popular itself. Location was very important to a theater musician, as the location gave different effects to the sound produced. This could create the illusion of distance or providing an atmosphere to the plays and performances. With the rise of William Shakespeare in 1556, theater music became even more popular.

Arts in England flourished and prospered during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Furthermore, “The Golden Age” was characterized by the Queen’s patronizing of theatre, which lead it to gain popularity among England. The sixteenth and early seventeenth century witnessed a period of English nationalism, evidently shown through diffused texts in the English language, rather than in Latin. Additionally, the Queen supported playwrights such as William Shakespeare, which lead to depictions of Elizabethan society in his plays. Consequently, influences from London and the royal family influenced plays such as Richard III. Specifically, the play affected the glorification of the Tudors, leading to the villanization of former king Richard III. This

women who wanted to act was seen as a very low job for them and what society wanted for women is to be at home taking care of their family and be obedient. Young boys were hired to act in a female role. The problem was that the young boys who had to end up wearing lots of make up just to play the women role end up being very unhealthy and had unpleasant facial skin diseases and many of them died due to the poisoning.

When Christopher Marlowe, the most famous playwright in his time (Lace, 79), died, William Shakespeare was his successor. Shakespeare decided drama was to be his career after seeing the Queen’s Players during a visit to his hometown of Stratford-on-Avon in 1587 (Lace, 79). By the time of Marlowe’s death, Shakespeare was already well known for his three part “Henry VI” in 1592 (Lace, 79). His plays “Love’s Labour’s Lost” and “Romeo and Juliet”, both in 1594, were performed and he became the most outstanding playwright of his time (Lace, 79). Before Elizabeth’s reign was over, “Richard II”, “Julius Caesar”, “Henry V”, and “Hamlet” had been performed (Lace, 79). James Burbage was the second most influential actor of the Elizabethan period, but not only for his acting talent. Burbage built the first ever public playhouse in England, opening in 1576 (Unknown, 218). Burbage financed the building of “The Theater” alone, a well off man but was still considered a rogue. Actors were not the only influence on theater. When Mary Tudor decided the throne was rightfully hers, the War of the Roses ensued (Lace, 73). Because of the War of the Roses, many nobles, that employed actors, were killed (Lace, 73). This forced actors to form their own troupes (Lace, 73). In 1572, parliament passed the Poor Laws, making it a criminal offense to be a vagabond (Lace, 75). This reduced the number of acting companies and required them to be

“In roughly built playhouses and cobblestone inn yards, an extraordinary development took place in England in the 1500s.” (Yancey, 8). At that time, an opportunity combined to produce literature achievement never before witnessed in the history of drama and theater. The renaissance, helped spark this movement by inspiring scientific and artistic creativity throughout the land. Models began writing dramas that portrayed life in both realistic and imaginative ways. This created work later captured the attention of the world that changed the English drama. The many aspects of Elizabethan theater helped to shape the acting and theater world forever.

Today's effects of television on the theatre are big in good and bad ways. The good thing television can do for the theatre is advertise and show clips from the play. People also like to hear what other people think and there are shows on television that will do that. Television can also show the plays in full, which can be good and or bad. The way it could be good is seeing the play on television could make someone want to see it live, than again once someone sees it they may never want to see it again. Another thing that goes along with television is a VCR if someone wants to see something bad enough they can go rent it or tape it for every time they want to see it in the future. Now there are even channels that are dedicated to showing only stuff from the stage.

The theater gained popularity based on the plays they would have showing. In most cases the plays would consist of humor, tragedy, or histories. Shakespeare was one of the most popular playwrights at this time, and many of his plays were performed in the Elizabethan theater. Among him were some other famous play writers,