How Did Theater Influence Elizabethan Theatre

Costumes during theatre were to be realistic. Permits were issued to allow actors to dress in necessary clothing if their character was of a different social class. Females were not permitted to act in the theatre at the time. Because of this, men were also dressed to play female characters in the theatre. Costumes played an important part in theatre.

From the violence that was prevalent because of the Black Death, people turned to the theater for many reasons. Elizabethan theatre was popular for its time because Queen Elizabeth encouraged the arts, it was somewhere for every social class to go, and people could relate to the plays. One of the reasons that Elizabethan theatre was so popular was that it was enjoyed by Queen Elizabeth herself. Elizabeth loved learning new things. She would read and study for hours at a time. She also had a lot of knowledge when it came to history. She could read books in Latin and French. When she grew older, she could translate classic works into English. She also enjoyed writing and reading poetry, and a few of her poems still exist today. Elizabeth was also into arts and literature. She loved watching plays and dramatic performances. “She hired her own company of actors called “The Queen’s Players.” The art spread because of the queen. Her

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.

If every playwright in Shakespeare's time aspired, as he did, to paint a portrait of an age in their works, his would have been the Mona Lisa, leaving the most lasting impression on generations to come and at the same time, one of the world's most baffling mysteries. Surely it is no coincidence that the world's most celebrated dramatist would've lived during the time when one of the world's most powerful rulers in history reigned. Or was it?

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

It is said that Queen Elizabeth I’s controversial reign at the time informed the play’s content. She, in fact, used to like to invite theater companies to her palaces[2] and saw a performance of the play at Christmastime while on a campaign in Ireland[3]. In her medieval England, people met the idea of a female monarch with hostility[4], because there had never been one until[5] . The challenge to tradition that was Queen Elizabeth I’s reign most likely to lead the discussion of gender roles in Twelfth Night.

The actors were expected to perform their own stunts. They had to have a good memory to learn and memorize their lines in a short time period. William Shakespeare acted in some of the productions of the plays. Males had to act out the female parts of the plays because females were not allowed to perform in theaters at this time. Although, all of the actors worked hard, the males who dressed up as females got paid the least; this proves they had a lot of dedication to their work. The actors help make the plays at the theater a huge success and very profitable to The Theater.

„h The form of Elizabethan theatre derived from the innyards and animal baiting rings in which actors had been accustomed to perform in in the past. They were circular wooden buildings with a paved courtyard in the middle. Such a theatre would hold around 3,000 spectators. The yards were about 80 feet in diameter and the rectangular stage 40ft by 30ft in height

Although men and women would gamble frequently, they would also play a game known as Bear and Bull baiting. In Elizabethan England, nearly every town has had a baiting ring. Even Queen Elizabeth spent her afternoons watching fights for entertainment. Bulldogs were trained to attack chained bulls, they stayed bated for an hour while the dogs were able to attack them, they would be tied up and would not be able to fight back. The people would make a hole to put the bull in and tie them up so they could be tortured while the Bulldogs would attack. Before the fight began, they would put pepper in the bull’s nose to infuriate them. In that time Bulldogs were only bred for this sport. Dog fights have been going on ever since and it eventually became

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

William Shakespeare is one of the world 's most influential people to ever live. “BBC audience survey names Shakespeare as Britain 's Man of the Millennium.” (Andrews 2) Shakespeare’s works continue to be evident globally in modern society. Hundreds of years after William Shakespeare’s death, his influence continues to make an effect in the modern day English language, modern movies and film, and authors or artists today.

Next, actors had to abide by the sumptuary laws even while performing on stage. Therefore the second a performer walked onto the stage the audience could tell their role in the play just by looking at the color of the costume. “The Material and Fabric also had a similar effect,” the audience could tell what class the character was in by the quality of their costume and also it gave important information on that individual’s role (Elizabethan Actors). “Queen Elizabeth I had to give actors special licenses” to wear upper class clothes to fit their character or position (Globe Theatre Costume). When nobility or upper class people would come to see a play they would say it was like a double fashion show. The fabric and color of a person’s garments represented different pieces of information about them and since clothing was part of society and law everyone knew what the color or material meant.

Effect: Men acted female parts. While they may have acted very well and all were accepted by Elizabethan audiences, unlike women who were not given the opportunities to act on stage until the 1600’s. The British prohibition of women actresses was ended in the reign of Charles II who enjoyed watching female actresses on stage. This also represented their lack of external independence.

2. The Elizabethan theater represented a great source of entertainment because it provided what people wanted: dancing, games and plays at an affordable price.

“Women’s roles in the plays were acted by men or, more commonly by boys.” (Bommarito, 267). Boys were used for women’s roles because of their small figures and higher pitched voices. The boys began acting at the age of ten, learning the correct way to walk and talk on the stage. In addition they were also taught the art of applying make-up moving gracefully in the many layers of clothing that the Elizabethan women wore at that time.