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English Renaissance Theatre

English Renaissance Theatre. 1485 - 1625. Elizabeth I 1558 - 1603. The Golden Age of England Theatre flourished Playwriting becomes a viable and more respected profession Professional actors gain popularity Acting companies form, sponsored by royal and/or noble patrons

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English Renaissance Theatre

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  1. English Renaissance Theatre 1485 - 1625

  2. Elizabeth I1558 - 1603 • The Golden Age of England • Theatre flourished • Playwriting becomes a viable and more respected profession • Professional actors gain popularity • Acting companies form, sponsored by royal and/or noble patrons • One of the most creative periods in all of history

  3. Elizabethan TheatreActors • Performances develop into entertainment rather than celebration so an actor can support himself by acting • All actors were men – women are not allowed on stage • Actors still considered vagrants • must be “sponsored” by a patron, actors are the patron's servants • Acting companies must be licensed by the crown • Public performances were outlawed within the city limits so a theatre community builds on the “South Bank”

  4. Playwrights Christopher Marlowe 1574 – 1637 • Tamburlaine (c.1587) • The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (c.1589) • The Jew of Malta (c.1589) • Wrote for The Admiral’s Men • Possibly an atheist, possibly a spy for England • Was he also Shakespeare?

  5. Playwrights Ben Johnson 1572 – 1637 • A Tale of a Tub (c.1596) • Volpone (c.1605-6) • Also wrote masques for James’ court (acted by courtiers, not actors) • Acted (poorly) & wrote for The Admiral’s Men • Poet & playwright

  6. Playwrights Thomas Kyd 1558-1594 • The Spanish Tragedie (c. 1585) • May have written a version of Hamlet before Shakespeare did!!! • arrested as a heretic in 1593

  7. William Shakespeare1564 - 1616 actor, poet, playwright

  8. Shakespeare’s Life • Born: 23 April 1564 (estimated based on baptism records), Stratford-upon-Avon • Education: Free Stratford Grammar School • Good base in Latin & the Classics (Terence, Platus, etc.) that he would liberally borrow from for his plots later • Married Anne Hathaway (he’s 18, she’s 26) • 3 kids: Susanna, and twins Hamnet & Judith • The Lord Chamberlain’s Men • Actor first • Later becomes “resident” playwright • Buys into his own acting company • 1603 – they become the King’s Men under James I • Death: 23 April 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon Ophelia (detail). By John Everett Millais, 1851–52.

  9. Shakespeare’s Work • POET = wrote 154 sonnets & 2+ narrative poems • Prose • Blank verse • Iambic pentameter • ACTOR = starts with Lord Admiral’s Men as an actor, then begins writing • PLAYWRIGHT • 36 plays published in the First Folio (1623) • 3 categories: history, tragedy, comedy • Sources: Terence, Petrarch, Holinshed's Chronicles

  10. Shakespeare’s Plays • Tragedies to know: • Romeo & Juliet • Hamlet • Macbeth • Othello (1st specifically black role!!!) • Comedies to know: • A Midsummer Night’s Dream • The Tempest • Histories to know: • Henry VI (3 parts) • Richard III • Titus Andronicus

  11. Elizabethan Conventions Costumes Actors wore clothes of the day regardless of the time period of the play **exception: plays set in Greece & Rome!

  12. Elizabethan Conventions Set & Props Very little of either used… That’s why you get so many declarative lines in Elizabethan plays. “I die” “Is this poison?”

  13. Theatres • Pre Renaissance = travelling pageant wagons, in noblemen’s ballrooms or halls • 1576 – James Burbage builds “The Theatre” (1st permanent performance space) on the South Bank

  14. Elizabethan Conventions The Theatres Standard characteristics: Open air - usually round - Thrust stage - no lights Terms to know: • Galleries • Pit • Groundling (Penny-stinker) • Heavens • Hell • Hut • Inner stage

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