Elizabethan England and the Theater

1. Elizabethan England and the Theater • Queen Elizabeth I • Actors • Playwrights • Theaters • Elements of a play

2. Queen Elizabeth I • Daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn • Protestant • Ruled from1558-1603 • Followed by James VI of Scotland

3. Characteristics of the Queen • Nicknamed Queen Bess: The Virgin Queen • Accomplished musician, poet, dancer • Some say, vain, ugly, bald

4. Accomplishments • The Elizabethan age is characterized by a quest for knowledge • Brought respectability to the theater • Colonized many parts of the world • Defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 • Took over Scotland and Ireland • Emergence of the middle class

5. British Empire

6. The Theater • Much debate between the Puritans and the court • Mystery plays: for church festivities • Morality plays: stories of the lives of saints and taught a moral lesson • Professional acting company: small, well practiced

7. The Actors • Senior actors: experienced, played the main roles • Hired men: played minor roles • Boy actors: played children and women

8. Skills of the Actors • Sing, dance, play instruments, hand-to-hand combat etc. • Rich, expressive voice: needed to talk over the crowed • Memorized the lines

9. Playwrights • Usually students or recent college grads • Actors with little education • Pirated plays from other rival acting companies • Many plays incorporated violence and moral lessons • Needed protection from prosecution

10. The theaters • The Theater • The Rose • The Swan • Bull and Bear-Baiting Ring • The Globe Theater

11. The Globe Theater • Built in 1599 for Shakespeare’s acting company: Lord Chamberlains Men • Used a flag to notify people to come to the theater • Crowd was diversified • Shows lasted 21/2 hours

12. The Globe Cont. • Plays were performed in the afternoon • No programs • Standing room for a penny • Galleries, Lord’s Rooms, stools • Burned to the ground • Rebuilt in 1616

13. Shakespeare • April 26, 1564 Baptized • 1582 Married Anne Hathaway • 1583 Susanna, First child was born • 1585 Hamnet and Judith, twins were born • 1592 became an actor and playwright • 1592-1594 The London Theater was closed due to the Plague

14. Shakespeare Cont. • 1594 Became a member of Lord Chamberlains Men: an acting company • 1599 Wrote Julius Caesar • 1603 Changed the name of his acting group to The Kings Men • 1612 Retired • 1616 Died

15. Elements of a Play • Soliloquy: a speech whereby a character speaks his thoughts aloud while alone • Aside: a speech wherein a character express his thoughts in word audible to the spectators but not supposedly to the other stage character present • Prologue: set the opening scene of the play since patrons had no programs to do so

16. Elements of a Play Cont. • Rhymed tags: when the last two lines of an Act or scene rhymed to indicate a change of Act or scene • Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter • Shakespeare’s plays are written in blank verse

17. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AN INTRODUCTION TO JULIUS CAESAR

18. Types of Rule • Senate: a mild democracy, comprised entirely wealthy landowners • Triumvirate: three man rule • Dictatorship: usually as a result of a military leader seizing control

19. Senate • Patricians: wealthy landowners • Sometimes aligned and sometimes in contrast to the military leaders

20. Triumvirate • A three-man rule to govern Rome • Ruled with Crassus and Pompey • Established Gaul for Caesar • Worked until the death of Crassus

21. Collapse of the Triumvirate • After the death of Crassus, tension developed between Caesar and Pompey • Pompey aligned with the Senate • Ceasar invaded Rome, crossed the Rubicon river • Pompey killed in Egypt

22. To the Unconquerable God

23. Dictator • Had support of the people • Defeated Pompey’s two sons in Spain • Named Dictator for life in 45 B.C. • In direct conflict with “free Romans”