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The Renaissance Theater. Even before the Renaissance, the English had been writing plays. Several of these plays were: Miracle and Mystery Plays- teaching people stories from the Bible and Saints’ legends Moralities- taught people how to live and die Interludes- one-act plays.
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The Renaissance Theater • Even before the Renaissance, the English had been writing plays. • Several of these plays were: • Miracle and Mystery Plays- teaching people stories from the Bible and Saints’ legends • Moralities- taught people how to live and die • Interludes- one-act plays
William Shakespeare • Often said to be the greatest English language playwright • Supposedly he was born on April 23, 1564 and died April 23, 1616. • He married Anne Hathaway when he was 18, and she was 26. • There are no direct descendants to Shakespeare today.
Actually, very little is known about Shakespeare. • He was born in Stratford-upon- Avon and at some point moved to London. • He was also an actor and owned the company, “Lord Chamberlain’s Men.” • He did enjoy “enormous power and prestige.” • “Shakespeare’s greatest bequest was his plays, which still command attention nearly four hundred years after they were written.”
The Globe • Most famous of the public theaters because the company that Shakespeare belonged to owned it. • It is composed of three main parts: the building proper, the stage, and the tiring house (backstage area) with the flag flying from its peak indicating there was a performance that day . • It is a wooden structure that is three stories high.
The Globe Theater • The originally Globe burned down in 1613. • Admission cost one penny (this was a groundling, which means he or she could stand in the yard). • The closer to the stage, the more a patron paid. • The most expensive seats were chairs set right on the stage along its two sides. • It held approx. 3,000 people. • It was closed during plague epidemics.
The stage jutted halfway into the yard, so the actors were close to the audience. • The actors were highly trained and could sing, dance, wrestle, weep, whisper, etc. • The third part of the theater was the tiring house which contained machinery and dressing rooms.
Because of the lack of scenery, the focus was on the actors and the playwright’s words. The Renaissance audience took for granted that the theater could not show reality. • It could be dark in the middle of the day or it could be raining on a sunny day! The audience had to use their imaginations!
More Tragedy….. • A narrative about serious and important actions that end unhappily. • Usually ends with the death of the main characters. • Sometimes the disaster hits totally innocent characters and other times the characters are responsible for their downfall.
Drama • A literary composition involving conflict, action, crisis, and atmosphere designed to be acted by players on a stage before an audience. • Tragedy- Involves the ruin of the leading characters • Comedy- Is a lighter drama in which the leading characters overcome the difficulties which temporarily beset them • Problem play- Drama of social criticism discusses social, economic, or political problems by means of a play.
Farce- When comedy involves ridiculous or hilarious complications without regard for human values- it becomes farce • Comedy of Manners- Comedy which wittily portrays fashionable life • Fantasy- Author gives free reign to his fantasy without regard to reality
Romeo and Juliet • They fall in love at first sight. • Shakespeare presents the couple as “star crossed lovers” doomed to fail based on fate. • In Shakespeare’s time, people believed in astrology. “They believed that the course of their lives was partly determined by the hour, day, month, and year
Of their birth-hence, the star under which they were born.” • The story is set in Verona, Italy. • Romeo and Juliet make decisions that lead to their disaster. • The fighting between the Montagues and the Capulets dooms Romeo and Juliet in the beginning. • Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. Their families are feuding and obviously do not want their children to fall in love with each other.
Shakespearean Tragedies • Act I: Exposition: establishes the setting, introduces characters, the situation, & the conflict • Act II: Rising Action: consists of a series of complications that occur • Act III: Crisis: the moment when a choice made by main characters determines the outcome • Act IV: Falling Action: present events that result from the action taken during the crisis • Act V: Climax & Resolution: deaths occur and the loose parts of the plot are tied up
Writing Assignment Journal Entry Number One • Do you believe that love “conquers all”? • Nothing matters except how you feel about each other? • “Kids in love have no sense of responsibility to their families, no respect for tradition, and no regard for those who are older and wiser.” • Agree or disagree?
