As the majority of the public theatres were open air in Elizabethan times, if it rained the groundlings and actors would get wet and have to face the weather conditions. This is why it could be argued that it was in fact beneficial to be a peasant in Elizabethan times, purely because groundlings could really get into the play and live a scene with the actors whilst the richer audience would be sheltered. The majority of theatres today are indoor and most of the performances are in the evening compared to the daytime Elizabethan performances, this could be detrimental to modern day audiences because they cannot really get into the mood of the play, as it is free from the elements. The actors in the Elizabethan times must also of had a much harder time than present day actors because they had to endure the weather and continue with a performance regardless of the rain, hail or even snow. Weather conditions would definitely have added a sense of togetherness to the performance and would make the audience much more involved with what was going on.
Although costumes were bare in Elizabethan times, the costumes were elaborate to make up for it. Costumes were very sumptuous which emphasized the difference between the actor himself, who would be poor and not noble, and his rich appearance. This comparison fitted in very well with the theme, which often recurs in Shakespeare’s, plays, the theme of appearance and reality. Costumes were used to indicate the speaker’s status, to make the dramatic spectacle more visually exciting and to keep the attention of the less educated spectators when the speeches were too complicated. In the twentieth century, although traditional Elizabethan style costumes are commonly worn in Shakespeare plays; in many performances actors wear only white, black or plain clothes so that the audience will not be distracted by what they are wearing but so that the language is the only thing to be focused upon.
Audience etiquette has also varied significantly between the two periods. Modern audiences are generally required to keep silent throughout the performance, clap at the interval and conclusion, and keep their attention on stage and refrain from eating or drinking during the performance. Elizabethan audiences behaved quite differently, they often talked throughout the performances, despite pleas from the playwright for silence; they also did applaud, boo, hiss and throw objects at the actors when they disapproved. Food and drink were served throughout performances which provided a big distraction, all of the noise and disturbances that this behaviour caused meant that the power of the actor on stage would be shown by his ability to command the attention of the audience. So today, if an audience was not enjoying a performance, they may leave in the interval or not give it a good personal review whereas in Elizabethan times the audience would participate in the play by expressing their views on how it was with physical actions or heckling.
As Shakespeare’s plays were written in the Elizabethan era, they followed the theories that were followed at the time; this would differ the way in which they viewed his work from modern audiences. A good example is the Great Chain of Being, which was a powerful visual metaphor for a divinely inspired universal hierarchy ranking all forms of higher and lower life it ranged from God, to each of the angels, to kings, knights, clerks, serfs, women, animals and finally inanimate things. This rigid hierarchy is mentioned in most of Shakespeare’s plays and this would have made all of the material relevant to the audience. Another traditional theory that was followed was the ‘four humours’ this was about physiology and said that the state of a person’s health depended upon a balance of the four elemental fluids: blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile; these fluid were believed to be allied with the four elements, air fire, water and earth. The humours apparently gave off vapours, which ascended to the brain; and an individual’s characteristics would have been explained by his or her ‘state of humours’ as a perfect temprement could only be achieved when none of the humours dominated. The Elizabethan people followed these two theories closely and they affected their opinions and obviously the way in which they received Shakespeare’s plays; the inclusion of the theories would make the audience relate to what was going on. As hundreds of years separate the audiences, and therefore many scientific and social advances have been made, modern day audiences would find the theories quite different to what they believed in. Despite the difference in beliefs, if anything the theories would add a more magical, mystical theme to Shakespeare for twentieth century audiences as they travel back in time to sample a completely different world. Every social and dramatic taboo, impulse or action that has happened in everyday life can be found somewhere in a Shakespeare play. Shakespeare deals with the most basic tenets of human nature- greed, anger, love, passion, ambition, self-destruction, compassion and so his plays remain timeless and still relate to the modern day audience.
The issues dealt with in Shakespeare’s plays would affect the audiences differently especially as many of the plays have the monarchy involved in them. Shakespeare was always very aware that his audience often contained Queen Elizabeth, and that the audience were all very supportive to the Queen; so if she was ever mentioned throughout his plays, she would be shown to have the virtues of fidelity, genius, strength and honour. The monarch was very important to the Elizabethans because they believed in the Divine Right of Kings which meant that the monarch was there because God destined them to be there; they also viewed the monarch as their role model and gave them a lot of respect as the King or Queen would be the highest person in society (as outlined in the Great Chain of Being). Although Shakespeare often flattered the monarchy, he also occasionally slipped in criticism, which educated Elizabethans would pick up on. Despite their great respect for the monarch, their had been a great deal of changes for the people and they had begun to lose trust and faith in their Royal family after the constant change of religion and unrest, the theatre gave Elizabethans the opportunity to laugh and see people challenging the monarchy on stage and they could also relate to the characters, for example Hamlet wishes to die and is very unhappy which many people could have empathized with. Society today is much more fluid and people in lower classes can aspire to better themselves financially through career and marriage; we are also very democratic and people’s role models tend to be somebody on their own level and someone they can aspire to follow rather than putting all their faith into their King or Queen; the monarchy and religion is much less important in the twenty-first century and therefore Shakespeare’s plays give an interesting insight for audiences into what it was like to abide by, and put all trust into one figure.
While many of Shakespeare’s characters can be called conservative (his lovers must be sanctified in the church, for example, in Romeo and Juliet; his duelers need to be dealt with by the government, and the children ought to listen to their elders) he found ways to have his plays and character’s values broadly received, even capturing the interest of twenty-first century viewers with his sex and violence-filled plots, the current audience favours this kind of mixture of classic values and vulgarity. This blend of values also would have worked excellently in Elizabethan times due to the range of people attending; there was vulgarity for the lower classes and more morality for the upper class audience. The Elizabethans did not expect realism in anyway, the actors did not separate themselves from the audience by curtains and there were no sound effects of scenery to suggest realistically what they were describing; audiences even viewed boy actors playing women. Although the modern audience demands complex sound effects and scenery and costumes, usually in sumptuous theatres which can be works of art in their own; and many social differences exist between the two audiences, both the twenty-first century audience and the Elizabethan audience audience have a common attraction to Shakespeare’s work- the power of the words and the passion of the performance. Shakespeare’s plays have elements of realism, surrealism, love, greed, revenge and compel the audience whether his work is being read, or viewed regardless of the era in which the audience is from.
