Elizabethan theatre

• Newington Butts Elizabethan Theatre, Southwark, Surrey.
• The Swan Elizabethan Theatre, Paris Garden,  Surrey
• The Fortune Elizabethan Theatre, Golding Lane, Clerkenwell
• The Globe, Bankside, Surrey.
• The Boar’s Head Elizabethan Theatre, Whitechapel, London.
• The Red Bull Elizabethan Theatre, Clerkenwell
• The Hope Elizabethan Theatre, Bankside, Surrey

Building amphitheatres was about profit. The design of the London amphitheatres were guaranteed to house as many playgoers as was feasible in a cheap but impressive looking building. They were built with timber, stone (flint) and plaster. The classical theme of the Elizabethan Theatre continued and multifarious sections within the interior of the amphitheatre were labeled with Latin names taken from the Roman theatres:

• The Herculean pillars, strongly featured in the interior designs of the Elizabethan amphitheatres, were painted so that they appear to be made of marble.
• The Elizabethan stage wall was called Frons scenae and decorated with classical Greek and Roman images.

So the innovative theatrical entrepreneurs who built the amphitheatres used classical Greek and Roman history to create a clever and specific image for their theatres.

However profit dropped in winter as people would not venture to the cold open arenas of these massive Elizabethan theatres. Playhouses were therefore used for many winter productions. Many of the playhouses were converted from the coaching inns or other existing buildings – all productions were staged in the comparative warmth of these indoors. A playhouse was a small, private, indoor hall. Playhouses were open to anyone who would pay but more expensive with more selected audiences. The audience capacity of the playhouse was about 500 people. Playhouses helped the acting troupes considerably as the playhouses allowed an all year round profession not the 1 restricted to summer at the mercy of the English weather. Many plays were produced in buildings with great halls, which were suitable for the purpose of staging plays. The Gray’s Inn and White Hall were 2 such theatres and were easily converted into playhouses. Purpose built playhouses were also built such as the Salisbury Court playhouse.

                         During the Elizabethan era there were constant outbreaks of deadly Bubonic plague (The Black Death).The large audiences who were enticed to the massive theatres posed a real health hazard to the largely populated city of London and in 1593 the theatres were closed due to the Bubonic plague (The Black Death).

                              The major outbreaks of the Bubonic plague and the rowdy crowd enticed by the theatres were causing real problem in the city of London. Many Londoners were strict protestants- Puritans in fact, who abhorred the theatre and many people they enticed. Objections to the theatres escalated from the church and the officials of the city of London. Respectable London citizens added even more objections about the rise in crime and the bawdy nature of some of the plays, fighting, drinking, not to mention the risk of so many people and the spread of the Bubonic plague. Finally, in 1596, London authorities were unwilling to ignore any longer the complaints and the public presentations of the plays and all theatres within the limits of the city of London were banned. All theatres were forced to move to the south side of the river Thames outside the city limits of London.

         In 1599, the Globe theatre was opened on the bank of the river Thames – to the south of London. William Shakespeare was a co-owner of the Globe. The Globe theatre was a huge success. It was built from the timbers of the Theatre. William Shakespeare and his company of actors helped with the construction. The plays written in the Elizabethan era, by the Elizabethan playwrights, such as William Shakespeare, were in great demand. Great actors like Richard Burbage, William Kempe and Edward Allyn became the superstars of the Elizabethan era.A day out at the theatre was a real event – the design of the theatre was magnificent,based on the design of the old Roman amphitheatres.

                                     The Globe amphitheatre was upto 100 feet in diameter. The design of the Globe was based on the Roman coliseum but on a much smaller scale, an open arena. The designers believed that basing the look of the theatre on the classical Greek and Roman structures would give them an aura of respectability. The dimensions of the Globe stage cannot be specified. Stage dimensions of Elizabethan theatres varied from 20 feet wide to 15 feet deep – 45 feet to 30 feet. The stage was raised upto 3 – 5 feets and supported by large pillars. The pit or yard was the arena located around the stage. There were no seating provisions as it was the cheapest part of the Globe theatre and the audience had to stand. The stage structures projected halfway into the ‘yard’ where the commoners (groundlings) paid 1 penny to stand to watch the play. They would have crowded around 3 sides of the stage structure.

     Lastly above the main entrance of the Globe was a crest displaying Hercules bearing the globe with the motto “ Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem” (the whole world is a playhouse).The Globe theatre had a 1500 plus audience capacity and upto 3000 people would flock to the theatre and its grounds. There was no heating in the Globe theatre. Plays were performed in summer and were transferred to the indoor playhouses during winter. The globe theatre was built by a carpenter called Peter Smith together with his workforce. They started building it in 1597 and it was finished in 1598.Elizabethan Theatres were also used for bear baiting, gambling and other immoral purposes.

                 However the conditions of the Elizabethan theatres were not those of the present day. There was no curtain to be dropped between players and audience and the action was probably uninterrupted and lasted little more than a couple of hours. As there was no curtain it was also impossible to have any spectacular stage settings, and Shakespeare had to make with no more scenery than a few simple property like the chair to serve for a royal throne, a mossy bank to insinuate a forest or a laden table when there was to be a feast.  

                            The famous actors who brought the plays and their plots to life were Edward Alleyn, Robert Armin, Christopher Beeston, Richard Burbage, Henry Condell, Nathan Field, John Heminge, William Kempe, John Lowin etc. Now as far as the female roles were concerned, during the Elizabethan era only men were allowed to act in the theatres until 1660 – it was judged to be unseemly to undertake such a role. Young boys were therefore hired to act in the female roles.

                                       Elizabethan clothing of the upper class was sumptuous. The materials were luxurious and covered a whole variety of colors. Due to the Statutes of Apparel (the Sumptuary Laws) ordinary Elizabethans were not allowed to wear latest fashions. Fashionable clothes would only be seen at a distance, when wealthy nobles or Royals were in view. Elizabethan actors were granted special permission to were these clothes. Costumes in Elizabethan theatre  would therefore double as a fashion show. All people of the Elizabethan period understood the connotation of the different colored clothing – a concept somewhat alien in our modern age. Most of us would recognize that purple is associated with Royalty since the days of the Roman emperors – but almost every colors had their own meaning during the Elizabethan era. And this meaning was totally understood by the audience. The color of costume therefore conveyed an enormous amount of information as soon as the actor walked on to the stage. The types of materials and fabrics would have had a similar effect. Many of the plays had historical themes featuring Royalty and the nobles of the land. As soon as an actor walked into the stage the color and fabric of his clothing would insinuate the role of the character he was playing – the Elizabethan nobles and upper classes wore dresses made of velvets, furs, silks lace, cotton and taffeta.

                                                  However in 1603 the bubonic plague (the Black Death) again ravaged London killing 33000 of people & all theatres were closed till the deadly outbreak subsided.

                            On 29th June, 1639, The English Civil War breaks between the Parliamentarians (Puritans) and the Royalists and on 2nd September 1642the Puritan Parliament issues an ordinance suppressing all stage plays. In 1644, the globe theatre, which caught fire in 1613 during the firing on a cannon in the course of a play and was rebuilt on original foundations in 1614,had been demolished by the Puritans. In 1647, even stricter rules were passed by the Puritans restricting the staging of the plays and in 1648 the Puritans ordered that all playhouses and theatres were to be pulled down, all players to be seized and whipped, and anyone caught attending a play to be fined 5 shillings. In 1649 the Civil War finally led to the execution of King Charles 1 by the Parliamentarians. The Elizabethan theatre was halted till 1658when Oliver Cromwell died and the power of the Puritans began to decline. In 1660, king Charles 2 was restored to the throne of England. The restoration and the demise in the power of the Puritans, sees the opening of the theatres once again.