Introduction to the Theatre

THE 101 / University of Idaho

Chapter 15 / English Renaissance / Shakespeare

Historical Background:

     Spain and Portugal have just divided the new world.   Religious intolerance by the Pope, his legates, and various European kings has started various religious wars prior to this period.   King John of England has been forced to sign the Magna Carta and accept the Catholic Church as the only religion for England.   Charles the V of Spain is named the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.   As a result of this forced and mandated religion and as a reaction against the Pope and his power, sweeping social and religious upheaval takes place.   In England, this turmoil ends the medieval cycle plays because the themes are now considered reactionary and of little benefit to the church and state.

In Germany in 1521, Martin Luther is excommunicated from the church for his beliefs, the foundations of which later become the Lutheran Church.   While Henry the VIII of England eventually makes his own break with the Catholic Church over the right to divorce, and founds the Anglican Church in 1534.  Finally, in 1560 Alexander Knox founds the Presbyterian Church.   Into this turmoil walks Elizabeth I (1558-1603) arguably one of the strongest British Monarchs in history.  

    Elizabeth, through several calculated laws re-institutes theatre with the Licensing Acts of 1559 allowing for productions under governmental control.   Theatre performances cannot be legally presented without the consent of the Queen or her designee.   These events force a rise of English creative drama and make theatre England’s greatest contribution to the Renaissance.   Further, in 1572, the Licensing Acts were relaxed allowing theatre companies to perform if they had the backing of two justices of the peace or a nobleman.   And by 1574, the Queen had appointed a Master of Revels - basically the royal booking agent, to distribute these licenses.   Politically, England becomes a world power in 1588 with the sinking of Spanish Armada.   While theatre remained strong it was temporarily suspended from 1592 - 93, as were all public gatherings, due to the plague.   Like its cousins across the continent English theatre explored human existence and nature.   The English Renaissance of drama began its decline with the growing influence of puritan morality and decorum.   Finally, in 1642 Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Government put an end to theatre with the beheading of Charles I and the institution of Puritan rule.

Development of Theater:

   After the disintegration of the cycle plays many of the companies and performers became traveling troupes touring the countryside in their pageant wagons or with their tresstled stages.   It is speculated by scholars that they would use their stays in traveler’s inns to their advantage.   During this period it was not safe to camp along the roadside so staying in an inn was a necessary and logical activity.   The English country inn was a

U-shaped compound with a large gate at the open end.   It was muti-leveled so that the animals could be housed below in mangers and the occupants could dwell above.   The upper levels had windows that looked over the dirt yard.   The traveling troupes would back their wagons or set up their tresstled stage against the gate after it was closed and locked for the evening.   The performances were then held with the audiences standing in the inn yard or gazing from the windows of their rooms.   On a side note, it is further speculated that the owner of the inn would remove the nuts from the wheels of the troupe’s wagons, since these artists and travelers were itinerant, and only return the nuts after receiving the money for food and lodging.   This gave rise to the English expression "needing to make your nut" or in today’s financial terms ‘breaking even’.   However, it is this type of performer and audience relationship which is speculated to have developed into the Shakespearean theatre called the ‘Wooden O”.  

    During this period, there were two types of theatre in England - public and private.    There were nine public theaters in total during the Shakespearean period and they were named the Globe, the Swan, the Curtain, the Hope, the Fortune, the Rose, the Theatre, and two more of which the names have been lost.   These theaters were located outside the city limits.   Although licensed by the Queen, they still attracted a rather boisterous crowd and were considered un-clean and a fire hazard.   These public theaters were the classic Shakespearean Wooden O’s.

   Most of these theaters had three seating levels of bleachers or benches, which were covered, called galleries.   In addition, these theaters were mostly enclosed and partially roofed, with the central yard or ‘pit’ open to the English sky and weather.   However, the stage itself was covered and contained multi-levels.   The area beneath the stage was called the cellarage and the area above was referred to as the heavens.   Both of these terms were borrowed from pageant wagon terminology.   In addition, there was an ‘inner above’ and an ‘inner below’.   The inner above and the inner below were acting areas that allowed for the quick transition from scene to scene.   Behind these areas and behind the stage itself stood the tiring house where the scenery, props and costumes were stored.   The tiring house was also where the actors would wait for their entrances.  

     Much like today, ticket price dictated where audience members would sit or stand.   The more affluent audience members sat in the galleries while the ‘penny stinkers’ occupied the standing room only pit.   In addition to performances, audiences were drawn to the theater by green shows and by animal baiting events prior to the show.   In addition to these pre show events, ale, roasted chestnuts, and orange vendors hawked their goods and wares both before and during the show.   Imagine if you will, a formal theatre event mixed with some of the more colorful aspects of a Chicago Cubs game.

     The content of the plays in these Wooden O’s consisted of comedy, tragedy, and chronicle plays (history plays), as well as, domestic and city plays - which touched on the everyday lives of Londoners.   Shakespearean plays contained a high degree of poetry by its use of sonnets, rhymed couplets, soliloquies and iambic pentameter.   In addition, the Shakespearean stage used little or no scenery, had extravagant but inaccurate costumes, and relied on natural lighting and torches to illuminate the action of the play.

     In contrast, the private and court theaters were designed with the affluent gentry and nobility in mind.   They were indoors, candlelit, elitist, and quite costly.   Court theatre was by invitation only and was organized by the Master of Revels, the Queen’s entertainment overseer and booking agent.   These theaters resembled the early proscenium stages of Italy.  This was largely due to the fact that Inigo Jones, the leading designer of the day, had studied extensively in both the courts of Italy and France.   While the public and court theaters produced the plays found in the public theaters, the audiences of the private theaters preferred the Italian Intermezzi and pastoral plays.   In Court, the nobility preferred masques and revels.   A court masque is a costly royal spectacle using elaborate scenery, lavish costumes, singing, and spectacular dances.   The court masque is closely related to the Intermezzi and the Opera.   A revel is more of a musical drama with dance.   It was not uncommon for James I and Charles I (Elizabeth’s successors) to spend lavish amounts on these entertainments.   In fact, it was Charles’s care for the commoner, defiance of parliament, and lavish expenditures that partially fueled the Puritan Reformation.

Playwrights & Theatrical Conventions

     Obviously, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) The Tempest, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, just to name a few, was the premier playwright of this period and deservedly so.   Shakespeare wrote and produced over 37 plays and numerous poems and sonnets.   He was such a prolific writer that scholars argue that perhaps the work is too voluminous to be the work of one writer.   However, Shakespeare had many contemporaries of equal skill such as Ben Jonson (1572-1637) Volpone, The Alchemist, Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) Edward II and Doctor Faustus, and John Ford (1586-1639) ‘Tis a Pity She’s A Whore.   Since there were no copyright laws, playwrights were extremely protective of their work and quite particular about the manner in which where they were performed.   Shakespearean Drama drew from both Greek and Roman themes using distant times, places, history, foreign ideas, and languages.   The plays were bold, rapid, and spectacular and contained robust characters and vigorous lyricism.   However, there was a balance.   A balance of wit and action and a balance of word and sword play.   The poetry within the plays centered on the use of un-rhyming iambic pentameter where the stress is on the second, fourth sixth, eighth and tenth syllable.   In addition to the use of iambic pentameter, sonnets, and uncoupled rhymes Shakespearean Drama used the soliloquy.   The soliloquy is a speech given to the audience by an actor, which lets us know their deepest thoughts and fears.   The most widely known speech of this kind is Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy, in which the main character ponders the value of his own life and considers suicide.   It is a personal moment between the actor and the audience and creates an intense dramatic focus.

     There are several recurring themes and identifiers in Shakespearean Drama:

·        An early point of attack

·        Several lines of action (plays within a play).

·        Mixing laughter with tears.

·        A free range of time and place.

·        A large number of characters.

·        An infinite variety of language

   An early point of attack means that the play and its purpose, the inciting incident and dramatic question, come very early on in the play.   There are also several lines of action within which the play progresses.   This can be as simple as several singular plots or more complex in that the various plots are woven together.  In addition, a ‘play within a play’ may be present.  A ‘play within a play” occurs when characters act out a drama for the other characters.   This usually serves to reflect or inform upon the play as a whole.   Shakespearean plays also combine fear, laughter, sympathy, tears, action, and excitement in a very intense and quick pattern.   In many instances, it becomes an intellectual roller coaster ride.   Shakespearean Drama uses a free range of time and place.   In one scene you may be in the palace of Henry V in England and in the next scene you may be in the fields of Agincourt, France - three months later!   However, the action is seamless, as each scene flows from one to the next.   In addition, Shakespearean Drama often uses a large number of characters, which require many actors to play several roles throughout a play.   It is not unusual, both in Shakespeare’s time and in present productions, for an actor to play a soldier, a lord, a woodsman, and a friar all in one evening.   Finally, Shakespearean Drama uses an infinite variety of language.   This is not just in the poetic sense of the combination of poetry and narration, or even in the variation of the characters voice, but in the actual usage of foreign languages and words.   Shakespearean theatre was truly cosmopolitan for its day.

Staging & Spectacle:

     In contrast to the exquisite language and complex characters and structures, the Shakespearean spectacle on the public stage was rather unrefined.   There was minimal use of scenery and most of what was used tended to be furniture pieces.  Occasionally, banners might be carried on to the stage or curtains were drawn across openings to help define or enclose acting areas or places.   Hand properties like swords and household items were pulled from stock and, as a result, were not always coordinated or historically correct.   In addition, costumes were the responsibility of the actors who collected clothing and costume parts that they thought best defined their character.   Needless to say, this was not a coordinated effort and, at best, was an eclectic enterprise.   On the other hand, the private and court theaters had more than enough spectacle. They incorporated Italian perspective, scenic machines, painted scenery, and coordinated and fanciful costumes.   In short, they were designed.

    The Shakespearean acting companies were developed through the patronage of noblemen, most notably the Lord Admirals Men (Shakespeare’s company) and the Lord Chamberlains Men (Marlowe’s company).   These all male companies, apprenticed boys in ladies roles until they ‘grew’ into the male roles by voice change or by size.   These actors were highly talented.   They had to be able to sing, dance, perform acrobatics be able to juggle and fence.   These companies could also do as many as two hundred shows in repertory in a given year, which in addition to the actor’s other talents also required an excellent memory.   Since many actors played multiple roles, they needed to be able to change their voice and character easily.   With the large amount of cross dressing by young men, financial instability of the art form, and the intense subject matter of the plays (for the times), the acting companies were often in trouble with the law, the government, and the church, and many of the companies were in trouble with all three at the same time.

     Structurally, a typical company consisted of two distinct hierarchies - the acting hierarchy and the crew hierarchy.   The acting hierarchy was made up of the lead heir, the heirs, heirlings, and apprentices.   The lead heir was usually the main actor, who in some instances was also the playwright, as was the case with Ford and Jonson.   The lead heir(s) were then followed in succession by the heirs - the other main actors, who were then followed by the heirlings or ‘junior’ men actors.   Finally, the boy apprentices rounded out the acting company by playing the roles of young men and women.

    The crew hierarchy was composed of householders, stage managers, tiremen, money takers, caretakers, and musicians.   The householders served as the producers to the company and took care of the production’s monetary concerns, while the stage managers maintained the order in which rehearsals were followed and organized the tiremen.   The tiremen worked as the backstage crew for properties, costumes, and scenery.   The money takers were the equivalent of today’s box office staff, and the caretakers are equal to today’s ushers and janitors, known as the front of house staff.   Finally, musicians provided the music for scenes requiring singing and dancing, in addition to trumpet fanfares and some sound effects.   It is important to remember that this system was developed along the lines of the guild system, where a craftsman served as an apprentice then a journeymen and, finally, becomes a master ready to train prospective apprentices.