English faculty

THE ELIZABETHAN THEATRE

In the 16 centure London was a growing and prosperous city to which streams of visitors flacked, not only from the provinces of England but from the continent as well. The wandering groups of players would find fair audiences in the inns on the roads thatled to London. They set up their stages in the inn-yards taking good collections of money after their performances.Sometimes they consider giving performances daily in the same place – not moving on to fresh inns and fresh audience. Here we have the germ of Elizabethan theatre - a building indistinguishable from an inn in architecture - four sides of the building looking into a V large yard, the stage - at one end of the yard. Tieres of galleries or verandas, leading originally into inn bedrooms, would provide viewing-places for the better sort’, while the common people could stand in the yard itself. In 1574 the Earl of Leicester obtained a patent to perform in public places, either in London or in the provinces. But the city Council banned performances within the city of London itself.Now James Burbage,the chief man of Leicester ’s company built a theatre outside the city limits and called it Theatre. This was in 1576. Soon afterwards came another playhouse – the Curtain. In 1587 came the Rose, built by Philip Henslowe and in 1594 – the Swan. Shakespeare’s «great Globe itself was built in 1598 out of the timbers of the old Theatre. All these playhouses followed the same architectural lines: playhouses were usually circular or octagonal with three tiers of galleries looking down upon the yard or pit which was open to the sky. The stage jutted out into the yard so that the actors came forward into the midst of their audience.Over the stage there was a roof and there were side doors by which the characters entered or disappeared. Over the back of the stage ran a gallery or upper stage which was used whenever an upper scene was needed: f.e. when Romeo climbs up to Juliet’s bedroom. The space beneath this upper stage was known as the tiring house, it was concealed from the audience by a curtain which would be drawn back to reveal an inner stage,for such scenes as the witch’s cave in Macbeth [3,155].

THEATRE


The Globe Theatre, where dramatist William Shakespeare saw his plays performed 400 years ago, has been rebuilt near its original location on the south bank of the Thames River in London, England. The rebuilt theater opened in 1997 and offers performances of Shakespeare’s plays during the summer. Traditional materials were used in the rebuilding. A thatched roof covers the galleries where the audience sits, and the outer walls are made of lime plaster. There was no general curtain concealing the whole stage, so that all scenes on the main stage began with an entrance and ended with exit. Thus in tragedies the dead must be carried away. There was no scenery and therefore no limit to the number of scenes; the scene came to an end when the characters left the stage. A chair or stool showed an indoor scene. A simple garment was sufficient: a man wearing riding boots was a messenger, a king wearing armour was on the battlefield or the like. Such simplisity was an advantage - the spectator was not distracted by the setting and the playwright (Shakespeare or Marlowe) was able to show as many scenes as he wished.The action passed by very quickly: a play of 2500 lines of verse could be acted in 2 hours. Since the actor was so close to his audience, the slightest subtlety of voice and gesture was easily appreciated. The Company was «Fellowship of Players» who were all partners and shares. There were usually 10 to 15 full members, with 3 or 4 boys, and some paid servants. No women were allowed to appear on the stage, and all women’s part were taken as boys. All members of the Companies were versatile - they could play tragedy, comedy, they could dance, fence, sing ... Two actors were very great: Richard Burbage, son of James Burbage, star of the Lord’s Chamberlain’s Men and Edward Alleyn; son-in-low of Philip Henslow, star of the Lord Admiral’s Men, creator of «Faustus», the «Jew of Malta» by Christopher Marlowe (1564-93), - the greatest playwright of the public theatres until Shakespeare. Make sentences from the following phrases:1. of literary-minded noblemen /often/ Actors and playwrights/ had the patronage/ as well as travelles and entertainers 2. in London/ called The Theatre/ in 1576/ was built/ The first permanent theatre/ by James Burbage 3. of inns and great halls/ Plays/ in the courtyards/ were often enacted 4. in 1599/ was built/ where Shakespeare`s plays were performed/ from the material of Burbage`s Theatre/ The Globe Theatre 5.took place/ Performances/ in the daytime 6.pageants, humour, wit, songs/ Plays/ and of course poetry/ were full of 7.in particular those by Seneca/ was initially much influenced by/ English tragedy/ classical plays in Latin 8.Christoher Marlowe (1564-1593) / Ben Jonson (?1573-1637) / and/ A part from Shakespeare/ Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)/ included/ the great dramatists Here are some of the features of the Globe Theatre. Make each set of notes into no more than two complete sentences: 1.made of wood - open in the centre - structure derived from that of typical courtyards 2.galleries - looked down on yard where poorer spectators stood – theatre held about 1200 spectators 3.stage jutted out into audience - divided into three parts: front, middle and rear - no curtains at front - actors surrounded on three sides 4.upper stage - used for, for example, the walls of a town 5.inner stage - for example, used for bedroom scenes - upper-inner stagebalcony scenes - both normally had curtains in front 6. no scenery - lavish costumes - women`s roles played by boy actors WChat effect do you think any of these features had on the plays that were writ [14,247].