02:57
Faizan
Shakespeare was the biggest playwright of the time in Renaissance England, a period that saw great many changes in all walks of life. In Shakespearean times, a play or a stage show had to be extremely versatile and suit every setting possible - indoor or outdoor, a public arena or a private audience.
In most of these settings, all the characters in a stage show, male as well as female, were essayed by boys and men as acting was an exclusively male domain. Stage settings were relatively bare and except for the pivotal object that the plot rested on like a bed, a throne or a seating arrangement, there was hardly much else.
Entrances and exits were visible to audiences; scenes requiring appearances or speeches from above had the actors appear from overhead galleries.
'The Theatre' built in 1576 by James Burbage was among the earliest playhouses in modern England since the ancient Roman and Greek times.
At that time in 1576, Shakespeare was a young boy of 12 years and much too young to understand the impact of the new entity but his company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men would go on to perform at The Theatre around the 1590s. When Burbage began construction on a newer, bigger playhouse called The Globe, Shakespeare was one of the five partners who shared in the lease. The Globe was the first playhouse where many of Shakespeare's best-known plays were staged and soon became an immensely popular location for the rich and elite of English society.
Audiences in Shakespearean times paid a penny to watch a play standing for the entire length of the show in the uncovered yard. A balcony seat cost two pennies and as more and more indoor theatres came into existence with lesser accommodation, the ticket prices began to start at six-pence. Modern-day excavations of old playhouses have unearthed spoons, shells, bottles and remains of nuts and fruits, all signs of the gaiety and fun indulged in by the spectators who obviously dined and drank during performances.
In most of these settings, all the characters in a stage show, male as well as female, were essayed by boys and men as acting was an exclusively male domain. Stage settings were relatively bare and except for the pivotal object that the plot rested on like a bed, a throne or a seating arrangement, there was hardly much else.
Entrances and exits were visible to audiences; scenes requiring appearances or speeches from above had the actors appear from overhead galleries.
'The Theatre' built in 1576 by James Burbage was among the earliest playhouses in modern England since the ancient Roman and Greek times.
At that time in 1576, Shakespeare was a young boy of 12 years and much too young to understand the impact of the new entity but his company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men would go on to perform at The Theatre around the 1590s. When Burbage began construction on a newer, bigger playhouse called The Globe, Shakespeare was one of the five partners who shared in the lease. The Globe was the first playhouse where many of Shakespeare's best-known plays were staged and soon became an immensely popular location for the rich and elite of English society.
Audiences in Shakespearean times paid a penny to watch a play standing for the entire length of the show in the uncovered yard. A balcony seat cost two pennies and as more and more indoor theatres came into existence with lesser accommodation, the ticket prices began to start at six-pence. Modern-day excavations of old playhouses have unearthed spoons, shells, bottles and remains of nuts and fruits, all signs of the gaiety and fun indulged in by the spectators who obviously dined and drank during performances.
Posted in: arts
