Plays of the Renaissance

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Renaissance history plays are also known as early English plays and they mainly refer to William Shakespeare’s plays or plays of other famous people who wrote plays in the past. They may also be referred to as Elizabethan because they were mostly performed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Renaissance plays were performed in the medieval times traditions for example the mystery plays and they were mostly performed during religious occasions in England. This was during the middle ages and they mostly had religious themes, performed mostly in churches but sometime later, they were also performed during secular events that came about the religious events. The amateurs of these plays later came to be replaced by professionals. These plays were either performed publicly or privately depending on the social class that one belonged.

The renaissance theatres became more popular with the establishment of public theatres which were large and this was profitable and once they became stable, drama would become more permanent rather than just a passing phase. Archaeological evidences show that the theatres built during this renaissance time were different although they had a common overall plan. The public theatres were built around a large space in the middle and had about three stories upwards. The upper side that was behind the stage could have been used as a balcony like in the play Romeo and Juliet. The theatres were mostly round except for a few.

The theatres were either public or private so people could choose where they wanted to watch the plays from. The plays were mostly performed one each day as compared to these days where a play can go up to a month. The players wore costumes that were expensive and they had bright colors t...

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...play are compared to historical events like the battle of England with Spain and Ireland. The William Shakespeare plays are a great work of art in deed and are truly historical as they date back to renaissance times.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, and Claire McEachern. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth. New York: Penguin, 2000. Print.

Shakespeare, William, and Cedric Watts. Henry V. Ware: Wordsworth Classics, 2000. Print.

Fulton, H. (2009) History and Myth: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, in A Companion to Arthurian Literature (ed H. Fulton), Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781444305821

'The City of Leicester: Political and administrative history, 1066-1509', A History of the County of Leicester: volume 4: The City of Leicester (1958), pp. 1-30. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66559

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