Shakespearean Theater

Shakespeare was fortunate to begin his career in the late 1500s, when English theater was going through major changes. Professional actors had been performing in England for centuries. Called "Players," they traveled from town to town, setting up makeshift stages in public halls, marketplaces, and the courtyards of inns. Often they met hostility from local authorities, who believed that crowds of playgoers were a magnet for crime and also contributed to the spread of disease.

Actor James Burbage built England?s first permanent playhouse in 1576. Other open-air theaters sprang up during the next few decades.

These playhouses were all located in the suburbs rather than in London, which had strict laws governing entertainment. In 1599 Shakespeare's built their own playhouse, the Globe. This roughly circular building had three levels of covered galleries. A platform stage about forty feet wide projected out into the open courtyard, where people who paid the lowest admission price could stand and watch the play. Admission to the gallery benches cost about twice as much. Wealthy people paid sixpence (what a skilled laborer earned in a day) to sit in the "lords' room," the part of the gallery directly over the stage. In all, Shakespeare's Globe could accommodate about 3,000 spectators. Toward the end of his career, his company acquired a fully enclosed theater in London for the winter season.

The stage at the Globe had trapdoors for the entrance and exit of actors playing ghosts or other supernatural characters. At the back of the main stage was a small, curtained inner stage used for indoor scenes. Above this stood a two tiered gallery. The first tier was used to stage balcony and bedroom scenes, the second to house musicians. Sound effects, such as the booming of thunder, were produced in a hut on top of the stage roof.

All performances took place in the afternoon because there was no artificial lighting. The stage was mostly bare. There were few props and no movable scenery. Instead of relying on scenery, Shakespeare used descriptive language to help audiences visualize the settings of his plays. For example, his long descriptions of the moon are more than just beautiful writing---they reminded Elizabethan audiences that the characters were meeting at night.

What the Elizabethan stage lacked in scenery, it made up for in costumes. Shakespeare?s audiences considered clothing an important indication of social rank, so they demanded extravagant?if not always historically accurate---costuming. Along with its playbooks, an elaborate wardrobe was an Elizabethan theater company?