Учебное пособие 4 unit I. The renaissance 1485-1649

Globe Theatre in London
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
by boys. Why do many Shakespeare’s heroines suddenly change into boy s
clothes? Because his heroines were boys and left more comfortable dressed
as boys.
All members of the Companies were versatile - they could play tragedy,
comedy, they could dance, fence, sing ... Two actors were very great:

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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/ Apart
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 stage-
balcony scenes - both normally had curtains in front
6. no scenery - lavish costumes - women`s roles played by boy actors
What effect do you think any of these features had on the plays that were written?