108
SUPPLEMENT III
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 that led 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, f.e. for such scenes as the witch’s cave in Macbeth.
109
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
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