Shakespeare’s Theater

I n 1558, the first year of Elizabeth I’s reign, there were no playhouses in England. Actors, or “players,” performed wherever they could find an audience—often in the open courtyards of London inns. Much to the distress of the mostly Puritan city council, who believed that “playacting” was a violation of the biblical commandment against idolatry, these performances attracted large and often rowdy crowds. In 1574 the Common Council of London issued an order banishing players from London. To get around the order, actor James Burbage and his company of players leased land in nearby Shoreditch, where they built the first public playhouse in England. Completed in 1576, the “Theater” was an immediate success. Several other theaters soon followed.

The Globe To theater-lovers today, one early English playhouse stands out from all the rest—the Globe, home to many of Shakespeare’s plays. Built in 1599, the first Globe was, quite literally, a rebirth of the Theater. When Burbage had trouble renewing his lease, he had the Theater disassembled. The timber was carted over the Thames River to Bankside and was used to build the Globe. Although no trace of the original Globe remains today, surviving maps, construction contracts, and plays of the time have helped scholars piece together a fairly clear picture of what it looked like in its day.

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Literary History

Henry V

The first play presented at the Globe Theatre, Henry V takes place in the 1400s and is based on the life of the king who led the English army to invade and conquer France.

his Wooden O In Henry V, the first play to be performed at the Globe, Shakespeare referred to the theater as “this wooden O.” From that description and others, scholars believe that the Globe was a circular structure, formed by three-tiered, thatch-roofed galleries that served as seating. These galleries overlooked an open courtyard, into which jutted a raised platform stage. At the back of the main stage was a small curtained inner stage used for indoor scenes. Above the main stage stood a two-tiered gallery. The first tier was used to stage balcony and bedroom scenes; the second, to house musicians

Lords and Groundlings Plays were usually performed in the afternoon before a diverse audience of about two thousand people. Members of the nobility and the rising middle class generally sat in the galleries. Less well-to-do spectators, called “groundlings,” could stand and watch from the courtyard for only a penny. Their close proximity to the stage made for an intimate theatrical experience, but it also made for a noisy one. Accounts of the time suggest that the groundlings did not hesitate to shout comments to the actors onstage and that vendors selling snacks circulated throughout the audience during performances.

Theatrical Conventions Certain theatrical conventions that seemed natural to Elizabethans might strike today’s audiences as strange. For example, most of Shakespeare’s characters speak in blank verse—unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. In this verse form, each line is divided into five units, or feet, with stress falling on every second syllable. Because the rhythm of blank verse mimics the natural rhythm of spoken English, it is especially appropriate for dialogue. Because acting was considered to be too indelicate for women, female roles were played by boys— apprentices to the company of players. Costumes were usually colorful and elaborate versions of regular Elizabethan dress, whether worn for Macbeth, set in the 11^th c., or for Julius Caesar, set in 44 BC. Scenery was almost nonexistent. A single tree might stand for a forest, or a chair for a throne room. Shakespeare made up for the lack of scenery by giving characters descriptive passages to help the audience visualize the scenes.

The Elizabethan stage had no front curtain, so the beginning of a play was announced by the blaring of trumpets, and the start of a new scene was signaled by the entrance of the appropriate characters. Given the lack of scenery changes and intermissions, Elizabethan productions probably moved quickly. Scholars estimate that a typical performance of a Shakespearean play lasted only two hours, as opposed to the three or more hours that it usually takes to perform his plays today.

The Globe’s Comeback The original Globe Theatre was destroyed in 1613 when the explosion of a cannon intended to mark the entrance of the king during a performance of Henry VIII accidentally set the thatched roof on fire. Within an hour, the entire theater burned to the ground. Rebuilt the following year, the Globe stood until 1644, when it was torn down to clear the land for new housing.

Thanks to the late U.S. actor Sam Wanamaker, the Globe made a comeback in 1997. Wanamaker founded the new Globe, a working replica of the original. It stands on the south bank of the Thames River in London and opened, like the original, with a production of Henry V. After more than three centuries, Shakespeare’s “wooden O” has come full circle.