There is no marvel in a woman learning to speak, but there would be in teaching her to hold her tongue Queen

Elizabeth I.
But to start, what is Theatre? According to Thornton Wilder he regard Theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the
most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being
and going a little deeper we found this from William Blake:
What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? Are they two and
not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is
religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride!
Now that we have an idea of what is theatre let's start with a brief History about the Elizabethan Theatre:
Elizabethan Theatre is a general term covering the plays written and performed publicly in England during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I (between 1562 and 1642) but it can also include the theatre of Elizabeth's immediate successors,
James I and Charles I up to the mid seventeenth century. The first proper theatre known was the Theatre, built at
Shoreditch in 1576 and before this time plays were performed in the courtyard of inns, or sometimes, in the houses of
noblemen. However, a noble had to be careful about which play he allowed to be performed within his home. Anything
that was controversial or political was likely to get them in trouble with the crown.
After the Theatre, further open air playhouses were opened in the London area, including the Rose (1587), and the
Hope (1613). The most famous playhouse was the Globe (1599) built by the company in which Shakespeare had a stake.
These theatres could hold several thousand people; most standing in the open pit before the stage, though rich nobles
could watch the play in a better seat close to the stage by paying for it. The performances were held in the afternoon,
because there was no artificial lighting and even though women attended to plays, the prosperous woman often wore a
mask to disguise her identity.
so, to go deeper on the Elizabethan Theatre, now that you know their history, let's talk about their theatre features
and further.
How the Theatres were? Well, they were small, cramped and dirty. There were three main types of Theatres:
1. Inn Yards: They were very popular as it provided alcohol and lodging. A small fee was charged as they entered
the inn-yard. In addition, the Audience capacity to this place was up to 500 people and structurally talking, the
stage was constructed on moveable platforms.
2. Playhouses: they were a little bit fancier and expensive so the most common folk couldnt attend. They were
also suitable for winter and evening productions due to the use of candles. The venues were smaller and roofed
and the Audience capacity was up to 500 people too.
3. Amphitheatres: were designed to hold a capacity of up to 3000 people, all kind of people could attend and they
were built in a similar style, but on a smaller scale, to the Roman Amphitheatres.

You already know about the theatres that were built because I have mentioned before, but I wanted to make a
parenthesis in the one that is considered probably the most famous because is associated with Shakespeare, The Globe:
It was built in the South of London, 1599 by the carpenter Peter Street and designed by Shakespeare's playing
company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The design was based on the Colosseum, but on a smaller scale and even
though was destroyed by fire in 1613, a second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by 1614 and closed in
1642, when Puritans took down all theatres and all places that had to do with entertainment.

To continue you should know about the things that happened inside the Theatres, The Plays:
They had intricate plots with deeper and more varied characterization, emphasizing on real life situations.
Comedies usually ended in marriage (A Midsummer Nights Dream), Tragedies were plays with tragic heroes that
undergo a series of unfortunate events which usually leads to the death of a lead character (Hamlet, Macbeth,
Romeo & Juliet) and History plays were based on lives of people and events that had transpired (Henry V, Henry VIII,
Richard II).
The Players:
They were actors and all actors were men, and if they had female characters a younger boy would play it
because women were not allowed to play.
The players had to have a really good memory to memorize 50 different parts for 25 different plays in a single
month because plays were rarely repeated.
Actors in order to gain political protection had to form groups called companies that would be sponsored by
nobles.
Their Costumes were expensive and fancy and brightly colored in order to distinguish various characters
Their Sets:
They did not have sets or backdrops because they wanted the audience to use their imagination to create the
scenery.
No modern lighting was used just candles and natural light.
And words were more valued than scenery.
Their Props
Were very important because of lack of set and were expensive, so they did not have many.
Took a lot of time to make.
Certain props symbolized certain places. Eg: chairs, tables and mugs symbolized a tavern to the audience.
Large scale props such as cannons have been known to be used.
The Audience
Had lots of participation and determined the fate of the show
They also brought food and threw it if they did not like the performance

The Puritan movement was hostile to the theatres, they considered theater to be sinful and when they came to power in
the English Civil War all theatres were closed. By the time that the Restoration re-opened the theatres, the old masters
were dead and there were no replacements. Nevertheless, after the closing of 1642, English literature adopted the novel
as its major form for storytelling, with no relevant plays until two centuries later with George Bernard Shaw, John Synge
and Oscar Wilde.
And before finishing I will give you my top 5 from very interesting facts about the Elizabethan Theatre.
5 very interesting Facts about the Elizabethan Theatre:
1. Elizabethan theatres were also used for bear baiting, gambling and for immoral purposes.
2. In an open arena, the actors would also get wet if it rained.
3. When the flag on top a theatre was flying, it meant that there was going to be a performance on that day. A
trumpet blast let people know that the show was about to start.
4. In the summer months, groups of actors from London would take a show on the road. They would load up
wagons and carts with all of their costumes, scenery, props and a stage, and perform plays in town squares and
inn-yards.
5. After the authorities banned the public presentation of plays in 1596, all Theatres located in the City were
forced to move to the South side of the River Thames.