THE ELIZABETHAN AND JACOBEAN PERIOD

In 1576 James Burbage, father to actor Richard Burbage, bought a lease and permission to build 'The Theatre' in Shoreditch, London. 'The Lord Chamberlain's Men' (theatre company led by Richard Burbage, performing Shakespeare's plays) were the company in residence from 1594 to 1596.


Audience interaction, noise, no scripts - theatre Shakespeare-style!

- writers began by presenting their idea for a plot. The actors and managers then decided whether they liked it or not, and would then offer a down payment for its completion.

- writers created their characters with certain actors in mind. For example, knowing that Richard Burbage was the Chamberlain's leading man, and that he had a good memory for long scripts, Shakespeare created the parts of Richard III and Hamlet for him. As Richard grew older, Shakespeare made more mature characters.

- each player received his own 'role' - a long sheet of parchment with his lines written on them. No one else knew who else would be on stage with then until they actually rehearsed the scene.

- rehearsals were used to sort out the details not specified in the script. Entrances, costumes and songs were all filled in by the actors.

IN 1593 LONDON, THEATRES CLOSE DUE TO OUTBREAKS OF THE BUBONIC PLAGUE IN ENGLAND

Moving Across The River
- From 1596 - 1597 - The city of London authorities banned public performances of plays within the city limits.
- 1597 - Dispute of the lease of 'The Theatre'. Puritan owner, Giles Allen disapproved of the 'Theatre' and the acting troupe. Burbage opens negotiations to re-new the lease of 'The Theatre'.
- 1597 - Shakespeare's company of actors moved to the Curtain Theatre after failed negotiations of the new lease for the 'Theatre'.
- 1598 - Timber from 'Theatre' taken to use for the construction of a new venue, to be called The Globe Theatre.
- 1599 - The Globe Theatre is opened on Bankside, Southwark, London.

1603 THE BUBONIC PLAGUE RAVAGES LONDON AGAIN, KILLING 33,000 PEOPLE. 1608 - THE 'THEATRE' CLOSES.

The Globe Theatre
- June 29th 1613 - Fire at the Globe Theatre during a performance of Henry VIII.
- 1614 - Globe Theatre is rebuilt on its original foundations, with the new rof being tiled, not thatched... 2 years before William Shakespeare's death.

Not All Theatres Were Outside
Until 1609, the indoor theatres were used by 'boy companies'. These were grown from choir schools that privately performed once per week, differing from the week-long stretch that adult companies would perform at other venues.
The audience was thought to be more educated and wealthy. Indoor plays had more music, more flashy props such as jewels and pearls, and more speeches than action.

After Queen Elizabeth

King James took the throne after Elizabeth passed away in 1603. The Jacobean period ran until 1625. Jacobean theatre was dark and disturbing – grotesquely violent and shockingly obscene.
Sexuality was very prevalent in Jacobean performances along with a heightened sense of violence and general immoralities.

As the economy declined, so did the delicacy of theatre performances moved from outdoor to indoor, because of the changeable weather.

Jacobean Drama

Revenge Plays and Tragicomedies

Revenge Plays:
- obscene
- violent
- protagonist = revenger
a hero avenging an unfair or cruel death

Tragicomedies:
- more grotesque
- dark humour and very sexual nature

Important Plays and Playwrights

Two most produced Jacobean revenge plays are John Websters’ ‘The Duchess of Malfi’, and ‘The White Devil’.

Theatre in Decline

1642 – English Civil War. Parliament suppress plays and as a result  the Globe was pulled down and houses were built on top. 1648 – Puritans ordered all playhouses and theatres to be pulled down. All actors were to be arrested. Anyone attending plays were fined. It would be 12 years before theatres were reopened.1649 – Civil War led to execution of King Charles I by Puritans.1653 – Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England.

THEATRE STOPS! It will be 7 long years before the Restoration begins.

CONSTRUCTING THE SCENE

“Scene II. Athens. QUINCE’s house.”

We were given this scene from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ Our group consisted of:

Harry Francis  - Snug
Liam McMorrow - Flute
Tom Falconar - Quince
Toby Saddleton - Bottom
Carl Tyler - Starveling
Ali Heathfield – Snout
Kai Brassington – Sound and Lighting Designer
Dan McKay – Lighting Designer and Co-Director
Ellie Curtis – Director

After reading it through, we all decided what parts we would like. We also held a discussion on accents, and we were informed that these characters probably held a West Country style accent. I took my inspiration for the accent from the cult film, Hot Fuzz, with the line from the police officer in the station: “nobody tells me nothin’.” 

My character, Snug, comes across as a slow and dim-witted sloth, not really up for much in the way of movement or education. This is the impression I obtained from reading his line in this scene, which is:

“Have the lion’s part written? Pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.”

Clearly, Snug is a self-confessed sloth who doesn’t want many lines, due to his poor brain. Shakespeare was known for his deliberate use of punctuation. Therefore, my character’s line is longed out from the use of commas. Each couple of words requires another breath; he comes across as knackered by the end of his line!

Shakespeare also wrote the names of characters for a reason, therefore ‘Snug’ is a character meant to be lazy. He prefers the “snug” life of a bed and a hot beverage, or a nice cold one in the local!

Monday 23rd March 2015

Today we had to put our individual characterisation into practise, by rehearsing the scene on stage. Dan and Ellie had decided to place our piece on stage, rather than performing in our drama studio. We worked hard at finishing our piece, and ran it two to three times. We showed the performance to the rest of the class at the end of the lesson.

Evaluation