The first beginning of the theatre in England is the performance of Gospel stories. As people grew more interested in plays, the performance shifted to the churchyard, but, because the crowds were desecrating the graves, the stage shifted on to some open space of the town. For a more select audience they frequently played in the great halls of institutions, especially the Inns of the Court. Know more about the Origin of English Drama
Before Shakespeare's time and during his boyhood, troupes of actors performed wherever they could in halls, courts, courtyards, and any other open spaces available. However, in 1574, when Shakespeare was ten years old, the Common Council passed a law requiring plays and theaters in London to be licensed. In 1576, actor and future Lord Chamberlain's Man, James Burbage, built the first permanent theater, called The Theatre, situated in the open fields of Shoreditch outside the city of London. After this many more theaters were established, including the Globe Theatre, which was where most of Shakespeare's plays premiered or at Blackfriars.
Before 1576 most of the plays were held in inn-yards. The actors were considered rouge and vagabond. This profession was not respected. Actors have to obtain a license and enrolled as members in companies.
(i) The court stage at White Hall and other royal palaces.
(ii) The private theatres of noblemen like the Cockpit, the Salisbury Court.
(iii) The Public theatres - The Curtain, The Theatre, The Globe, The Fortune and others.
Elizabethan theaters were generally built after the design of the original Theatre. Built of wood, these theaters comprised three tiers of seats in a circular shape, with a stage area on one side of the circle. The stage was a raised platform. The audience's seats and part of the stage were roofed. On the top of this roofed recess was a turret, from where a trumpeter could announce the beginning of a play and from a flag that a play is in progress. When the trumpet had sounded a third time, a figure clothed in black robe came forward and recited the prologue. Then the curtain in front of the stage and the play begins. There was no rise or fall of curtain to mark the beginning or end of a play. Sometimes the change of scene was shown by introducing some suggestive article. For example a branch of tree was introduced to represent a forest, a cardboard imitation of a rock to represent a mountain or a peebly beach. Wooden imitation of horses was also brought in. The common way of showing a change in scene was writing placard the place of action in large letters.
A larger portion of the main stage and the area in front of the stage in the center of the circle were open to the elements. About 1,500 audience members could pay extra money to sit in the covered seating areas, while about 800 "groundlings" paid less money to stand in this open area before the stage. The stage itself was divided into three levels: a main stage area with doors at the rear and a curtained area in the back for "discovery scenes"; an upper, canopied area called "heaven" for balcony scenes; and an area under the stage called "hell," accessed by a trap door in the stage. There were dressing rooms located behind the stage, but no curtain in the front of the stage, which meant that scenes had to flow into each other and "dead bodies" had to be dragged off. Know more about Elizabethan Audience
Performances took place during the day, using natural light from the open center of the theater. The plays were enacted generally in the afternoon at about three and continue for two hours. Since there could be no dramatic lighting and there was very little scenery or props, audiences relied on the actors' lines and stage directions to supply the time of day and year, the weather, location, and mood of the scenes. Shakespeare's plays masterfully supply this information. Extensive music was constantly used.
The actors acted using masks and wigs. The female characters were always acted by boys or smooth-faced men.
Actors were allowed to suggest changes to scenes and dialogue and had much more freedom with their parts than actors today. Shakespeare's plays are no exception.
The performances of a tragedy were shown by draping the stage with black and for a comedy with blue hanging were used. The blending of comic as well as serious scene in the same play was common. Clowns were likely to trust themselves upon the scene all the occasions.
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