Historical Context - Post 4

QUESTION: What were the theatres or ‘playhouses’ of Shakespeare’s time like and how were plays staged in them? 

In Shakespeare's time, theatres and playhouses differed greatly to the theatres nowadays.

A Playhouse could be described as a 'small, private, indoor hall';  they were open to anybody who could afford entry. Playhouses were good for actors as they provided a space to perform in all year round, despite the weather. They were also a place for audience members to feel comfortable in the luxury of the indoor warmth. Playhouses were smaller than theatres (they could fit up to 500) however the cost to watch a play in a playhouse was a lot more expensive than admittance to theatres. Since they were not open air, beautiful scenery could be introduced that could be used again and again since there was no danger of weather destroying it. An example of a building specifically built to be a playhouse is the Sailsbury Court Playhouse; The Gray's Inn and Whitehall are two examples of theatres that were transformed into playhouses.

Although the most famous theatre of Elizabethan England is The Globe, famous for staging Shakespeare plays, there were many other theatres in England that also existed however most people associated Elizabethan Theatres with those built in a similar style to The Globe. Everybody loved the theatre, it was a booming business that offered many opportunities to make money. Because plays might have been performed in several different places (outdoor playhouse, an indoor theatre, a royal palace, etc), plays had to be versatile. At the time, there were no directors so the actors would direct them themselves as well as making the props/costumes/etc.

QUESTION: Who were the actors of Shakespeare’s plays and how did the experience of being an actor differ from the experience today?

The most obvious way in which actors of Shakespeare's play differed from being an actor today is that all casts were filled with men; female roles would be played by boys or young men. Although gender-switching roles in modern day theatre is not rare, women are typically known to play women however this was not the case in Shakespeare's times due to the fact that women could not become an actor.

In modern day theatre/film, actors do not specifically have to have certain skills (such as fighting, sword-fighting, etc) to then show it onstage as the same effect could be created with sound and special effects. In Elizabethan times, this was not the case as actors had to be specially skilled to then show the skills onstage (such as, playing instruments, etc). The main reason to why actors do not have to hone these skills today because we are more advanced in technology, and such other things; for example, we can pre-record music to then play over the piece instead of it being live onstage.
Costume was very key to plays in Elizabethan times - it was a thing that theatre companies invested in greatly as it 'provided the essential "spectacle" of the plays". Typically, they were second-hand clothes that were worn by real-life people whom the characters were based off. This is very different to modern day actors as costume is usually made especially for the performance by skilled costume-makers to represent the characters. They are usually very expensive and are only used for and by the actors in their performances.