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This was vital because, if audiences didn’t like a play, they made their feelings known. To attract the crowds, these plays often re-told famous stories from the past, and they used violence, music and humour to keep people’s attention. Between 15 about 3,000 new plays were written. With such large audiences, plays only had short runs and then had to be replaced. What effect did the audience have on the success of a play? This probably tells us more about what was ‘news’ than how audiences behaved all the time. We have very few accounts of how the audience behaved, and most of them are about ‘bad’ behaviour. Pickpockets sometimes joined the audience and in 1612, magistrates banned music at the end of plays at the Fortune, saying the crowd had caused ‘tumults and outrages’ with their dances. They clapped the heroes and booed the villains, and cheered the special effects. Most didn’t sit and watch in silence like today. But these people were not necessarily well behaved. Some of the audience went to the theatre to be seen and admired, dressed in their best clothes. So paying more got the wealthy a seat under cover, and perhaps a cushioned seat. Some visitors complained that the pit smelled of garlic and beer and no good citizen would show his face there. But there were no toilets and the floor they stood on was probably just sand, ash or covered in nutshells. They could buy food and drink during the performance – pippins (apples), oranges, nuts, gingerbread and ale. The groundlings were very close to the action on stage. So the place where audiences pay became known as the box office. In Shakespeare’s day, as people came into the theatre or climbed the steps to their seats, audiences had to put their money in a box. Today, the place where you buy your theatre tickets is called the Box Office. The low cost was one reason the theatre was so popular. One penny was only the price of a loaf of bread. Admission to the indoor theatres started at 6 pence. The most expensive seats would have been in the ‘Lord’s Rooms’. Or for a penny or so more, you could sit more comfortably on a cushion.
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(There were 240 pennies in £1.) For another penny, you could have a bench seat in the lower galleries which surrounded the yard. In open air theatres the cheapest price was only 1 penny which bought you a place amongst the ‘groundlings’ standing in the ‘yard’ around the stage. In 1591, London theatres were banned from performing on Thursdays because ‘the players do recite their plays to the hurt of bear-baiting, maintained for Her Majesty’s pleasure’. These included cock-fighting and bear-baiting which were enjoyed by both the poor and the wealthy. Theatres had to compete for audiences against other London entertainment.
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They didn’t go to public theatres, but companies of actors were summoned to perform at the courts of Elizabeth I and James I. In 1607, the Venetian ambassador bought all the most expensive seats for a performance of Shakespeare’s Pericles. But wealthier people were in the audience too. Others talked of servants and apprentices spending all their spare time there. One visitor, in 1617, described the crowd around the stage as ‘a gang of porters and carters’. The answer is ‘just about everyone in London society’ – generally more men than women, but all sorts of people. That’s a lot of people! So who were they? With several theatres offering plays most afternoons, this meant between 10,000 and 20,000 people a week going to London theatres. There is also a crossword puzzle to reinforce vocabulary.In this fact sheet, students will learn about who went to the theatre, how much they paid and more, providing a good background for understanding Shakespeare's audience.Ī printable version of this Fact Sheet is available in the downloads section below.īy 1600 London theatres, like the Globe, could take up to 3000 people for the most popular plays. The Word Search activity sheet has keywords correlating with the presentation. The activity sheet is multiple choice that works well as a follow-up activity or students may choose to complete while viewing the presentation.
Theater through the ages the renaissance answer key pdf#
In addition, there is a PDF copy of the presentation for your convenience. I have included exciting transitions and subtle sound effects to the work. It is colorful and appealing for all ages. Take your students back in time with this drama/theater bundle where theatre and history unite! This collection is great for a general drama/theatre class, language arts class and much more! “A Brief History of Renaissance Theatre” powerpoint presentation is packed with information about the origins and evolution of theatre. PDF “A Brief History of Renaissance Theatre”Īctivity Sheet “A Brief History of Renaissance Theatre” Powerpoint Presentation “A Brief History of Renaissance Theatre”