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Introduction Shakespeare´s plays are immortal and due to this facts we are still interested in Shakespeare´s theatre, the Globe Theatre. In our report, we first want to mention different aspects of the history of the Globe Theatre. After that we will explain the special construction of the different kinds of theatres in Shakespeare´s time, their advantages and their disadvantages. As a third point we will comment on the audience and the actors in Shakespearean time. The History of the Globe Theatre Before Shakespeare´s wrote his plays there existed already many different public theatres, especially theatres in London. London was a big city with many inhabitants and, as there were only few kinds of entertainment, these Londoners were very interested in going to the theatre.
We know that on some days the number of visitors even was two to three thousand for one performance. So, the theatres had to have a large capacity for the audience. In the beginning of the 16th century there were five main theatres in London, the most well-known ones were the "Swan theatre", "The Fortune" and the "Rose". Additionally there were also private theatres. The origin of the Elizabethan theatres was a kind of public playhouse built in 1567 by James Burbage. We don´t exactly know how it looked like because there are no written descriptions of his theatre.
However we do know some details of the interior of the Swan Theatre, because a Dutch visitor, Johann de Wilt, described it and made a sketch of it. A better drawing, however, is given to us by C. W. Hodge´s reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, which became the most important theatre for the staging of Shakespeare´s plays. At a later part of my paper I will explain the construction of this theatre more detailedly . Up to the year 1613 there were regular performances given in this theatre.
(Shakespeare wrote his tragedy "Macbeth" in the third period, between 1599 and 1608.) In the year 1613, however, the original Globe Theatre burnt to the ground. It was said that a canon shot during the performance of "Henry VIII" was the reason of the fire. The fire began at the roof of the gallery and then the whole theatre burnt down. But, as the people were highly interested in theatre performances, it was quickly rebuilt. The new Globe Theatre continued operating as a theatre until 1642.
In 1642 the Puritans had the power in the cpuntry and they closed the theatre to tally. In their religion there was no room for entertainment, people had to think only about work and prayer. The Puritans wanted to prevent that the Londoners could ever see theatres performances again, so they made the construction of another theatre impossible. They totally pulled down the theatre in 1644 and built houses on the ground. The construction of the Globe Theatre in Shakespeare´s time As I mentioned above, the drawing of the Dutch visitors, Johannes de Witt, gave us the best idea of the typical Elizabethan playhouse, in which so many of Shakespeare´s plays were performed. Basically the building was six-sided (hexagonal) in its shape.
The theatre had three galleries with roofs which were constructed aroung an open courtyard. In this yard those people were standing, who were not able to pay much money for the theatre. These people were called the "Groundlings". The people who sat in the galleries had paid more money and so they had a better view and did not becoome wet when there was rain. On the left gallery, seen from the stage, there was room for the orchestra or for balcony scenes, like the ones in "Romeo and Juliet". There were "lower galleries", for which you had to pay only 2 pennies in Shakespeare´s time and "upper galleries" which were more expensive, because you could see the actors in a better way.
In these "upper galleries" there were also "Gentlemen´s Rooms" or "Lord´s Rooms" for the nobility or for the extremely rich persons, but sometimes their gallery also was next to the stage. The spectators sat around the stage in a circle. In the center of the theatre there was the stage. It was very wide and gave much room to the players. It had a thatched roof so that the actors were protected from rain. The roof was constructed on pillars.
In the back of the stage there were the stage doors. Out of these doors the players came onto the stage or disappeared from the stage. In one part of the stage there was a trapdoor. Through this trapdoor in the floor of the stage characters of the play could either appear from below or they could disappear quickly. In Shshakespeare´s Macbeth for example the three witches can disappear through it. There was also a room unter the stage.
This room was called "the Hell". At the back of the stage there was the so-called "back-stages area" all necessary costumes and properties were kept. The actors often wore luxurious costumes which they had been given by rich patrins or sponsors. Concerning properties there were not so many to be seen. Usually the actors explained the situations and circumstances in their own words. If we compare the amount of properties to nowdays time we find out that in Shakespeare´s time the audience had to have a larger power of imagination than today, where everything is presented, if you think for example of modern musicals.
Today there still is a "Globe Theatre" in London. It is situated at exactly the same place at formerly, on the bank of the Thames. The audience and actors of Shakespeare´s time The Londoners in Shakespeare´s time loved watching a play in a theatre. They were especially interested in Shakespeare´s play, his tragedies and his comedies because of their high quality. As the entrance fees were fairly low all kinds of people could afford to go there, the noble and rich people but also the ordinary craftsmen and workmen. For the standing room in the yard you had to pay only one penny.
The galleries were more expensive, two pennies for the lower galleries and even more for the upper galleries. Of course you have to see this fee from the point of view of the people in Shakespeare´s time and their wages. The average weekly wage of a London workman at that time was 7 shilling. As a comparison to the entrance fee you can mention that at that time you had to pay 2 pence for a quart of beer. So going to the theatre was an inexpensive kind of entertainment and was loved by everybody. The performances, which usually took place in the afternoon, were organized by theatre companies.
Shakespeare, for example, owned such a company. The actors were employed by the company and they toured around with their play. Although the plays and performances were very popular, the actors did not always have a very good reputation. Often they were regarded by the society to be vagabonds or lagabonds. The reason for this might to be fact, that in the beginning of the theatre before regular theatres are built, the performances were given in bars where alcohol was freely drunk. A further interesting fact concerning the actors is the custom of that time that the actors on the stage were only men.
The roles of the women were played by boys or young men. This fact is strange for our modern view. In general the actors were not as sharply seperated from the audience as it is nowadays. Nowadays the audience takes one side, the actors the other one. In Shakespeare´s time there was more of a togetherness. Especially the groundlings were very near to the actors, they could almost identify themselves with them.
The Shakespearean actors also often wore the same clothes as the audience and so they were not so much sat apart.
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