Renaissance Era Entertainment And Entertainment

An Entertained Era In today’s modern world, millions of people around the globe enjoy to be entertained by the arts, such as music, dancing, animation, acting, and film. Although these forms of amusement are popular and widespread, many people might not realize that these activities got their origins from the Renaissance era. In the Renaissance Era, the entertainment industry began to soar and the largest form of entertainment was the theatre, which has many different aspects that play into having a successful drama; some of which include great playwrights, quality actors, and the stage itself. The Renaissance era was full of amazing playwrights, but by far the most well-known of all the authors is William Shakespeare. While Shakespeare

Acting was a frowned upon profession and actors faced much adversity everywhere they travelled to. They were seen as untrustworthy and treated with caution but as the theatre grew in demand, the title of an actor became more respectable and with time, great actors were treated almost as well as royalty and some became so wealthy their social class rose to nobles! In the Renaissance theatre, actresses didn’t exist but women were still portrayed on the stage. With their slimmer physique and lack of body hair, all women roles were played by young men or boys in the acting world. Costumes of the era could convey a lot about a character as soon as the actor walked on stage because different fabrics and colors represented separate classes. Some colors such as the color purple and certain fabrics were only allowed to be worn by royalty and productions would need to gain special permission to wear those colors and fabrics (“Elizabethan Actors”). Without outstanding Renaissance actors such as Nathan Field, Joseph Taylor, Christopher Beeston, Edward Alleyn, and William Shakespeare that assisted in pioneering the acting world, it is difficult to imagine where theatre would have gone and where the drama domain would be

Many modern age stages have curtains, lights, sound systems, a high ceiling, and a place to seat an audience, but stages came humble beginnings that were far below these standards. When dramas began to be put on for an audiences they would be performed by groups of travelling actors and be put on in the inn-yards which is the inner courtyard of a guest house or motel that often had balconies where audiences would sit to enjoy the production. The box set stage is originally from Germany but was introduced to England in 1830 by a an acting crew’s manager (Wild). The box set was a three-walled stage that had fourth wall open to the audience and paired with wall art for the back wall gave off the illusion of perspective and different settings. Box sets are still used today in smaller versions to show that a character is in a separate room or venue than another character that is also on stage. Along with being a great actor and a memorably talented playwright, William Shakespeare also revolutionized the stage world. Shakespeare and a band of actors known as Lord Chamberlain’s Men build the Globe Theatre that opened to the public in the fall of 1599. The Globe was an circular open-air theatre with three stories of seating and an open pit for spectators of lower classes to