Elizabethan Theatre Analysis

Structure

1. Introduction

2. London 's theatre venues 2.1 The City Inns 2.2 The Playhouses 2.3 The Theatres

3. The Globe 3.1 The City Inns 3.2 The Playhouses 3.3 The Theatres

1. Introduction

Against all prohibitions and censorships at the time of the Elizabethan Era, a new theatre culture was formed in London, which would affect the western world in terms of understanding of theatre up until today. Despite initial difficulties with the church and beginning with the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), followed by James (1603-1625) and Charles (1625-1645), theatres with a fixed company and a fixed playhouse were established during the 16th and 17th century. Back then, most of the people didn 't have any

William Shakespeare made not only a small contribution to this development. In 1599 and in collaboration with his workmates from the Chamberlain 's Men, he built the probably most famous playhouse of London – the Globe Theatre. In its day, it was one of the largest and most magnificent public theatres in Europe, due to the octagonal structure and the huge seat offer.1 Later, as Queen Elizabeth I died and King James I became king in 1603, he insisted that the Chamberlain 's Men become his personal drama group because he was really interested in arts and especially theatre. Thenceforth, Shakespeare 's troupe was called King 's Men, and luckily, as the playhouses had to close due to the plague in 1603, James arranged plays for the royalty, beyond the affected areas of

2. London 's Theatre Venues

Concerning the performance venues, London 's theatre scene experienced a lot of changes before there were theatres as we know them today. Because of the quickly increasing interest in plays, a lack of spectator seats emerged. Although there were bigger but time-limited places in halls of universities or great buildings in general already, there really was a need of permanent venues and that 's why new playhouses mushroomed up in the area of London.The venues can be divided into three types of building: the inns, open-air playhouses and the indoor theatres each explained more exact below.3

2.1 The City Inns

An inn originally was a terraced house which belonged to a lord, a bishop or a rich trader, but later, everything that gave you and your horse some nourishment and a lodging for the night was associated with it. It covered a clutch of buildings, connected through alleys and squares which all led to the so-called courtyard house, an edifice that is built around the central yard of the whole complex. So far, so good, but how did plays