Literature Focus III. Shakespearean Drama

Shakespeare’s Influence

In retrospect, Shakespeare dominates the theater of the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries—in fact, his plays represent the height of the English dramatic tradition. At the time, however, others were equally admired. Christopher Marlowewas the first playwright to exploit the potential of the English language as a dramatic medium. His tragedies show the kind of psychological probing that is a hallmark of the finest Elizabethan and 17^th-century dramas. Also popular were the comedies of a rugged, boisterous poet and playwright named Ben Jonson.His plays provided a satiric, somewhat cynical commentary on the lives of ordinary Londoners. Jonson’s masques,especially, attracted aristocratic audiences, who flocked to the spectacular pageants with their elaborate scenery, costumes, music, and dance.

By the time of Elizabeth’s death in 1603, the influence of the Puritans had begun to grow in England. Puritans, who believed that the Elizabethan dramas and the rowdy crowds they attracted were highly immoral, worked to close all the theaters. They were not immediately successful.

Shakespeare wrote some of his greatest tragedies, including Macbeth, during the reign of Elizabeth’s successor, James I. Shakespeare’s interest in issues of power may have been sparked by the intense conflicts between the king and Parliament. When the Puritans overthrew James’s son Charles in 1649, however, they finally closed all the playhouses. This act brought the final curtain down on the golden age of drama.

Shakespeare’s Theater

In 1558, the first year of Elizabeth I’s reign, there were no playhouses in England. Actors, or “players,” performed wherever they could find an audience—often in the open courtyards of London inns. Much to the distress of the mostly Puritan city council, who believed that “playacting” was a violation of the biblical commandment against idolatry, these performances attracted large and often rowdy crowds. In 1574 the Common Council of London issued an order banishing players from London. To get around the order, actor James Burbage and his company of players leased land in nearby Shoreditch, where they built the first public playhouse in England. Completed in 1576, the “Theater” was an immediate success. Several other theaters soon followed.

This Wooden OIn Henry V, the first play to be performed at the Globe, Shakespeare referred to the theater as “this wooden O.” From that description and others, scholars believe that the Globe was a circular structure, formed by three-tiered, thatch-roofed galleries that served as seating. These galleries overlooked an open courtyard, into which jutted a raised platform stage. At the back of the main stage was a small curtained inner stage used for indoor scenes. Above the main stage stood a two-tiered gallery. The first tier was used to stage balcony and bedroom scenes; the second, to house musicians

Lords and GroundlingsPlays were usually performed in the afternoon before a diverse audience of about two thousand people. Members of the nobility and the rising middle class generally sat in the galleries. Less well-to-do spectators, called “groundlings,” could stand and watch from the courtyard for only a penny. Their close proximity to the stage made for an intimate theatrical experience, but it also made for a noisy one. Accounts of the time suggest that the groundlings did not hesitate to shout comments to the actors onstage and that vendors selling snacks circulated throughout the audience during performances.

Theatrical ConventionsCertain theatrical conventions that seemed natural to Elizabethans might strike today’s audiences as strange. For example, most of Shakespeare’s characters speak in blank verse—unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. In this verse form, each line is divided into five units, or feet, with stress falling on every second syllable. Because the rhythm of blank verse mimics the natural rhythm of spoken English, it is especially appropriate for dialogue. Because acting was considered to be too indelicate for women, female roles were played by boys— apprentices to the company of players. Costumes were usually colorful and elaborate versions of regular Elizabethan dress, whether worn for Macbeth, set in the 11^th c., or for Julius Caesar, set in 44 BC. Scenery was almost nonexistent. A single tree might stand for a forest, or a chair for a throne room. Shakespeare made up for the lack of scenery by giving characters descriptive passages to help the audience visualize the scenes.

The Elizabethan stage had no front curtain, so the beginning of a play was announced by the blaring of trumpets, and the start of a new scene was signaled by the entrance of the appropriate characters. Given the lack of scenery changes and intermissions, Elizabethan productions probably moved quickly. Scholars estimate that a typical performance of a Shakespearean play lasted only two hours, as opposed to the three or more hours that it usually takes to perform his plays today.

The Globe’s ComebackThe original Globe Theatre was destroyed in 1613 when the explosion of a cannon intended to mark the entrance of the king during a performance of Henry VIII accidentally set the thatched roof on fire. Within an hour, the entire theater burned to the ground. Rebuilt the following year, the Globe stood until 1644, when it was torn down to clear the land for new housing.

Thanks to the late U.S. actor Sam Wanamaker, the Globe made a comeback in 1997. Wanamaker founded the new Globe, a working replica of the original. It stands on the south bank of the Thames River in London and opened, like the original, with a production of Henry V. After more than three centuries, Shakespeare’s “wooden O” has come full circle.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 969