Concetti Chiave
- Theatres were seen as immoral and unsafe due to overcrowding and frequent fires, with social class dictating seating arrangements.
- Theatre attendance was a status symbol for the aristocracy, who could even sit on stage; actors needed noble sponsorship due to societal views.
- The success of plays in Shakespeare's time was measured by printed editions, with complex plots often featuring secondary storylines.
- Dialogues in plays drive action, reveal themes, and provide context, with soliloquies and monologues offering different character insights.
- Tragedies and comedies differ in structure and focus, with tragedies exploring deep conflicts and comedies focusing on entertainment and societal satire.
What is the relationship between Theater and Safety?
Theatres were considered immoral by the authorities and dangerous from the point of view of hygiene and safety. We must remember that was a wooden structure and fires were frequent (1613 the Globe is destroyed by fire), and that was often overcrowded.
The stage was very big and there was different levels, but there was no curtains and actors were surrounded by people. Poor people stood in front the stage, but wealthier people could seat on wooden benches in the galleries, and also rent a pillow.
Habits and Aristocracy
Theatre-going habit was a showing off for aristocracy, a way to exhibit the elegance, lust and power, so for richest people was also possible to sit even on the stage.
The word “box office” derives from the box in the entrance of the Elizabethan theatres
The profession of the actor wasn’t well seen so they had to be sponsored by some important people.
For example, in 1603 The Lord Chamberlain's Men company curry favor with King James I and change the name in King's Men.
Fortune of Theatrical Works
The fortune of a play is how was well known at his time, and we can deduce it from the number of editions printed. Nowadays an actor learn a play and bring it around, but in Shakespeare’s time they had to perform more than a drama in the same period.
Often in Shakespeare’s plays there is a secondary story line in addition to the main plot. It usually reflect the themes of the main plot but presents them from a different point of view.
Place and time can be inferred both from the dialogue and the stage directions. In order to clarify the events can also be used the asides, short and simple comments for the audience alone.
Characters are divided in major and minor and the number may vary. They can be introduced by a dialogue soliloquies asides or stage directions.
Dialogues and Action
The dialogue creates the action, provides details contributing to theme development, give infos about the past, and foreshadows the future.
The difference between a soliloquy and a monologue is that in the first one the character is alone on the stage, and in the last one the speaker ignores the other characters on the scene.
The prologue derives from the Greek tragedy and quite always present the characters and the plot to let people understand
Natural elements are often used to compare and define people, because are something easy to understand.
Tragedy and Comedy
A tragedy starts with a positive situation, the opposite of the comedy that usually begin with a problem that is solved in carrying. In the tragedy normally the characters are military leaders or comes from the aristocracy, they are heroes, extraordinary people, always someone above. For this reason they only have a name, that is enough to distinguish them. Instead, in the comedy women are often the main characters. The comedy worries about entertaining and make people have fun, laughing on human worries and vices. Tragedies focuses on the psychological aspect and the conflicts of the hero.
Domande da interrogazione
- How were theaters perceived in terms of safety and morality during the Elizabethan era?
- What role did theater play in the social habits of the aristocracy?
Theaters were considered immoral by authorities and posed hygiene and safety risks due to their wooden structures, which were prone to fires, and overcrowding, as exemplified by the 1613 fire that destroyed the Globe Theatre.
Theater-going was a display of elegance and power for the aristocracy, with the wealthiest even sitting on the stage, and the term "box office" originated from the entrance box in Elizabethan theaters.
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