Theater in the Elizabethan Age Research Paper

Elizabethan Theater

Theater in the Elizabethan Age

The Elizabethan period in England was dominated by intrigue at court (which was a constant) and the willpower of Elizabeth herself, but the various people formed a strata that looked more similar to today than most would guess. Throughout recent history, going back a thousand years or so, society is simplistically divided into three groups: wealthy, merchants/artisans, poor. These three can be further delineated, but for these purposes it is not necessary. During Elizabethan times, leisure became more common for the two lower classes and there was more for everybody to do that was meant for pleasure rather than work. Researchers into the period agree that the theater was a major source of entertainment for all of the different groups, but they do not agree how that was structured. This paper will look at the different classes of Elizabethan theater goers and try to determine how they were influenced both as a group and separately.

The theater crowd was greatly restricted in one way. Theaters were an oddity in small towns and villages; it just did not pay for troupes to travel to a small hamlet, or even a group of them, because they would probably not redeem the cost of their travel.[footnoteRef:1] This meant that the primary place of theatrical endeavor was London even though there were other cities that had some small houses. London was actually very well supplied with playwrights, actors and theaters, but these were often on the outskirts of the town because they were still considered something of a sinful indulgence at the time.[footnoteRef:2] One researcher says that "theaters were generally relegated to the "liberties" -- i.e. To the outskirts of London town, where they kept company with bear gardens, bowling greens, low taverns, and bawdy houses."[footnoteRef:3] For some reason leisure was considered both undignified and sinful. Since most of the people at the time were relatively Puritanical in their belief system, they did not want the theater to be incorporated into downtown London.The fact that it was on the outside also meant that people could more easily sneak off to see a play without their neighbors knowing they went.[footnoteRef:4] [1: Robert R. Watson. "Coining Words on the Elizabethan and Jacobean Stage." Philological Quarterly 88, no. 1-2 (2009)] [2: Robert M. Adams. The Land and Literature of England: A Historical Account New York: Norton, 1983), 187.] [3: Ibid.] [4: Samuel C. Bowles. "Shakespeare's Elizabethan Audience." Amalgam 2 (2007).]

As mentioned previously, the audience members were from all castes of London society, but the theater was dominated by the upper 10% and lower 10% in terms of wealth. The rich had more time on their hands than the merchant / artisan class did, and so they were more likely to visit such entertainments. A typical day for a wealthy man had him getting up late (somewhere between 10 AM and noon), and taking care of matters of business throughout the afternoon. This left him, and his escort, plenty of time to "carouse" until the wee hours of the morning.[footnoteRef:5] This ability to enjoy leisure time was also shared by the people on the lowest rungs of the societal ladder. Generally, they were unemployed and tried to find the means of survival during the day by begging and rummaging [footnoteRef:6] but because the crowds went home at night, they had time to go to the theater. This was made possible by the fact that most of the theaters catered to all level of the society with different seating sections. The poor were given their own seating in the lower tier where it was harder to see.[footnoteRef:7] It did not matter though because they would come in droves because the theater took them away from their miserable lives. [5: Ibid.] [6: William Montrose. The Purpose of Playing: Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of the Elizabethan Theater (Chicago: The University of….....