The Theatrical Time Manipulation Company.

Lords and Ladies, warlocks of this age of technological wonder, please take a moment from your busy lives and buzzing devices to consider the past. Once shrouded by the time manipulation legislation, the no deal Galaxy E-exit (Earth Exit) has allowed us to take control of our own spacetime. For the small price of £1bn we are allowing you the opportunity to travel back in time to renaissance England:

It is my honour to be able to present to you an exclusive experience of Shakespearean theatre in London! I have had the privilege of going behind the curtain to present to you now: the mechanics of the theatre.

Have you ever wondered how Elizabethan actors (renowned for performing multiple parts of multiple plays in a single week) are actually capable of this? One way they approached this was by using cue lines – a way of writing scripts which only gave an actor a copy of their own written lines, interjected with a prompt word or phrase they would listen out for to known when to come onstage or start speaking. In fact, often actors would never even hear the play in full before it was performed – which is why often there could be confusion or miscommunication onstage. (1)

I am also free to share why you can expect to see so many plays which use a tragic structure – typically ending with the death of multiple main characters. This trend was born due to the fact that many audience members tended to lose interest and leave the play once characters played by well known and liked actors died. This encouraged Shakespeare, along with other playwrights, to begin to group the deaths of the characters in the end scene more and more. Therefore, this version of celebrity and popular culture began to directly influence the structure and conventions of some plays. (2)

Actors in Shakespeare’s time were When you sign up for our Mega Premium Package, not only will you be able to watch up to five plays, but you will also be able to watch the same play under different circumstances. Hurl fruit at Kempe the slow-witted fool (Stern, 67) as he improvises yet another line (67). Then, not even a day later, allow your child to experience the merriment of hurling the very same apple at the so-called ‘wise’ fool Robert Armin during one of his pretentious performances (70). Stare in awe as Richard Burbage nails yet another line (72), and then immediately travel to the very first performance of Hamlet right after Burbage’s death, and join the masses in booing the mediocre replacement off the stage. Witness the theatre of the past, where actors only received one or two rehearsal before being thrust onto the stage to fumble their lines (87); where female characters were preformed by boys, who may, on occasion, sing without missing notes (71). Witness these boys’ journey as they grow from pre-pubescent actors to men (70). Buy our Mega Premium Package today for an incredible 5% discount.

Reviews:

“Once we departed the floating flickering cities of the year 22149, there was a momentary pause. The assistant who took our payments at the beginning of the day before making us wait for however long, assured us everything was okay and that ‘this was normal’. After a few shakes and shudders the lift dropped suddenly. He handed each of us our individual guises, mine consisted of a silk doublet, coloured garters and embroidered gloves. We were told to keep our heads down and hands firmly into our pockets, the whole experience felt strange and alien, not surprising I guess considering the 6-century gap. However, slightly disappointed with the overall experience, the way my fiancé described it made it sound an unmissable opportunity. So far, I have had to hop over numbers of beggars, stepped into puddles of faeces every ten metres and also am now dressed up in all the colours of the old world. It was 1:45 pm and we were slowly walking down Southbank, there was a mass of people outside the front and in my mind, I thought we’d be outside for hours. We paid for the best seats in the house, 4 English pennies, not to just be able to see everything but ‘to be seen as well’, a young man dressed in a waistcoat and perfectly polished shoes offered us tea and ale. Looking around the theatre, I realised quickly it was an open-air theatre, my mind became concerned for the ruffians in the standing area, huddling together for warmth, all of this so they can watch Mr Burbidge prance around.”

Disclaimer:

The Theatrical Time Manipulation Company cannot be held responsible for the contraction of any ancient diseases, loss of personal belongings, loss of life, witch persecution or visits to the gallows.

Tiffany Stern, ‘Rehearsal, performance and plays’

“Lesser actors may never have heard in full the text of the play in which they were to perform…Actors would be given their separate parts to take home and learn. These parts consisted of their own lines only…” (p76-77)

“The playwright Glapthorne, in his Ladies Privilege (1640), refers to spectators who make the author ‘end his play before his plot be done’: the onlookers had a disturbing tendency to go away before the play was fully over.” (p73)

GENERAL NOTES

• Audience suspending sense of disbelief- overacting (less realistic than today- focusing on “passions” (Stern)), boys dressed as “beautiful” women, props and costumes less realistic (Bottom turning into a donkey)
• Actors focusing on “passions” (Stern) – certain parts of the audience not being able to see/hear as well, focus on big gestures as opposed to subtlety
• More disruptions to performance due to less preparation, rowdiness of the audience affecting the actors
• Poorer people having chaotic experience due to weather, drunk people. Noise from outside of the theatre, e.g. pleasure houses, cockfighting, bullbaiting
• Violence of cockfighting, bullbaiting etc outside the theatre was representative of what people wanted to see, violence
• The plague- theatre could have been a dangerous experience particularly for poorer people due to the exposure to illness
• Poorer people encountering things/people on stage that they wouldn’t in real life, i.e. royals, people from different countries (the Swiss Traveller’s account of a play about “diverse nations”)
• Multiple theatres in one area, added a  competitive element, companies trying to have big names, choosing plays with the most drama
• Music in the theatre, luring people in, competiting with outside noise and noise of the audience
• Only in England where women couldn’t act, Swiss traveller’s account that there were men dressed as women shows how a foreign perspective highlights peculiarities about theatre during this time. Less documented by Londoners as theatre was normal part of life
• Travelling- more exhaustion during play due to journey? Poorer people taking the boat vs rich people taking a carriage
• Audience had a more personal relationship to the actors (and therefore to the characters) due to seeing them previously in different plays. Attracted people to see their favourite actors

CREATIVE RESPONSE

When this thing gets up to 88 miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious Shakespeare… 

Great Scott! The streets are filthy and there’s a raucous going on around the corner. It can only mean one thing- we’re in Shakespeare’s London! 

Don’t panic, the abundance of diseases won’t get you (well, no promises…), we’re only here for a short trip to the theatre. We’ve plenty to choose from here on a fine late 1500s afternoon South side of the Thames, with theatres practically fighting for you to knuckle down in their yard and cheer and jeer for the classics such as Doctor Faustus and Julius Caesar. Shakespeare didn’t have a monopoly over drama in London, and there’s a fair amount of competition amongst the playhouses. One of these popular playhouses is Philip Henslowe’s The Rose, which became home to the Admiral’s Men acting company in 1592. With more and more buildings and acting troupes popping up, theatre’s started to get creative to maintain business. Extensions, extra stage levels and added seating were some of the ways in which theatre’s tried to entice more audience members in. 

Henslow’s actually a pretty useful guy; his diaries have told us a fair bit about the theatre industry around here, so we aren’t completely thrown into the unknown. One particularly interesting tidbit is a list of props and equipment the theatre had:

Item, i rock, i cage, i tomb, i Hell mouth… i bedstead.

Item, viii lances, i pair of stairs for Phaethon*.

Item, i globe, & i golden sceptre; iii clubs

Item, i golden fleece, ii racquets, i bay tree.

Item, i lion’s skin, i bear’s skin; Phaethon’s

limbs, & Phaethon’s chariot, & Argus’s head.

Item, Iris’s head, & rainbow; i little altar. . .

i ghost’s gown; i crown with a sun*.

It can be hard to imagine what things had been crafted for performance, given the lack of smoke machines and strobe lights. Yet the Elizabethan theatre did make use of certain effects such as smoke and cannons, they weren’t afraid of pyrotechnics to aid the drama of a performance. Parading a golden sceptre and lion’s skin around on the stage brings a certain regality to a performance, don’t you think? 

If you’re feeling ever so-so, or just want to save yourself the backache, you can cough up a couple of pennies (yes, pennies!) and nab a seat in an upper tier of the theatre. This is where the line between the low and the high class is drawn. Higher seats = better view = better public image. 

The Globe Theatre, built from the remains of The Theatre (England’s second ever permanent playhouse), is the longtime home of Shakespeare’s dramatics, and it’s existed since 1599. Granted, it’s been reconstructed since then into what we can visit in the present day, but this is the birthplace of the ‘box office’. No, really: boxes that collected everyone’s admission were a sure way of determining how successful a certain play was, ie in how much money it actually made the theatre.  Being so famous nowadays, it clearly did quite well for itself. 

Watch out for pickpockets as you muscle your way into the land of the ‘groundlings’ (us folk that hang out in the theatre’s yard), the theatre going experience wasn’t quite as policed as it is today. One familiar thing, however, is the chance to purchase yourself some refreshments. You needn’t wait until any interval, as food and drink is available during the performance. Try not to spill your hazelnuts on your neighbour. You’ll need them to throw about when your favourite character kicks the bucket (spoilers!). We’re a pretty rowdy bunch, and I bet you two pennies that a good few people will leave the theatre before the end. You couldn’t imagine doing that in modern times, but here, once a main character dies, some people have simply had enough. Pass the tissues. 

If you’re still bloodthirsty (weren’t all those murders enough?), we can head out into the streets and follow the squawks and cheers to the cockfights. The setup actually looks a bit like a theatre, giving us a great view of the violence once more, but instead of passionating, there’s a lot of pecking. Some traveller’s accounts have told us that people would be there to take bets, so maybe you can even make your money back and we can do all of this again tomorrow. I hear they’re performing a second part to Tamburlaine. See you in the pit! 

Group: Abi Dickson, Ellie Simmonite, Leanne Francis, Sophie Hamilton, Soso Ayika & Raveena Mehta

1. What can this tell us about the experience of performing and being in the audience of early modern plays?

Thomas Platter’s account of entertainment in London depicts theatre as being something that was highly reliant on the weather, light, and travel and evolved over time.

We learn that theatre was highly invested in with “two, sometimes three” plays occurring throughout the day in different locations – some taking place across the river. The plays were in competition with each other and the least popular, something “that was ‘damned’ or ‘hissed’ after first performance” (Stern, Tiffany. p.63), would no longer be performed. Competition was also significantly increased by the fact that “as the city was so small, potential audience for the theatre was also small” (Stern, Tiffany. p.62), necessitating increased violence in certain theatre productions to appeal to those attracted to, for instance, performances of bear baiting. 

The lack of technology during the era of Elizabethan theatre meant that plays were typically performed around lunchtime when there was more light, and actors would often over-exaggerate their gestures for those in the audience who were short-sighted. Tiffany Stern tells us that “large gestures will have been very important, for corrective spectacles for short sight did not exist.” (83) In regards to costumes, a social ladder is highlighted as actors (those lower in society) would purchase their expensive and elaborate costumes from serving men, who would receive these outfits as gifts from deceased lords or knights. 

We also learn that the layout of theatres differed: playhouses were constructed “on a raised platform” so that everyone had a good view, whereas other galleries offered better seating for those who were willing to pay, perhaps as a way to divide the upper from lower class. Those who could not afford seating paid one penny to stand for the entirety of the performance.

Platter also says that plays were used to teach the public about what was happening abroad: “the English for the most part do not travel much, but prefer to learn foreign matters and take their pleasures at home.” This suggests that theatre served various purposes, such as entertainment and education.

Platter’s account also indicates that the theatre was a place of networking where the wealthy could be sociable and perhaps flaunt their wealth: ‘if he desires to sit in the most comfortable seats which are cushioned, where he not only sees everything well, but can also be seen’. This tells us that people would pay extra money in order to show themselves off around their peers.

2. What strikes you as the most unusual aspect of Elizabethan theatre? 

Food and drink was offered to members of the audience who could afford it. This could be considered ‘unusual’ as it seems like a relatively modern concept: one we still use today.

Elizabethan theatres and other venues were not only used for plays but for other forms of entertainment, such as ‘bear baitings’ and ‘cock fights’ which occurred throughout the year.

Members of the public would pay to watch these animals “wound each other to death”, often betting on the one they thought would win. Sometimes the ‘cocks’ would be given brandy before a fight, adding to the “wonderful pleasure” of the violent display. Platter also describes how much money was circulating due to this violent sport: ‘I am told that stakes on a cock often amount to many thousands of crowns.’ Bears would be bound by a rope and ‘baited’ by a group of “great English mastiffs” every Sunday and Wednesday. He graphically describes how the animals were treated outside of the baiting pits, for example describing how the bears’ teeth were ‘broken short’ so that they could not injure the dogs. The place was described as “evil-smelling because of the [lungs] and meat on which the butchers feed the said dogs.” These activities made theatres incredibly unhygienic places with no regard for animal welfare, which differs from the theatres we visit today.

Platter states that “women as well as the men, in fact more often than they, will frequent the taverns or ale-houses for enjoyment.” Despite being unable to perform in plays, women were able to visit inns and taverns throughout the city and drink wine with men.