WEEK 3 - SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON AND ELIZABETHAN AUDIENCES

Shakespeare spent most of his time working in London, however, the plays were not performed there. They were performed in places such as Bristol or they toured around the country, performing outdoors and in town halls.

Shakespeare probably chose to stay in London because it was the biggest and richest city in England. It had the first permanent playhouses and the people who were visited were very varied (from wealthy noblemen, to their servants). The rich noblemen in fact became patrons of theatre companies, giving financial and legal support. But London was growing, and quickly, mostly from migrants from the countryside and Europe. Between 1550 and 1600 the population tripled so they were building houses everywhere they could and expanding the suburbs to the countryside. This did not solve the population problem forever because it did become overpopulated which made it easy for disease to spread. Plagues spread mostly in the summer and in 1593, about 10,000 people were killed and all the theatres were closed which makes sense but still makes me really sad.

The fact that the theatres were closed meant that the 10-20,000 people who would go to the theare weekly, couldn't. Generally, people who went to see theatre were men, but it was not only the nobility as one visitor in 1617 claims the crowd around the stage looked like 'a gang of porters and carters', while others said that their servants and apprentices spent all their time there. However, the rich also attended, for example, in 1607, the Venetian ambassador bout all the most expensive seats in the theatre for one of Shakespeare's plays. Royalty too enjoyed the theatre, but would not go to public theatres, rather have the companies come to them. The reason why the theatre was so popular at the time because the cheapest tickets were 1 penny, the same price as a loaf of bread, and the most expensive seats were still only 6 pennies, getting you indoors, a bench and a cushion. No good citizen would be seen standing though because, although it was closer to the stage and actors and you could buy food and drinks, there were no toilets, the floor was probably just sand and it apparently didn't smell very nice.

Other popular forms of entertainment at the time were things like cock-fighting and bear-baiting, who both the rich and the poor enjoyed, but this meant that theatres had to compete with this and were actually banned from performing on Thursdays because ‘the players do recite their plays to the hurt of bear-baiting, maintained for Her Majesty’s pleasure’. I feel like this other aggressive entertainment fueled the behavior at the theatre because, even though people would go and dress up, they would still clap the heroes, boo the villains and cheer the special effects. There were also thieves in the audience and there was the odd fight or two. The amount of theatre being produced and put on was quite large considering. Between 1560 and 1640 about 3,000 new plays were written. To keep their audiences engaged, they would often be re-told famous stories and added violence, music and humour to make sure they have their audiences full attention. It was important that the audience was interested and were enjoying themselves because they would do a lot of damage if they were not pleased. At the Swan in 1602, the audience damaged the chairs, stools, curtains and walls. Also, in 1629, a visiting French company was hissed and 'pippin-pelted' off the stage because they got women to play the female parts, something that I will never understand why it was such a big deal.