Post on 01-Jan-2016
Entertain Yourself...
What forms of entertainment and distraction are available to us today?
What would you do with 5 free hours?
Elizabethan Theatre"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players"
As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII
Elizabethan TheatreTheaters were open air buildings
Buildings were "O" shaped, and three stories high
Most spectators were "groundlings" and stood in front of the stage
Most audience members were poor, uneducated peasants (consider our cheapest "escapes" today)
Some stages had trapdoors, balconies, and second curtains for effect
Elizabethan TheatreSome playwrights (Christopher Marlowe) used dangerous "visual effects" like fire or live animals
Shakespeare's plays required the audience to pay close attention-the actors usually painted a picture of the setting and the staging with lines of dialogue
Plays were performed in the afternoon, so there was no need for lighting
Elizabethan TheatreThe audiences wanted to be entertained and distracted from their miserable, stinking lives
Fight scenes were elaborate, dances had live music, and puns and word games were cheered
Theatre was not a respectable profession, and therefore not at all appropriate for women
All actors were men; the female roles were played by men who had not yet gone through puberty's deepening of voice
The Man: Shakespeare
1564: born in Stratford-on-Avon
Studied Latin, Greek, The Bible, Rhetoric, and Roman dramatists
1582: married Anne Hathaway (he was 18, she was 27)
Had a daughter (Susanna), and twins (Hamnet, who died young, and Judith)
Left his family in Stratford and moved to London
By 1592 (28 years old): was a successful actor and playwright
1594: Joined the acting troupe "The Lord Chamberlain's Men"
1603: Acting group becomes "The King's Men" when King James ascends to the throne
Wrote about 2 plays a year for the acting troupes
1599: financed The Globe
1612: retired with 37 plays and more than 150 sonnets written
1616: died
The Man: Shakespeare
Word for Word Title:Midsummer-June 23, the summer solstice. Longest day of the year. Time to PARTY, drink, and celebrate fertility
Night's-Evening, dark, mysterious; shortest night of the year
Dream-Think Plato, Inception, and everything mystical and magical. Reality is in question...
Setting: Time, Place, and Circumstances
Ancient Athens, Greece
A time and place where law and order ruled
A Father could demand a death sentence for a disobedient daughter
Palace of Theseus
Near a magical forest
(Written when Elizabeth was Queen...gutsy)