Wednesday 6th April 2016 - Ophelia (Hamlet) Research

http://worthingpateam.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/original-performance-circumstances-opc.html

William Shakespeare is thought to be the most influential writer of his time, he was born in 1564, he died at the age of 51 in 1616, he wrote Hamlet in 16-6.

In the 16th century actors travelled to different towns in a cart looking for audiences to perform to, this is because playhouses were not built until 1576. Audiences expected to see a new play every day, because of this actors and playwrights were employed to meet the demands of frequent audiences. Once theatres were built they were also used for bear batting, gambling and other purposes, not just for performances, these theatres could hold up to 3000 people and unlike in Greek theatres the plays were shown in close proximity to their audiences. These acting spaces needed to be quick to adapt as productions didn't stay at the same theatre fir usually more than one performance. Acting was no seen as a respected profession and actors were seen as trouble makers.


Audience members who were more wealthier would sit closer to the top of the theatre and further away from the stage, the purpose of this was that they could separate themselves from the more lively and less privileged audience members. However sometimes the richer audience members would chose to sit on the stage during the performance so that they could publicly make comments about the actors that were on the stage. On the other hand the poorer audiences known as the groundlings would stand in front of the stage, this was known as the open yard, entry to this cost someone one penny. The groundlings would act very lively during performances and would often throw things like mouldy fruit and nut shells at the actors if they didn't think they were good enough or disliked the actor or performance. Food and drink was sold and consumed during performances as well as prostitutes who were actively soliciting, also pick pockets who went round the audiences attempting to steal money and other valuables.

Sound effects were created by real cannons and pistols that were fired off when the scene is a battle. Thunder was sounded by rolling large metal cannon balls backstage, fireworks were used to sound and look like lightening. In Elizabethan theatre there was strict rules about what colours could be worn by which characters, different colours and costumes meant different things, for example the colour purple meant that the character is royal.