The answer is ‘
just about everyone in London society
‘ – generally more men than women, but all sorts of people. One visitor, in 1617, described the crowd around the stage as ‘a gang of porters and carters’. Others talked of servants and apprentices spending all their spare time there.
What were Shakespeare’s audience like?
Who were these people? Shakespeare’s audience was
the very rich, the upper middle class, and the lower middle class
. All of these people would seek entertainment just as we do today, and they could afford to spend money going to the theater.
How was the Globe Theatre designed for actors and audiences?
The
concept of building a scaffold with three levels of galleries surrounding a circular yard mimicked the arrangement for audiences
of existing bearbaiting and bullbaiting houses. … The old Theatre was a 20-sided structure, as near to a circle as Elizabethan carpentry could make it.
What did audiences do if they didn’t like a play?
The audience might buy apples to eat. If they didn’t like the play,
the audience threw them at the actors
! This is where our idea of throwing tomatoes comes from – but ‘love-apples’, as they were known, come from South America and they weren’t a common food at the time.
How much did it cost to sit in the Globe Theatre?
The most expensive seats would have been in the ‘Lord’s Rooms’. Admission to the indoor theatres started at
6 pence
. One penny was only the price of a loaf of bread.
What finally destroyed the globe?
After years of success, The Globe went up in flames on June 29, 1613 during a performance of
Henry VIII
. A theatrical cannon, set off during the performance, misfired, igniting the building’s thatching and wooden beams.
Where did the poor sit in the Globe Theatre?
The Globe theatre had a central area where there was no cover. This is where the poor people used to watch the plays. They were called
the groundlings
. They would stand in this area with no protection so when it rained and snowed they got very cold and wet.
What is the Globe Theatre famous for?
The Globe is known
because of William Shakespeare’s (1564–1616) involvement in it
. In the 1590s an outbreak of the plague prompted authorities to close London theaters. At the time Shakespeare was a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, an acting company.
What were the cheapest seats in the Globe Theatre?
How much did it cost? In open air theatres the cheapest price was only
1 penny
which bought you a place amongst the ‘groundlings’ standing in the ‘yard’ around the stage. (There were 240 pennies in £1.) For another penny, you could have a bench seat in the lower galleries which surrounded the yard.
What kind of reputation did the theater have in Shakespeare’s time?
Instead, Elizabethan theater was the modern equivalent of a popular band concert. It was
communal and even, at times, raucous
, depending on the subject matter of a given performance. The audience would eat, drink, and talk throughout the performance. Theaters were open air and used natural light.
Where did the richer people watch the play from at the Globe?
The upper class spectators would pay to sit in the galleries often using cushions for comfort. Rich nobles could watch the play from
a chair set on the side of the Globe stage itself
, so an audience viewing a play may often have to ignore the fact that there is a noble man sitting right on the stage(Elizabethan Era).
Who wanted the Theatre banned?
To appease the Puritans,
Elizabeth
banned theatres within the London city boundary. However that didn’t stop several large playhouses such as the Globe, being built just outside London, within easy reach of the public. The playwrights knew about the Puritans, of course, and frequently mocked them in their plays.
What happened to the original Globe Theatre?
What happened to the first Globe?
Disaster struck the Globe in 1613
. On 29 June, at a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, some small cannons were fired. They didn’t use cannon balls, but they did use gunpowder held down by wadding.
What was the original name of the Globe?
| Construction | Closed 1642 | Rebuilt 1614 |
|---|
Is the Globe Theatre still standing today?
Today. Today,
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre stands around 230m
(750ft) from the original Globe site. The design of the theatre is the same as the original with a stage surrounded by a circular yard (where ‘groundlings’ can still view performances!) and three tiers of raked seating.
Who destroyed the Globe Theatre?
On 29th June 1613, a theatrical cannon misfired during a performance of
Henry VIII
and set fire to the thatch of the Globe Theatre, engulfing the roof in flames. Within minutes, the wooden structure was also alight, and in under an hour the Globe was destroyed. Incredibly, only one casualty was recorded.
