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Shakespeare and His Theater

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Title: Shakespeare and His Theater


1
Shakespeare and His Theater
Feature Menu
Shakespeare and His Theater Early Elizabethan
Theaters The First Permanent Theater The
Globe The Globes Stage A Performance at the
Globe The Modern Stage The Movies and Theater
2
What Is Drama?
A play is a story acted out, live and onstage.
End of Section
3
Structure of a Drama
Like the plot of a story, the plot of a drama
follows a rising-and-falling structure.
Climax tension at highest point
Complications tension builds
Resolution conflict is settled, play ends
Expositionconflict is introduced
End of Section
4
Performance of a Play
Plays are meant to be performed. A play comes to
life in each unique performance.
Stage DirectionsPlaywright describes setting and
actions
InterpretationActors, directors, and designers
interpret these directions creatively
PerformanceAudience experiences the story
through the actors speech and actions
End of Section
5
Kinds of Plays
A play may be a tragedy, a comedy, or, in modern
drama, a mixture of the two.
  • A tragedy depicts serious and important events
    that end unhappily.
  • A comedy ends happily. Although most comedies are
    funny, they may also make us think and question.

6
Tragedy
Most classical tragedies deal with serious
subjectsfate, life, and deathand center on a
tragic hero. Tragic heroes
  • are usually noble figures

rebelliousness
ambition
  • have a tragic flaw, a personal failing that leads
    to their downfall

passion
excessive pride
Innocent heroes
End of Section
7
The Characters
Characters speech takes the form of
  • Dialogueconversation between characters
  • Monologuea long speech by one character to one
    or more other characters
  • Soliloquya speech by a character alone onstage,
    speaking to himself or herself or to the audience

Asides
End of Section
8
The Characters
Aside Sometimes a character speaks to the
audience or to another character in an aside,
dialogue that is not supposed to be heard by the
other characters onstage.
9
Shakespeare and His Theater
William Shakespeare wrote his plays to make the
best use of the theaters of his time. He relied
on language to
  • set the scenes
  • move the play fluidly from one scene to another
  • entertain audience members from different
    backgroundsfrom commoners to wealthy merchants
    to royalty

End of Section
10
Early Elizabethan Theaters
Before permanent theaters were built, touring
acting companies performed
  • in the courtyards of inns or wherever they could
    rent space
  • on temporary platform stages
  • to an audience who stood around the stage or sat
    in balconies surrounding the courtyard

End of Section
11
The First Permanent Theater
The first permanent theater in England was
  • built by James Burbage in 1576
  • located outside the city walls of London
  • called The Theater
  • torn down in 1599. Its timbers were used by
    Shakespeare and his company to build the Globe

End of Section
12
The Globe
13
The Globe
Shakespeare wrote most of his plays for the Globe
Theater. The Globe Theater was
  • a round (or polygonal) three-story building
  • called the wooden O in Henry V

End of Section
14
The Globes Stage
The Globes main stage was a platform stage that
  • projected into a yard open to the sky
  • had trapdoors in the floor

main stage
15
The Globes Stage
The Globes inner stage was
  • curtained off
  • flanked by two doors for entrances and exits

inner stage
16
The Globes Stage
The balcony or upper stage could be used as
  • Juliets balcony
  • the high walls of a castle
  • the bridge of a ship

upper stage
End of Section
17
A Performance at the Globe
  • Plays were performed in the afternoon.
  • No stage lighting was used.
  • Very few setsscenery, furniture, etc.were used.
    Scenes were set by the playwrights language.

. . . Look, love, what envious streaksDo lace
the severing clouds in yonder east.Nights
candles are burnt out, and jocund dayStands
tiptoe on the misty mountaintops. from The
Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
18
A Performance at the Globe
  • Plays were performed by all-male medieval trade
    guilds. Female roles were played by boys.
  • Actors often wore elaborate costumes.

End of Section
19
The Modern Stage
Theater stages have undergone many changes since
Shakespeares time.
  • Most theater stages today are proscenium stages,
    which have an inner stage and a large curtain
    that separates it from the audience.

20
The Modern Stage
  • Also common in universities and regional theaters
    is the arena or thrust stage, which is
    surrounded by audience members on three or four
    sides.

End of Section
21
The Movies and Theater
  • Movies are a medium of images. Movie-goers
    generally want to see action, vivid scenery, and
    movement on screen.
  • Plays are a medium of words. Play-goers generally
    want to watch the subtle development of conflicts
    among a small group of people in one setting.

End of Section
22
The Language of Shakespeare
  • The words or diction that Shakespeare used in
    his day differ from the words we use today.
    Below are some of the words that you may
    encounter that are different today than they were
    when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet.
  • loin line
  • loffe love
  • noting nothing.

23
The Language of Shakespeare
  • Shakespeare uses a wide variety of words in a
    differing order then we do today. Ordinarily, in
    present day English, the verb follows the
    subject, however, in Shakespearean writings the
    subject often follows the verb as seen in the
    example below.
  • We say - Are you calling?
  • Shakespeare said - Call you?

24
The Language of Shakespeare
  • Some of the verbs used in Shakespeares day ended
    in a different manner than the ones we use today.
  • He does - modern       doth old
  • She has - modern       hast old
  • In Shakespeare's later plays these endings became
    less frequent

25
  • In modern English we say "I don't know" - This is
    what we call an auxiliary verb. It is often used
    in modern English in association with not.
    Shakespeare did not use these types of verbs as
    exemplified in the examples below.
  • Modern - I do not know      
  • Shakespeare - I know not
  • Modern - What do you think?      
  • Shakespeare - How think you?
  • Shakespeare's language obviously did not use "do"
    in these two cases as does our language now.

26
The Language of Shakespeare
  • Shakespeare tended to use "are" or "were" rather
    than "have" or "had" in cases that deal with a
    past participle.
  • Examples
  • Modern - I am glad you have come
    Shakespeare - I am glad you are come Modern -
    people had stolen away Shakespeare -
    People were stolen away

27
The Language of Shakespeare
  • We tend to think of "thou" as simply being the
    antiquated version of "you," but Shakespeare used
    both forms
  • "thou" was used to denote either familiarity and
    affection, or (if used inappropriately) contempt,
    while "you" was used for strangers.

28
The Language of Shakespeare
  • Example In Twelfth Night, Sir Toby suggests that
    Sir Andrew can insult Viola if "thou thou'st him
    some thrice"
  • Example In Hamlet, Marcellus observes that
    Horatio has somehow offended the ghost it is
    possible that the offense comes from Horatio's
    useof "thou" "What art thou that usurp'st this
    time of night. . . By heaven I charge thee speak"

29
The Language of Shakespeare
  • Incidentally, "wherefore" is used here and in
    Juliet's famous query in the sense "why," not
    "where."
  • Example Wherefore art thou Romeo?

30
The End
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