17th centry teater

The 17th Century gave life to an array of cultural and educational advances. This was known as the renaissance. Renaissance, a word meaning rebirth of knowledge and culture, is the ideal word to explain the occurrences of the time period of 1400-1700. In this range of time, subjects such as science, math, and literature made an amazing and strong comeback. These topics became immensely important to society and the culture of this time. In the 1600’s, theater and drama became very popular in England, forcing the creation of new theater techniques ranging from the different play styles, to the very acting dramatics in which the actors employed in the plays.

This Renaissance in Europe began the relief that was needed by the people in the eastern world having experienced the Middle Ages (500-1500AD). The people of Europe needed to make changes to their culture because it was a dark and drab time to be alive. Things including the terrible Bubonic, or Black, Plague; which infected many people in Europe resulting in death; and a depressing atmosphere in England at the time necessitated a new type of culture. The last time that a society of people partook in social events such as a play was when the Greek and Roman Empires were still in existence. Many of the topics being studied by people during the Renaissance were studied through records that these no longer existent cultures had left behind. Now the people in Renaissance Europe could learn information from the knowledgeable people of many previous years. These mathematicians, artists, and scientists contributed much to the Europe of that time. The plays of that time are similar to that of the “Elizabethan Theater” because play writers in Europe adopted tactics used by their predecessors in the past empires of the world (Yancey 8). Also the basic design for the amphitheaters used to perform the plays was taken from the Romans. One of the better known amphitheaters was The Globe, which Shakespeare used personally (Yancey 28). Before the days of the Elizabethan Theater, guilds (companies that put plays on) generally preformed plays in Latin.

Elizabeth Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII had become queen on January 15, 1558. She herself was a Renaissance woman. Her presence as the Queen England had sparked the rise of English culture and even the society itself. In the time she was the queen, theater had also grown to a size that was never seen before.