Elizabethan Theatre Analysis

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INTRODUCTION
This essay shall identify the elements of a permanent Elizabethan playhouse and stage and discuss how these elements supported the drama of the day. These elements include the shape of the theatre building, the auditorium, the projecting stage, “hell”, the tiring house, and the superstructure.

SHAPE OF THE THEATRE BUILDING
The Elizabethan playhouses were polygonal structures, allowing the audience to surround the stage (Adams 1960:47). This can be seen in the image below of The Globe Playhouse. The theatre structures were unroofed, allowing sunlight to provide lighting for the stage and the auditorium (Adams 1942:45).

Figure 1: The Globe Playhouse

THE AUDITORIUM
The entrance to the auditorium was opposite the tiring house (Adams 1942:33). It was a narrow entrance allowing them to regulate admission fees at the door (Adams 1942:33). The auditorium was made up of the yard and the gallery surrounding the yard (Adams 1960:47).
The roofed gallery was made up of three stories (Adams 1942:47). It contained benches, allowing audience members to be seated (Adams 1942:82). There were two entrances into the gallery from inside the playhouse - although the stairs to climb into the higher stories of the gallery were attached to the outside of the playhouse -in order to monitor admission (Adams 1942:49).
The “Two-Penny room” on the third floor of the gallery required an extra penny to be paid (Adams 1942:60). The Gentleman’s rooms were reserved for the wealthiest audience members, allowing them to watch the play as well as be seen themselves (Adams 1942:70). These rooms were originally on the upper level of the tiring house, as can be seen in the Roxana image below in which we see the audience within the gentleman’s...

... middle of paper ...

...seen in the image above. The Hut overhung the third level of the Tiring house, and had a trap in the overhanging section (Adams 1942:332). The hut operated as a working space, housed the machinery used, protected the trap from weather and concealed it from view (Adams 1942:363). The trap was used for the descent of “heavenly” creatures such as gods (Adams 1942:356). In later stages a tower and two wings were added for space (Adams 1942:366). The “shadow” was a stage roof, extending from the hut over the stage. This protected actors from the weather, and deflected sound (Adams 1942:376). The playhouse flag would be hoisted to announce that a play would be performed (Nielson and Thorndike 1913:122).

CONCLUSION
Therefore it is shown that every element of the playhouse and stage supported aspects of the drama of that day and were all important to the staging thereof.

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