What is a groundling?

Answer 1

The Globe Theatre Groundlings stood in the Yard, or pit, to watch the plays being performed. This was the cheapest part of the theatre, there were no seats and the entrance price was 1d which was equivalent to about 10% of a day's wages. The members of the audience who stood in the pit were often referred to as 'Groundlings'. However, due to the hot summer days they were also referred to as 'Stinkards' - for obvious reasons. Many of the yard audiences were apprentices who worked in London. The Globe would have particularly attracted these young people and the were many complaints of apprentices avoiding work in order to go to the theatre - these apprentices would most certainly have been 'Groundlings'. The Groundlings would have watched the plays from the cramped conditions of the 'Yard' or 'Pit' which held up to 500 people. However, the average Elizabethans were much smaller than today's modern man - reducing our perception of the cramped area. Beneath their feet were the cobblestones covered with discarded nutshells and other garbage. Not a comfortable place to watch plays for up to three hours - the groundlings must have really loved the plays shown at the Globe.