What was it like to go to the theatre in Shakespeare's times?

Answer 1

· In Shakespeare's time there were no female actors. This was because acting was not considered an honorable job, so no woman would be seen doing such a thing. The role of women had to be played by young boys who had not gone through puberty. This was because they had higher voices.

· Some actors received their lines just before the play. Some even got them as they were performing. They used a technique called "cue acting". This was when someone sat behind the curtains and whispered the lines to the actors. This then led to a technique called "que scripting". This was where the actors got only their lines, instead of the entire play. Most of this was because there was very little time for the actors to practice their lines before giving the play.

· The spectators had a range of seating options available. They could choose to pay the cheapest ticket and be a "groundling". Groundlings stood the entire duration of the play. They crowded around the stage. The next cheapest option was to pay a bit extra and sit in the galleries. If they wanted, they could have paid an extra penny to get a cushion to sit on. The most expensive choice was to sit on a chair on the actual stage.

BY ME!
In Shakespeare's time, theaters were a lot different than they are now. One way would be that back then the poor people would sit in the very front, and royalty would sit way up high. Now days, everyone wants to be up close and in the front.

Answer 2

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was quite nice, There were 'gentleman's rooms' where the rich and famous people sat. The poor people known as 'groundlings' had to stand in-front of the stage. These seats would have only cost a penny. It might sound quite good standing right in front of the stage but it wasn't that much fun as some of the plays would have lasted for hours! You had to watch out for pickpockets as they also would have had lots of fun at the theatres!

Answer 3

the theater in Shakespeare's time was very noisy and crowdy. people used to eat and drink while watching performances.

also the theatre was very big and sweaty.

the stage was massive and was decorated nicely.

Answer 4

Horrible! The lower classes battled it out for a place to stand, often bringing their pigs, sheep and other animals along. During the performance they would, amongst other things, eat and drink loudly, relieve themselves, throw rotten food onto the stage, talk loudly, and be generally vile towards the actors.

Answer 5

If you went to the public theatres like the Globe, it was incredibly crowded. It is believed that the original Globe could hold 3000 people, whereas the modern one holds half that at most, mostly because people were really crowded together. If you were a groundling, you were shoehorned in with a whole lot of other people, none of whom had bathed or brushed their teeth, standing for two hours without a break to pee even. And it was hot, with all those people jammed together. Thomas Dekker, one of Shakespeare's fellow playwrights, had this to say about the "stinkards" who stood in The Pit of theatres like the Globe, Red Bull and Fortune: "Their houses smoked every afternoon with stinkards who were so glued together in crowds with the steams of strong breath, that when they came forth, their faces looked as if they had been par-boiled."

Answer 6

Only male actors were permitted and Shakespeare's "Globe" theatre was thrust style.

Answer 7

Some were indoor and some were outdoor, but they all featured a thrust stage with galleries on three sides.

Answer 8

In Shakespeare's day, theatre was the main source of entertainment for city folks.