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Why were all the actors men on the plays of William Shakespeare?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
You must understand this: Shakespeare was not the only guy writing plays when he was writing them. Loads of playwrights were. It didn't matter whether the play was by Marlowe or Dekker or Kyd or Webster or Jonson or Shakespeare or any of the others, when they put the play on (before all plays were made illegal in 1642) the female parts had to be played by a male. As far as they were concerned, having a woman walk around on a stage showing herself off to an audience containing men was a sex show. It was porn. It didn't matter that she was performing a perfectly clean role in a perfectly clean play. It was dirty. This was not a crazy idea held only by some strait-laced churchman or doddering civil servant. Everyone believed it. When a travelling theatre company from France came to play in England they were booed off the stage, because they had an actress in the company.
There is a story that the notorious female transvestite Mary Frith did appear on the stage of the Fortune Theatre playing a lute, but she was arrested for it and forced to do penance. The theatre owners were fortunate that their theatre was not permanently closed down.
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoPrior to 1660 or so, it was considered so indecent for a woman to appear on a stage to parade in front of a group of men, that it was forbidden by law. Even after women were allowed to legally appear on stage, this stigma continued to affect actresses for many hundreds of years, right into the twentieth century.
At least in Europe and North America, our standards of modesty are much much more lax than they were then, but consider the Indian cinema, where it is considered decent for a woman to act, but not for her to kiss any man on screen. Different cultures and different times have different ideas about what is and what isn't decent.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoIt was the norm at the time, as women were not permitted to be actors.
Wiki User
∙ 16y agogood ol boy network... women weren't allowed.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoIt was considered sinful for women to appear on stage (in operas, too).
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoWomen were not permitted to be actresses in that period.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoBecause women weren't allowed to act during the time. So they had men kisses each other instead. And they enjoyed it alot :D
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Who is the real writer of the Shakespeare plays and sonnets?
William Shakespeare wrote all the plays and sonnets, they have been saying that bard wrote them but William shakespeare fact wrote all of them.
What country did William Shakespeare write his plays?
Shakespeare wrote all his plays in England. They are not all set in England, though.
Why did william shakespeare write all the plays he did?
It was his job, or one of his jobs. Shakespeare was paid to write plays.
Why do people miss Shakespeare?
people miss William Shakespeare because of all the plays he wrote .xxxxxx(:
What plays did William Shakespeare perform at the Globe Theatre?
he prefromed all the plays at the globe theather
What was the content in William Shakespeare's plays?
Like all plays, they contain dialogue for the actors to say, and stage directions.
Did people speak the what they do in Shakespeare's plays?
All of the plays of William Shakespeare were written in English.
Who is the real writer of the Shakespeare plays and sonnets?
William Shakespeare wrote all the plays and sonnets, they have been saying that bard wrote them but William shakespeare fact wrote all of them.
What country did William Shakespeare write his plays?
Shakespeare wrote all his plays in England. They are not all set in England, though.
Why did william shakespeare write all the plays he did?
It was his job, or one of his jobs. Shakespeare was paid to write plays.
Why do people miss Shakespeare?
people miss William Shakespeare because of all the plays he wrote .xxxxxx(:
What plays did William Shakespeare perform at the Globe Theatre?
he prefromed all the plays at the globe theather
Why did William Shakespeare write MacBeth?
Shakespeare wrote all of his plays for the same reason--to make money. It was his job.
Projects completed by William Shakespeare while employed?
He wrote all of his plays.
Who is Henry condell in the life of William shakespeare?
Henry Condell was one of the actors in The King's Men, one of Shakespeare's closest friends and one of the two men who determined to publish all of Shakespeare's plays in one volume after he died.
Who wrote plays Hamlet and Midsummers Night Dream?
If this asked the question who WROTE, A Midsummer Nights Dream" I could tell you : William Shakespeare But as you ask who "Worte" the same I'm afraid I do not know. x
Where all of William Shakespeare's plays wrote in parts?
All of Shakespeare's plays were published divided into five Acts, but they were not performed that way, and they may not have been written that way either.
