The text for William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was created and first produced in a theatre and playgoing environment unlike the current American model, seen on Broadway and in regional theatre that trickles down to community and educational theatres; divergences can be found in the nature of the locations of theatre, duration of runs, audience behavior, cultural position, and relationship between artists.
The career of William Shakespeare (born 1554, died 1616) took place during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) and King James I (1566–1625), from the 1590s until his death in 1616. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was likely created between 1595 and 1596 was, therefore, written and first performed during the Elizabethan era of history, before her death in 1603. Evidence suggests that Shakespeare was a player (an actor), before beginning playwriting; he eventually amassed wealth, not through playwriting, but through his part-ownership of a theatre.
Location
Shakespeare’s lifetime coincided with the first theater built with the purpose of putting on theatre; through the middle of the 16th century, there existed theatrical companies and plays, but they were not performed or written in structures built specifically for that purpose. The touring model was one employed, in which companies would play in the yard of an inn, the house of an aristocrat, or at court with a royal sponsor; there was not one singular place where performances were held. In 1576, The Theatre was built, the first structure of its kind where plays could be staged and where companies could stay on one site.
The existence of playhouses may seem like a given to contemporary theatre artists and audiences; however, their existence is what allowed for plays such as Shakespeare’s to be written and performed. Whereas other forms of art and storytelling—such as poetry—come naturally and can be whole in themselves, the physical logistics necessitated by drama require certain conditions—i.e. a stage—to be allowed existence and expression.
Many Elizabethan playhouses were built after the first, The Theatre; Shakespeare’s works would eventually migrate from The Theatre, where A Midsummer Night’s Dream was likely first performed, to the Globe Theatre, on the banks of the Thames River in London. During Shakespeare’s career, London’s population grew due to migration; the number of new audience members and the newly built theatres enabled the writing of Shakespeare and other playwrights of the era. Additionally, Westminster, where London’s parliament buildings are located, was adjacent to the south bank of the River Thames, where theaters were located, allowing for Shakespeare’s plays and his company, Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later, the King’s Men) to be presented for the court.
Duration
Elizabethan theatre functioned in the repertory model, with, as Renaissance literature scholar Garrett A. Sullivan articulates it, a “dizzying”, constant process of rehearsal and new works performances on the stage, where it was uncommon for an actor to perform the same work two nights in a row. For example, in the season which ran from 1594-1599, the acting troupe, the Admiral’s Men, offered 36 plays, 21 of which were new, added at roughly fortnight intervals. The theatre did not go dark, but kept performing. There was not a massive backlog of plays, but new plays being commissioned because the companies needed new material; Shakespeare built his career around this need. (After about 35 years of intense dramatic activity, there was a viable enough catalogue of plays around 1620, during which new material was not needed as much.)
Behavior & Cultural Position
In Shakespeare’s day, going to the theatre was neither a high-brow activity, nor terribly expensive for those standing in the pit; it would be comparable to going to the movie. There was therefore a mixed reputation for the theatre, infamous for being a place where anyone could go. Amid cultural stereotypes of bad audiences, some drank and rioted during performances.
There was also a different relationship between the actors and the audience, in comparison to theatre today; in open-air amphitheatres, both the actors and audience could see each other, allowing for interaction. As can be seen in the image of the Globe Theatre on the following page, patrons of Elizabethan and Jacobean playhouses frequented open-air amphitheatres with thrust stages. Audience members may either sit in the galleries or else stand in the yard for the price of a penny; the latter patrons were called “groundlings”. Due to the open-air nature of the structure, if it rained, the groundlings would get wet.
Different groups of people have different ideas of plays and the theatre. For example, the Puritans were very opposed to theatrical performance, thinking it immoral in that a tragedy may cause one to kill, and succeeded in shutting down the theatre in 1642. Courts, meanwhile, understood theatre companies as ready sources of entertainment—perhaps a resource for having a Christmas pageant—and saw it best to have self-sustaining companies rather than personally being involved with rehearsals. Others still thought of theatre as a place to learn morals—attitudes regarding theatre were varied and complex in early modern London.
Artists: Directors, Actors, Authors/Playwrights
In Shakespeare’s time, the company collectively put on the play; plays were not the single vision of a unifying director. Over the course of Shakespeare’s day, the value and reputation of theatre rose; throughout the 1610’s and by the 1620’s, actors and playwrights transformed from morally dubious to celebrated figures; the 16th century actor, very unlike our own celebrity culture, was seen shady, as one step above a vagabond, and did not enjoy a lucrative profession. While actors were sometimes members of aristocrat’s households, the society was entirely hierarchical, with every person stationary in their position. Playwrights shared a similar social position to actors; while they became more valorized in subsequent decades, their work was still considered ephemeral, that of a hack, in comparison to the work of poets.
