I want to start off saying that this post might be longer than usual and that is because I REALLY love what I am going to be discussing. Just please hang in there with me and hopefully you will enjoy it! 🙂
ELIZABETHIAN THEATRE! This would have to be my favorite time periods of history out of them all. This would be because I absolutely love William Shakespeare and how he redefined Theatre with his world renowned 38 plays and sonnets. It is also a very important period in history when Queen Elizabeth was in power. This was because theatre was flourishing and the demand of new plays to be written by playwrights was accelerating. Play writes were expected to put our a many plays to keep up with demand and in turn more were employed to keep up with the thirst of novelty.
SHAKESPEARE ERA: Mr. William Shakespeare is by far the most successful play right that this world has ever seen! Am I saying this because I am a biased fan? Maybe a little. But the bottom line is that he when he wrote his plays he planted seeds in the audience/ reader. He showed the error that is instilled naturally in humans. It is scary because when you actually bring them to life it teaches a life lesson that sticks with your audience years and years after. It does not matter that the generations over time have changed, people will always succumb to the same human nature, no matter what time period it is. This man who has died almost FOUR hundred years ago still has an impact on literature and theatre today. Now before I go into explaining why I love Shakespeare’s play and highlight the ones that I have read, I want to give you some background information about Mr. Shakespeare.
Shakespeare was a part of a acting company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, where he was also one of the main writers. There was a rival company called Leicester’s Men. People who were involved in either one of these companies, or one like it they were either actors, hirelings, and apprentices. If you were an actor you were called a ‘sharers’ and you had stock in the company and the profits were divided amongst you and the other actors. An hireling were just paid weekly while the boys who were apprentice’s (played woman roles) were paid very little. The Globe theatre is were Shakespeare’s most famous plays were performed and it was constructed in 1599 on the Thames River, by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, when the lease of their previous theatre was up. The innovated design of it allowed it so that anywhere that a audience member would sit they would have a good view of the performance. Seven actors (including Shakespeare) financed the construction and were ‘housekeepers’ who has investment in the theatre as well as the company. William wrote two plays a year for the company. His earliest play was The Comedy of Error and his published word was Venius and Adonis in 1593. His tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear were written after 1600. His last plays, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest were written between 1608-1612. The Great playwright and actor retired to his home in Stratford, England where he died in 1616.
Romeo & Juliet: My first exposure to Shakespeare’s plays was Romeo & Juliet. At a young age when I grasped onto it because I was fascinated by the idea of a girl and boy going to such extreme lengths to be with one another. The fact that they killed themselves because they could not stand the fact of living without the other, really pulled on my very developing hopeless romantic heart strings. Of course at first I read a illustrated young reader version, that was still very graphic might I add, but it made me want to read the actual play. At first I was like “what the heck is all these words that no one says anymore?” But it did not stop me, I wanted to keep reading it. In ninth grade I finally got to read it and analyze it properly. I wanted ,and a part of me still does, to play Juliet. One of my first monologues that I memorized was one of Juliet’s most famous, “Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?…”
Titus Andronicus: Now this play is one of Shakespeare’s most graphic and vengeful plays, at least in my opinion, and it was very interesting to see all the dynamics that are in it. I really recommend this one and the movie as well. It is performed in his original text and a attention getter. I read this one in ninth grade and if you ever read or watch this play you will probably question why the hell my ninth grade teacher thought this play would be appriopate for ninth graders lol. We were very mature about it though.
Macbeth: This play comes right behind Romeo & Juliet on my favorites list. This was the first Shakespeare play that I performed in. I was Witch #2. I loved that role, the two other witches and I just had a blast with it. My school’s rendition of it was done very well considering that we had to condense it a bit. The dynamics of the characters of this play get me excited and I could just go on and on about it.
Ok so I am going to stop here. I was going to go on with Hamlet and Othello but I know you have other posts and homework to work on. If you want to discuss anything I have blogged just shoot me an email! I hope you enjoyed this weeks entry!
Happy Blogging <3
Jenn