Theater Differences

There are many differences between Shakespeare theaters and now a day theaters. One of the differences is that we can watch plays indoors. The biggest difference would be now we can watch plays any time of the day. Another would be we have good seats to sit in most of the peasants had to stand in front of the stage. In today’s plays there are intermissions so you can stretch and get food, back then there were not intermissions. Back then the theaters had dirt floors and if it rained they would get drenched, losing their money to go home or watch the play in the rain. The groundlings were not treated nice, but now people that come to plays are quests and are treated nicely.


Justin S.

Special Effects

The stages when Shakespeare lived were small with a painted wall for the background to enhance the scene. The lack of good special effects might have made Shakespeare a better writer because he had to describe what the audience was supposed to see. When a scene was supposed to have thunder in it stagehands pounded on a drum or ripped a piece of metal. A character wounded in a sword fight or something like that clapped a hand to his chest, bursting a pouch beneath his shirt to release blood or something red like blood. If the play needed fireworks then some stagehands would set off a cannon to make the “boom” of the fireworks. Even though the technology was slim, what the theatres could do was good for that time.

Womens roles during Shakespeares time

Women were not allowed by law to perform in theaters during the Elizabethan era. So since women were not allowed to perform the theaters hired teenage boys between the ages of 13 and19. There voices were still high pitched and not as deep as that of a grown man. They were not paid as much as a grown actor and would often be an apprentice of an older actor. Many of the boys had to put on the white makeup that high class women would wear. This makeup consisted of lead, which led to many of the boys getting lead poisoning.
Women were allowed to act in the theatre until 1660 as it was judged to be unseemly for a woman to undertake such a profession. It was thought that the lower class women in society should not be allowed to perform onstage because it would be lewd and immoral. The upper class women performed in masques, including Queen Elizabeth’s mother. This didn’t stop the lower class women to performing, many would perform and dress up as men.

The Swan

There were many different theaters in the times when William Shakespeare was around. I am going to talk to you about one specific theater “The Swan”. This theater was build by Francis Langley, in the year of 1594. It’s believed that William Shakespeare and his crew never actually played here. Throughout all of the theaters in this time this was one of the biggest, and most unique of all. This was the place where they held a play, which unfortunately ended the running of theaters for the whole summer. Most people of that time, and even people from nowadays would say that The Swan is a great example of the perfect theater back during that time. It was spacious, the architecture was amazing, with lots of detail and beautiful features to look at. Overall the The Swan, in my opinion, and I’m sure in many other people’s opinions was wonderful during this time.