Research of Shakespearean Theatrical Conventions

Shakespeare had an abundance of unique ideas for a theatre which most if not all we still use today, although some have been modernised or have been improved due to the evolution of technology. Shakespeare is the most known play writer through-out Europe if not the World.

No way to light the stage after the sun went down in his days. Play mostly in day. Public performance was a new idea as the first theatre was built twenty years before he started writing. Shapes of there’re varied from circular, squared, octagon but all had the mandatory raised platform in an open area to accommodation spectators

The stage Shakespeare had was covered by the roof what they called ‘the heavens’. It protected actors from the unpredictable weather of London. Furthermore having a roof enable them to have an attic could house machinery (Shakespeare had props and machinery for artificial sound as the theatre had a roof), ropes and other devices to the play more realistic e.g. hide sound effects of thunder (for the tempest most likely. Theatres were compromising in size and very petite. It was capable of holding 2,000 people sitting or standing.

The stages didn’t really have backgrounds as do today. Simple props such as chairs or tables were use scene such as a rage tempest or a gloomy castle would have been suggested or explained through dialogue or minimal set pieces such as plants, tree or shrubs for a forest or rocks for a river bank.

Inner stages would had given the audiences the idea of different rooms. The ceiling represented the sky; stars were painted on the ceiling to insinuate the idea. There were floor boards below enough that it would be as if you be coming from the underworld, hell.

 

From my research

* An inner stage section served to locate a scene in a particular room.–it could have its curtains pulled to or opened to reveal actors.

* Parts of the stage could represent anywhere–“unlocalized” places on Earth.

* Pillars supporting the roof of the theater could serve as trees,. ship’s masts, etc.

* Gods could be lowered from above, as if the upper story was’ heaven’.

* Simple set pieces such as a fake rock, a throne, or even some elaborate hanging or inner set pieces could tell the audience the place was a throne room, a battlefield, a hill etc.

* Speeches by actors and a herald or special interlocutor called a “chorus” could tell the audience what they needed to know about what was to come.

* Actors engaged in speech for the same purpose, which is called “exposition”–in a word telling the hearer what he/she needed to know.

* The dress was of the Elizabethan period and often rich even if the lay were set in ancient Greece, although fantastic costume was used.

* People of various classes, professions, etc. were denoted by costume, makeup, wigs, tools and speech patterns.

* All parts were enacted by males, with boys taking the parts of females.

* Swordplay was real, though not of antique periods.

* Ghosts, gods, demons and magical beings such as fairies were also allowed their place.

* The play continued without pause from start to finish.

* Sometimes plays ended with a Morris dance or other show.

* Players spoke prose, poetic prose, verse, and finally blank verse etc., rather than colloquial speech.

* Lute songs were introduced into the plays.

* Richer persons sat onstage at right and left, without disturbing the playgoers.

* Real jewels or jewelry might be borrowed.

* Medieval types were still represented by exaggerated costumes for comedic purposes–a banker, a beggar, a friar being denoted by external devices. Kings wore coronets or crowns.

* And torches, and even fireworks or artillery were used–a spark from which burned down the original globe Theater.

* A flag was hoisted on Bankside beyond the Thames, above the theater, when a play was to be done that day–the color of the banner denoting what sort of play it was going to be.