Skip to main content

Open Air Play-houses in Elizabethan Stage (Theatre): A Brief Survey

"But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on."
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
English philosopher, statesman, and lawyer.
The Advancement of Learning

The Elizabethan theaters were open air play-houses. Some were polygonal or roughly circular in shape. They held last audience of two or three thousands. They had two or three levels of roofed galleries that extended, on the upper levels, all the way around the theater surrounded an open space. In this space were the stage and the dressing room as well as the so called yard. In the yard stood the spectators, who chooses to pay less and were exposed to all kinds of weather.

Unlike the yard, the stage itself was covered by a roof. The stage was a large rectangle platform that threshes for into the yard, perhaps even as far as the centre of the circle formed by the surrounding galleries.
The stages of  Elizabethan time were not separated from the audience by dropping of a curtain between acts and scene. Therefore, the play wrought of the time had to find of ways of signaling to the audience that one scene had ended and the next had begun.
The customary way was to everyone on stage exit; at the end of the scene have some more different characters to begin the next scene. In a’ few cases where characters remain on stage from one scene to another the dialog ill or stage actions makes the charge of location clear, and the characters are generally imagined as havens moved from one place to another. The Elizabethan plays houses did not use moveable scenery to dress the stage and makes the setting of act so, the playwrights had to resourceful in the use of dialogue to specify where the action was taking place.



The actors did not limit their performing on the stage alone. Occasionally they went beneath the stage as the ghost appears to do in the first Act of Hamlet. From these they could emerge on the stage through a behind the hanging across the back of the stage as, for example, the actor playing Polemics does when he hides behind the arras, when performance required that an actor appeared ‘above’, he stairs to the gallery over the back of the stage, as when at the window of her chamber in the famous ‘Balcony scene’ in ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
           
  Ardhendu De

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Drop any query, suggestion or comment here.

Other Fat Writing

Popular posts from this blog

Dr. Samuel Johnson's "Preface to Shakespeare": Points to Remember

E ighteenth-century writer Samuel Johnson ((1709-1784) is one of the most significant figures in English literature. His fame is due in part to a widely read biography of him, written by his friend James Boswell and published in 1791. Although probably best known for compiling his celebrated dictionary, Johnson was an extremely prolific writer who worked in a variety of fields and forms. Chief Critical Approaches of Dr. Johnson are: Johnson tried teaching and later organized a school in Lichfield. His educational ventures were not successful, however, although one of his students, David Garrick, later famous as an actor, became a lifelong friend.
40 comments
Read more

Kinds of Poetry: Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic

Introduction: Poetry is a form of literary expression that has captivated readers and listeners for centuries. It allows poets to convey their thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a condensed and artistic manner. While there are countless poetic forms and styles, poetry can be broadly categorized into three main kinds: Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic. Each of these kinds has distinct characteristics, purposes, and examples that showcase the rich diversity within the world of poetry. Kinds of poetry :  There are three great kinds of poetic writing: Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic. Narrative poetry: Narrative poetry tells a story with a plot, characters, and a setting. It  is one of the oldest and most straightforward forms of poetry. It tells a story, often in a chronological sequence, using poetic devices to create a vivid and engaging narrative. Some key points about narrative poetry include: Storytelling: Narrative poetry focuses on storytelling, using poetic language to c...
1 comment
Read more

Analysis of "Progress" by St. John Ervine as One Act Play

"Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war."- John Milton  (1608 - 1674)   Letters of State...Together with Several of his Poems ,  "To Oliver Cromwell" “Progress” by St. John Greer Ervine is a successful specimen of a one act play . It has not only a unity of theme (the abolition of war) the unities of time; place and action are also meticulously maintained. Thematically, “Progress”     is written against the background of the First World War in which thousands were butchered and many more became disabled for life. It left many mothers    childless and incredible number of widows and orphans. This insensible devastation has created diverse reactions in social thinking, and “Progress” by the Irish playwright St. John Greer Ervine is just the product of one of the strongest of these sentiments, namely the anti-war feeling of the post war modern age .  Through the basic conflict between two ideas- the point of view of ...
10 comments
Read more