Directors were forced to comply with somewhat radical values and even their casting of roles was affected. Female actors did not appear on stage until the mid 1600’s because acting was not deemed a credible profession.

The Catholic Church decreed that all Acting performances would henceforth, banned. This was due to the extremity of the Roman Theatre, as the Romans decreed that their Comedies, Circuses, Horse Races, and of course, Gladitorial Combat that would take place in the Roman Ampitheatres.

The Globe

tragicomedy. noun. a play, story, or situation that is both sad and humorous.

Hamlet

The Mousetrap

The play is the shortest of Shakespeare’s tragedies, without diversions or subplots. It chronicles Macbeth’s seizing of power and subsequent destruction, both his rise and his fall the result of blind ambition.

The Tempest

Bard of Avon

Shakespearean critics have broken the plays into four categories: tragedies, comedies, histories, and “problem plays.” This list contains some of the plays that fall into each category.

Hover for more information. William Shakespeare, the Bard, was an extremely prolific playwright during his time. He wrote comedies, tragedies, and histories–37 plays total. I organized his plays into genres for you, so you can see exactly how many he wrote in each genre and the titles.

When William Shakespeare died he famously left his wife Anne only one thing: their ‘second best bed’.

Shakespeare’s plays are traditionally divided into the three categories of the First Folio: comedies, histories, and tragedies.

Towering above the Globe was a small tower with a flag pole. Flags were used as a form of Elizabethan Advertising! Black Globe Theatre flags were used to advertise that the play performed that day would be a tragedy. Using a black flag indicated that the play would be a dark subject, associated with death.

For another penny, you could have a bench seat in the lower galleries which surrounded the yard. Or for a penny or so more, you could sit more comfortably on a cushion. The most expensive seats would have been in the ‘Lord’s Rooms’. Admission to the indoor theatres started at 6 pence.

By May 1599, the new theatre was ready to be opened. Burbage named it the Globe after the figure of Hercules carrying the globe on his back – for in like manner the actors carried the Globe’s framework on their backs across the Thames.

In 1613, the Globe was destroyed by fire on the 29th of June. During the play, “Henry the V” a small spark from a cannon accidently caught the roof on fire, and in less than an hour the Globe Theatre had burnt to the ground. The Globe Theatre being made of wood caused the fire to spread quickly. …

No one is reported to have died, but for Shakespeare’s playhouse, the most famous theatre in England, it was the end. The day was hot and dry, and within little more than an hour only smoking ruins were left. The fire raged so intensely that a house next door went up too.

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613.

Although the original Globe Theatre was lost to fire, today a modern version sits on the south bank of the River Thames. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is now a huge complex holding a reconstructed original outdoor theatre, a winter theatre, a museum, and an education centre.

The members of the audience who stood in the pit were often referred to as ‘Groundlings’.

From these images we can describe the Globe as a hexagonal structure with an inner court about 55 feet across. It was three-stories high and had no roof. The open courtyard and three semicircular galleries could together hold more than 1,500 people.

It was an open-air building with three stories for seating and could hold around 3,000 people. First, the Globe Theatre is the first and only building to have thatched roofing after they were banned as a direct result of the Great Fire of London in 1666, so some safety precautions had to be taken.

The Globe is known because of William Shakespeare’s (1564–1616) involvement in it. In the 1590s an outbreak of the plague prompted authorities to close London theaters. At the time Shakespeare was a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, an acting company.

The heavens were also referred to as the ‘Shadow’ due to the large shadow it cast over the audience in the yard or pit. The false stage ceiling was supported by two large ‘ Herculean ‘ columns (pillars) made of huge, single tree trunks, elaborately painted to resemble marble.

The theatre was located in Southwark, across the River Thames from the City of London. Shakespeare’s company built the Globe only because it could not use the special roofed facility, Blackfriars Theatre, that James Burbage (the father of their leading actor, Richard Burbage) had built in 1596 for it inside the city.

1a : a spectator who stood in the pit of an Elizabethan theater. b : a person of unsophisticated taste. 2 : one that lives or works on or near the ground.

The King’s Men is the acting company to which William Shakespeare (1564–1616) belonged for most of his career. Formerly known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, they became the King’s Men in 1603 when King James I ascended the throne and became the company’s patron.