Elizabethan Theatre

Question 1

What were the galleries?

Answer 1

Seats under the roof, for upper classes

Question 2

What was the Juliet balcony?

Answer 2

The most expensive seats in the theatre, for rich people who wanted to avoid the Plague from the working classes

Question 3

What was the pit?

Answer 3

Standing area for working class people, often contained hecklers, drunk, and pickpockets
Open roof, unprotected from rain
Cheap tickets for 1p

Question 4

What were Gentlemen’s Rooms?

Answer 4

Seats costing 4p, under the roof, for rich upper classes

Question 5

What was acting like before theatres?

Answer 5

• Actors travelled in groups
• Performed in communal spaces (inns)
• Stories taken from the Bible
• Elizabethan authorities likened them to vagabonds
• Patronage (E.g. the Queen’s Men)

Question 6

What was patronage?

Answer 6

Some theatre companies were given funding by nobility (who wanted to show off their culture and please Elizabeth)

Question 7

Who were the audience?

Answer 7

• All classes of people could attend due to pricing strategies (cheap tickets for the pit and more expensive tickets elsewhere)

Question 8

Why were theatres useful to Elizabeth and her Privy Council?

Answer 8

They reduced the risk of rebellion by giving people entertainment / distraction

Question 9

What inhibited theatres’ usefulness / relevance?

Answer 9

Women were not allowed to perform

Question 10

Who didn’t like theatres and how was this dealt with?

Answer 10

• Puritans (distracted from God)
• Elizabethan authorities disliked the plays’ non-religious themes, so many theatres were built outside the City walls

Question 11

Name some theatres built during this time

Answer 11

• The Curtain
• The Rose
• The Globe
• The Swan