Elizabethan Theatre

Question 1

The Renaissance in England began when?

Answer 1

During the reign of Henry VII, ended with Purtian take over.

Question 2

The English Renaissance is also referred to as?

Answer 2

Elizabethan Period

Question 3

What is an interlude?

Answer 3

Brief dramatic entertainments presented at court and in the homes of nobility.

Question 4

Morality plays became?

Answer 4

More secular and were influenced by Italian Renaissance humanism.

Question 5

English school dramas were becoming popular…

Answer 5

Written at universities rather than for public, first established by Queen Elizabeth 1 for court entertainment, used Blackfriars for their productions.

Question 6

Elizabethan playwrights followed?

Answer 6

Structure of the medieval episodic form.

Question 7

Elizabethan Drama

Answer 7

1) Did not follow unities of time, place, and action.
2) Used many characters, and many scene changes ranging through time place to place.
3) Parallel plots or subplots relate to the main action.
4) Presented violence on stage and often supernatural characters.
5) The soliloquy was popular.
6) Mixed comic and serious scenes,
7) Stage adapted for this type of show.
8) Often used dramas, literary pieces, and history.

Question 8

Was 1st significant playwright to emerge in the Elizabethan period.

Answer 8

Christopher Marlowe

Question 9

Focused on the dramatic poetry element of playwriting.

Answer 9

Christopher Marlowe

Question 10

Describe Iambic pentameter.

Answer 10

Has five beats to a line, has two syllables per beat with the accent on the second beat, developed great lyric beauty.

Question 11

Was highly educated, earning both bachelors and a master degree.

Answer 11

Christopher Marlowe

Question 12

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon an was educated only up to age 13.

Answer 12

William Shakespeare

Question 13

Married Anne Hathaway and has 3 children.

Answer 13

William Shakespeare

Question 14

By the 1950’s he was in London working as playwright an actor.

Answer 14

William Shakespeare

Question 15

Lord Chamberlain’s Men

Answer 15

William Shakespeare

Question 16

Although primarily a playwright, he did small but important roles such as the ghost.

Answer 16

William Shakespeare

Question 17

What are some of the aspects Shakspeare included in his work?

Answer 17

1) Skillfully alternates scenes so that each episode illuminates or forms a counterpoint.
2) He uses subplots to reinforce major themes that are equally effective.
3) Created a fascinating collection of characters, both principle and supporting.
4) The language was phenomenal.
5) Works were not published until after his death, seven years after his death.

Question 18

What did many believe the forerunner for Elizabethan public theatres?

Answer 18

Bearbaiting rings or inns adapted for performance.

Question 19

Theatres were forced to build outside the city limits because?

Answer 19

City officials opposed theatre on moral grounds and forbade in the city.

Question 20

Galleries consisted of 3 levels.

Answer 20

1) 1st level reserved for the upper classes and nobility.
2) The other galleries were undivided and had bench seating.
3) Lower class spectators that stood in the yard were called groundlings.
4) Food and drink were sold throughout.

Question 21

Describe the Elizabethan stage

Answer 21

1) Raised platform
2) Trapdoors
3) Behind the raised stage was the tiring house.
4) Facade of the tiring house was the basic scenic elements in theatre.

Question 22

A three-story building that served as a place for costume changes and storing props.

Answer 22

Tiring House

Question 23

Tiring house 1st Level

Answer 23

The inner below which had doors for entrances and exits and probably a space used for reveals called the inner below.

Question 24

Tiring house 2nd Level

Answer 24

The inner above which had playing space with windows called the inner above.

Question 25

Tiring house 3rd Level

Answer 25

The musician’s gallery which housed about six musicians.

Question 26

Describe Private Theatres

Answer 26

1) Lit by candles
2) Higher prices for tickets were charged so the poorer people could not afford the tickets.
3) Staged indoors than outdoors
4) The platform stage extended to the side walls.
5) Pit had backless benches
6) Seating prices were closer to today’s structure.

Question 27

Scenery and Costuming

Answer 27

1) Did not used painted perspective
2) Suggest rapid scene changes
3) Contemporary English fashion

Question 28

Elizabethan Acting Companies

Answer 28

1) Had to be sponsored by a nobleman whose rank was no lower than baron
2) All plays had to be licensed by the mast of reveals.
3) Secondary companies would break off from London troupes and tour under the original license.

Question 29

What were some of the acting practices?

Answer 29

1) No women actors, young boys
2) Doubling and tripling of roles
3) Typecasting was necessary, comic roles
4) Recieve sides with their lines instead of full scripts.
5) Rehearsal was minimal about 3 weeks
6) Improve, actors sing and dance

Question 30

What was the Jacobean and Caroline Drama named after?

Answer 30

James 1, Charles 1

Question 31

What also happened during the Jacobean and Caroline area?

Answer 31

Heroism gave away to decadence and cynicism and tragedy gave way to melodrama.

Question 32

Was a playwright, literary critic, poet, and actor.

Answer 32

Ben Johnson

Question 33

Was one of the 1st writers in England to champion the neoclassical principles.

Answer 33

Ben Johnson

Question 34

Wrote volumes of poetry, books on english blah blah blah

Answer 34

Ben Johnson

Question 35

Describe Court Entertainment: The Masque?

Answer 35

1) Form of theatre not found in public or private theatres, presented at the court
2) Incorporated mythological and allegorical figures. In a presentation of the monarch.
3) Introduced Italian scenic practices
4) Were colorful, ornate, and immensely expensive.

Question 36

Explain the designer of masque Indigo Jones?

Answer 36

Temporary proscenium arches, painted-perspective, systems for changing scenery, and flying machinery.