The Globe Theater Diagram

The Globe Theatre

Charles II encouraged women to perform. Before he became king the roles were played solely by men. Teenage boys would play the female characters, as they’re voices were higher and they sleeker in figure.

There would be many plays happening in a short space of time, constantly changing, meaning very little rehearsal time. But that wasn’t a problem, as they would probably only rehearse the day of the show to establish basic things such as entrances and exits. Back in those days, plays were more about the words and were supposed to be seen not heard. There are very few stage directions in Shakespeare’s Thplays and all movement is very minimal, for that very reason.

The stage in The Globe theatre is a thrust stage: a rectangular stage thrusting out into the audience, with the audience covering three sides. There would be little to no set or props and no lighting, in lieu of these, Shakespeare used lots of description in his plays, to inform then audience where it was set, what time of day it was, “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?” (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 Scene 2), and what the weather was like, “Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough!” (The Tempest, Act 1 Scene 1).

The stage contains two pillars, most likely a whole tree trunk, planted to secure the roof above the stage, that were painted to look like marble, much like the Roman and Greek amphitheatres. The stage had two levels, the main stage and an upper, balcony like landing for the musicians, playing the lute, the viola etc. And the main stage itself was separated into the outer and inner stages. The outer stage was the part that thrust into the audience, and the inner stage was further back, used if two scenes were to happen at the same time. There was one central, cur
tained, door, and a door either side of that, leading to the tiring house, where the actors would be when not on stage or preparing to go on stage. Above the stage there were the lord’s rooms, where actors, musicians and rich patrons would rest themselves. The stage was most likely 5 feet tall, 45 feet wide and 30 foot long.

The stage was painted to look like the world, with the above area supposed to look like heaven and the below area to look like hell. This would help inform the audience as to whether a character was good or bad on their arrival. There was a trapped door above in the ‘heavens’ and another below in ‘hell’, to indicate, if a character entered through one of them, what their alignment was.

The costume would be minimal, nothing more than the usual Tudor attire, with simple hints to tell the audience more about the characters, e.g. the villain wearing red. Make-up was also minimal, being no different than the general make-up of the time: White paint, made from lead, to make them look paler, and beetroot juice used as blush or on the lips.

The audience was broken into different levels. The yard, where the groundlings would stand, was for the poorest and then there were three levels of seating for the richer. The price would depend on who you were. How rich you were, if you were male or female, how much power you had etc. There was room for 600 to stand in the yard, and there was seating for around 900.

The thrust stage encouraged more audience-actor interaction, which would be happily accepted as the audience tended to be very responsive, often drunk and not very well controlled. Shakespeare took advantage of this audience interaction, by having many soliloquies, monologues or speeches spoken directly to, and including, the audience, and many asides, lines spoken to make the audience understand a character’s true intentions and thoughts with the illusion that the other characters couldn’t hear them, throughout his plays.

The Life of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and was baptised on 26 April 1564. Shakespeare was probably educated at King’s New School in Stratford. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway. The couple had a daughter, Susanna, the following year and twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, in 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11.

Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James I became King. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage.

Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.

My First Response to 'The Tempest'

I first read 'The Tempest' when I was ten, and naturally had a lesser understanding of the text at that point. As a child, I was more intrigued by the supernatural side to the story, the sprits and magic spells. But upon reading the play again, being a huge fan of Shakespeare’s tragedies, I now appreciate the more sinister plots of murder and betrayal.

Rereading the play now, with a larger understanding of Shakespeare, I found one element very intriguing. There is very little plot. There’s the love story between Miranda and Ferdinand, and then there’s Antonio and Sebastian’s plan to supplant their older brothers' titles and power, Antonio having already done this and convincing Sebastian to do the same. Finally, there is the story of Caliban, along with Setphano and Trinculo, and his plot to murder Prospero, to regain control of the island. But none of these plots are developed much or given much attention. Instead the play focuses on human nature and the division between happiness and tragedy.

'The Tempest' ends with the promise of a wedding in the future, but the play could have just as easily ended with tragedy, as there are numerous murder plots, betrayals and revenge. Most of Shakespeare’s comedies, such as ‘The Comedy of Errors’, are humorous throughout, with the plot being love triangles, misunderstanding and misidentify. Very few have the makings of a tragedy, but with a happy ending.

Prior to my rereading of ‘The Tempest’, I had different impressions of some of the characters, simply from what I remembered. I was under the impression that Miranda was a more pivotal character, when in reality she is a rather undeveloped and simple minded character, that doesn’t add much to the main plot of Prospero’s past and revenge. The only thing Miranda really adds to the play is the only truly comedy-style plot line: her love-at-first-sight relationship with Ferdinand.

The play also, in my opinion, ends rather anticlimactically. The antagonists of the play, Antonio, Sebastian and Caliban, aren’t punished for their plots; they are pardoned, forgiven or ignored, even after the build-up of their plans. Everyone returns to their rightful homes, Ariel and the rest of the sprits being freed and everyone else returning to Naples. The story lines seem to build, reach their peak and then simply fall through, without proper development and without being truly resolved.