Encyclopędia Britannica's Guide to Shakespeare
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Shakespeare, William

Shakespeare the poet and dramatist > Theatrical conditions
Map/Still:London theatres ( 1600).
London theatres (c. 1600).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The Globe and its predecessor, the Theatre, were public playhouses run by the Chamberlain's Men, a leading theatre company of which Shakespeare was a member. Almost all classes of citizens, excepting many Puritans and like-minded Reformers, came to them for afternoon entertainment. The players were also summoned to court, to perform before the monarch and assembled nobility. In times of plague, usually in the summer, they might tour the provinces, and on occasion they performed at London's Inns of Court (associations of law students), at universities, and in great houses. Popularity led to an insatiable demand for plays: early in 1613 the King's Men—as the Chamberlain's Men were then known—could present “fourteen several plays.” The theatre soon became fashionable, too, and in 1608–09 the King's Men started to perform on a regular basis at the Blackfriars, a “private” indoor theatre where high admission charges assured the company a more select and sophisticated audience for their performances. (For more on theatre in Shakespeare's day, see Sidebar: Shakespeare and the Liberties.)

Shakespeare's first associations with the Chamberlain's Men seem to have been as an actor. He is not known to have acted after 1603, and tradition gives him only secondary roles, such as the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You Like It, but his continuous association must have given him direct working knowledge of all aspects of theatre. Numerous passages in his plays show conscious concern for theatre arts and audience reactions. Hamlet gives expert advice to visiting actors in the art of playing. Prospero in The Tempest speaks of the whole of life as a kind of “revels,” or theatrical show, that, like a dream, will soon be over. The Duke of York in Richard II is conscious of how

…in a theatre, the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage
Are idly bent on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious.

(For more about Shakespeare and dramatic performance in his day, see Sidebar: Shakespeare on Theatre.)

In Shakespeare's day there was little time for group rehearsals, and actors were given the words of only their own parts. The crucial scenes in Shakespeare's plays, therefore, are between two or three characters only or else are played with one character dominating a crowded stage. Most female parts were written for young male actors or boys, so Shakespeare did not often write big roles for them or keep them actively engaged onstage for lengthy periods. Writing for the clowns of the company—who were important popular attractions in any play—presented the problem of allowing them to use their comic personalities and tricks and yet have them serve the immediate interests of theme and action. (For a discussion of music in Shakespeare's plays, see Sidebar: Music in Shakespeare's Plays.)

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