Discussions in lesson Part 2

In the sixteenth century plays were of course much different than they are now. Female parts weren't given and if there was a female role, teenage boys would have to play it mainly because their voiced hadn't been broken yet. They were only able to rehearse for a few hours before the play actually happened so this meant that they were told to just get on with line learning then on the day of the performance that's when they were told how and where to come off the stage etc.
Plays weren't performed for people's entertainment but more to be heard and to be seen and that was the main objective of performances back then.
Last but not least, in most playhouses and Inns they would have upstage doors where the good characters would enter from so the audience know if they are good and downstage doors for the bad characters to let the audience know if they are a bad character. This was mostly performed on a thrusted stage.

Discussions in class

In 1547, the end of the medieval period and the beginning of early morden period during the power balance had changed the Church and in result of this the Church had become increasingly separate from the state economy. Geographically new worlds were being discovered and plays were now able to be printed in Masses and this caused a religious movement; Protestant movement that spread throughout Europe and this meant that hypocrisy began to end.

During this period it was clear to see who was of lower class, who was middle and who was upper class and in result came about the 'merchant' class which was a class referred to traders in cities and towns. This period was now classified as the renaissance period which meant there was this belief that literature and great art was being produced and this would help the world progress into bigger things. This was proven correct as the world was developing in resources and entertainment and there was a clear improvement in literature and philosophy. 

Henry VIII was in power during this time and in order to divorce from his wife Catherine of Aragon he had to switch from the Catholic Church into Church of England which he became the head of. Even though this had happened the country was still Catholic and the people of England saw this as a chance to end the hypocritical nature of the Catholic Church and this was known as the reformation period. Henry then reacted quickly and began to fill the country's pockets by transferring all the money that went to the monastery to the state and executed anyone that opposed him. He felt that by doing this, people would be in fear of him and he would then be known as the most powerful king. 

Henry had died in 1547 and it was clear to see that the country had been struggling after his death as there were four monarchs in the space of 11 years. His son, Edward, became king in 1547 and died of tuberculosis in 1553. Next in line was a woman, Lady Jane Grey who was a Protestant and had a very short stint and only reigned for 9 days and then was quickly taken off the throne because of her views. Queen Elizabeth I became queen in 1558 and she wanted peace and civil security so she had spies patrolling England making sure there weren't anyone opposing this. 

 

What tempted Shakespeare to write The Tempest

It is said that Shakespeare had written The Tempest through much influence from his life and thought it would be effective to write things in the play. Shakespeare had a family friend who was a British Admiral who coasted away with his crew to the Bermuda area but much of the drunk characters and such chaos was influenced from the bias view that he had that most sailors were drunk most of the time and would only care about drinking, not their task on sea.

To continue, although this was one of Shakespeare's shortest plays, simply constructed he made sure it was one that showed much richness in characters and their lives as this was the most common thing going around in theatre so he wanted this play to grab not only a certain target audience but everyone. Also going with the playhouse and inn style theatre uses, he wanted most scenes to have a musical feel to it along with highly formed styles of drama, this was seen in many scenes, one being with Ferdinand and Miranda in Act IV Scene I.

It's also suggested that Shakespeare had taken in passages that he read from Erasmus' Naufragium (The Shipwreck) in 1606 and this helped him with the wrecking of the ship and how it was wrecked in The Tempest, leading everyone (the characters) on the island to not trust each other and almost this sense of someone being a Gustapo to one another.

Historical Context

At the time of Shakespeare's life, the queen was Henry VIII's daughter, Queen Elizabeth I who was in reign from 17th November 1558 - 24th March 1603 and was also referred to as 'The Virgin Queen'. This was the beginning of the 'Elizabethan Era' and saw her Queen of England and Ireland for almost 45 years and saw England enter it's strongest and richest era, going into two wars; one against France, the other Spain.

Society at that time

Being in this era there was a much clearer division between the upper class and lower class groups and to conclude, the majority of the population was poor and had to work extremely hard for their money. The main source wasn't the job you see in today's society but a hard labourship movement, working through farming and craftsmanship. The environment that they lived in were very much damp with any disease around being able to be caught and this was a huge comparison to the upper class who lived in palaces and villas with lucky enough to be servants. In similarity to the London today, the population was expanding rapidly along with the rolling in and out of thieves, violent individuals/groups and beggars. 

All of this was able to happen because no one in the local authority basically had no authority and were police who weren't fully trained to keep peace and armed with the most simplest weaponry. During the 16th century there was an inflation and this only brought more distress and chaos in the streets of London, this saw wages and costs in food rise. In Cumbria which was known as the poorest part of England had people starving to death and this compared to the rich which had no challenge in surviving the worst famine.

In everyone's everyday life in the 16th century, theatre was a main hobby for them. From going to unknown Elizabethan theatre's to the most known in London, Shakespeare's Globe which has been around for centuries but unfortunately destroyed by a fire in 1613 then wu icky rebuilt for people's entertainment in 1614.

Performance Conditions

Throughout all the time Shakespeare was alive and after there were three main types of Elizabethan entertainment to do with theatre; Elizabethan Inn-Yards, Elizabethan Playhouses and Elizabethan Amphitheatres. 

Inns

In most Inns companies with actors would firstly have to negotiate with the owner of the Inn before staging a performance, this is relatively what happens now in many theatres as well as sites for site specific performances. Also being in a Inn you would have to pay for drinks etc and you were made to pay extra if you wanted a view from the balcony while everyone else was below you. 

Playhouses

Most of the playhouses were small but roofed and this only brought more crowds in when it was a snowy day. It was said that each playhouse had signs reading 'suitable for winter and evening production. Playhouses were the most expensive theatres out of all the Elizabethan theatres and attending a public theatre performance would cost around 1-3 pennies but a private indoor performance was around 2-26 pennies. The audience capacity was up to 500 people and musical instruments was essential in everyday performances there. Performing in a place like a playhouse, they always wanted costumes to look sumptuous for the excitement of the audience members who were willing to pay a lot of money to witness this. 

Amphitheatre 

There were 12 amphitheatres in London and 'The Theatre' was the largest one out of them all, built first too. Most amphitheatres were opened roof and some oval shaped to give the audience an all round view. This of course made it harder for the actors to address the whole audience making some performances not well as others would be in an Inn or playhouse. The original capacity for an original Elizabethan Theatre was around 2500-3000 people; this could be seen as a positive to help the actors feel much more supported and backed. 

In theatres like this, there was no heating so plays were put on during the summer for the sun to be shone down on the audience and actors below the no roofed theatre and if there were any winter performance the theatre would be transformed into an indoor playhouse. This affected lighting and such so much of the lighting for performances were very natural with the sun coming up and there was artificial lighting mainly intended to provide atmosphere for night scenes. 

Stephano Character Analysis

Learning my lines for my character Stephano, I've realised many traits and habits in the things he does. For example he always questions himself, most noticeably when he asks 'If thou beest Trinculo come forth!' Then he goes on to say 'Thou art very Trinculo indeed!' So to me it seems like whenever he wants to ask a question he either answers it himself or automatically makes it rhetorical.

Throughout this post I'll be editing my thoughts on what my character does and how he behaves in certain situations.

Stephano And Trinculo

This duo in Stephano and Trinculo create a lot of mischief, especially being the drunkest on the ship and on the island. When both are entered into the scene it's not known by either of them that the other is on the same island but when Stephano addresses Trinculo's being, he responds to the addressing himself by saying 'Thou art very Trinculo indeed!'. Stephano being the boisterous and often drunk butler of King Alonso and Trinculo being a drunken jester and a servent of Alonso, find themselves in the same position on the island. Their plan, along with Caliban is to make Stephano king but of course this doesn't happen as all 3 are incapable of doing so.

In their last lines in the play they go off to say that courage has brought them to where they are. Both men not aware that Prospero, Alonso and the rest are standing close-by. They quickly try and cover up but realise it's too late and have nothing left in their soul but shame, knowing they brought sinful deeds around the island. 

Photographs/sketches

This is what my character will look like in the performance...

Being a drunk butler the clothing suits my character quite well and for me to actually get into my 
character fully I'll be growing my hair rather than cutting it and not method acting because I don't drink but at least try and be drunk while I'm talking to someone casually. 

Visit to the Globe

A few days ago I visited Shakespeare's Globe to watch Romeo and Juliet and while watching this I was able to pick out things, positives and negatives that I can take into consideration while performing The Tempest in a few weeks time.

Watching Romeo and Juliet I was expecting something full of emotion and energy and to me their was hardly anything. This was due to the fact that, tackling a play like Romeo and Juliet you would want to hit each line with some sort of emotion behind it but there was nothing. To me it seemed that they were saying the lines for the sake of it and to keep the story ine going but in my opinion it stopped the storyline because there was no meaning behind what they were saying.

Furthermore, I felt that there were moments where they could project their voices more, especially at key points of the play. When Capulet was told by Tybalt that Romeo was in the same house as them, the actor playing Tybalt was so quiet I believed that he was telling Montague a secret and not something that should've been projected so that audience members who maybe have never read the story could understand. To tie in with this, the physical side of the play wasn't pushed as much as it could have been; with Juliet being much more agressive when in reality her character would be one to be much more subtle with movements and words even.

Last but not least, I've come to take things back which I can use as an advantage to perform well and one factor was voice projection. Throughout the performance I heard people moaning under their breaths saying they couldn't hear and how their corner wasn't getting enough attention so from this I realised that doing a performance in a 3 section seated theatre I need to be polite awareness of the space and to be clear in my voice and actions. Specifically come Brighton Fringe Festival performance day it'll be in front of a huge audience and to address people way at the back will be key to a successful performance too.

In conclusion it was a nice performance to see and to see it go further, the actors would have to commit to whatever they're doing on stage, no holding back. And the energy needs to be much stronger as I saw a few people dropping asleep; if the energy is upped more then the play would definitely attract much more people to go and watch. The ending for me was the best as it was a nice dance sequence to round off the performance. Overall it was a good experience as I learnt many things about the theatre space and what to do more while performing.

 

 

 

As you can see my drawing of Shakespeare's Globe isn't that good but in this picture you can see the stage with three exit doors on the stage. Many levels of seating to give audience members a feel of the space itself and thoughts about what the other audience members are seeing. There's also a place to stand for the audience, back when it was first built the standing was for the people who couldn't afford the price of seating so the ones that were placed down would have a chance to interact with the actors. Usually they would appear drunk and would hurl abuse at the actors; spitting on the floor and stage was common and also urinating on the floor.



A bit about Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in April 23rd 1564 by parents John who was a glove maker, a tanner and a wool dealer. And his mother, Mary Arden who was the daughter of a rich farmer. While owning property in Stratford and being an important figure in the Stratford area, Shakespeare's father believed it was only possible to carry a good name in the family by having many people in the family; Mary having 4 daughters and 4 sons, 3 died in infancy and William was the eldest of the boys.

He was first married at the age of 18, to his wife, Anne Hathaway who was 26 at the time of their marriage. Just like his mother, Anne was the daughter of a rich farmer. They had their first child in May 1583, following that they had twins and two years on, from 1585-1592 it was called 'the lost years' due to the fact that Shakespeare wasn't seen or heard of or any plays being written between those years. 

Researching Shakespeare I learnt that in all of his plays, something that happens in them has some sort of relevance to his own life in some shape or form, for example, his play 'Hamlet' was named after one of his son's name. As per usual, being a writer Shakespeare would have people challenging him and one of many was Robert Greene, the dramatist and writer of a tract called 'Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit' and this tract was said to have launched many attacks towards Shakespeare and against what he wrote and believed in.

Shakespeare's earlier plays consisted of many sonnets that he wrote, mostly to do with Love and Hate, 'Two Gentleman of Verona' and widely known 'Henry V' part 1, 2 and 3.

In 1594 Shakespeare became a founding member, shareholder and an actor in Lord Chamberlains Man company. Throughout his time there he would see out shows either acting in them, directing them or watching from the stands as his fellow actors acted such as Richard Burbridge who played Richard 3rd, Hamlet and King Lea. 

After retiring from writing in 1611, Shakespeare moved back to Stratford with Anne to see out the rest of his life there. Before he passed away on 23 April 1616 his will was signed off and he left a huge legacy behind him and inspired many others in the future. To make his full dream come true, in 1623 two actors from the King's Company published all of his plays and in addition to this, the first folio that contained 36 plays sold for £1 and in those days, that was a lot. 

Workshop 25|03|13

This rehearsal consisted of two things; learning about Shakespeare's history and getting to know our characters in as much depth as possible before the next day of starting the staging with script. Throughout this rehearsal we learnt Shakespeare's background story, the plays he wrote, why he wrote them and what his morales were for the plays that we're published. Throughout the time we were in lesson we had questionnaires being given out about Shakespeare and in all honesty this helped me to really start and kick off my Shakespeare term in terms of knowing much more about the author himself and the life he had while writing his plays.

Throughout this blog I'll be writing up many entries of this Shakespeare term and many more research and content into what this term is about and who Shakespeare is.