Unit 4: The beginning of the Renaissance English drama: Marlow, Johnson and

Shakespeare.
Historical background. The drama is a literary composition involving conflict, action, crisis
and atmosphere designed to be acted by players on a stage before an audience.
Drama had its origin in the country of Greece around 500 B.c
Drama, as a literary genre, is an art form that is meant to be performed.

The greek drama is a theatrical tradition that flourished in Ancient Greece between 550 and
220 B.C in Athens.Athens was the centre of ancient greek theatre. Tragedy , comedy and
satyr plays were some of the theatrical forms to emerge in the world.
The earliest dramas were designed to worship gods and goddesses, specifically Bacchus
and Dionysus.
The Greek tragedies of Aeschylus. Sophocles and Euripides were performed annually at the
spring festival of Dionysus, god of wine and inspiration.
Drama went into a period of decline around AD 400. (Roman Empire)
Due to the power of christians acting has been deemed at times to be unchristian, idolatrous
and depraved or, worse, boring. Actors have frequently been seen to be one of the humbler
classes, and only towards the end of the 19th century did their status start to improve.
From 900 to 1500 was the period when the Medieval drama started to be considered as a
new creation rather than a Rebirth. The drama of earlier times had almost no influence.
The Christian church was the reason for this creation.
The purpose of the Medieval drama was teaching religion.
There are several types of drama:
-​ Miracle plays - lives of saints
-​ Morality plays - being/moral
-​ Mystery plays - Stories about Christ's life.
During the Middle ages, most plays were about the lives of saints and/or Bible stories.

The Beginning of English Drama:

The origins of this Drama can be adopted by the mystery and mystery cicles, which can be
defined as a medieval product that attempted to cover the history of man from his creation to
the day of judgement. The series formed a dramatic sequence in which the soul of man was
the hero.
Important English cycles:
-​ Chester
-​ York
-​ Coventry
-​ Towneley (Also called Wakefield)
At first, only priests took part in acting out of the events from the lives of Christ and the saints
and the portrayal took place in the church proper. Later as the performances grew more
elaborate and space became an important item, the mysteries and miracles were pushed out
and laymen began to take part in the acting.

Mystery plays described events from the Bible. Often mystery plays were performed as
cycle plays, a sequence of plays portraying all the major events of the Bible.
In a few places, such as York, the cycles were performed on pageant wagons that moved on
predetermined routes through the city.
By staying in the same place, the audience could see each individual play as the wagon
stopped and the actors performed before moving on to perform again at the next station.
Chester, York, Coventry and Towneley were noted for their cycles of mystery plays.

Morality plays teach moral lessons. These plays often employ allegory, the use of
characters or events in a literary work to represent abstract ideas. Morality plays depict
representative characters in moral dilemmas with both the good and the evil parts of their
character struggling for dominance. From the character´s difficulties, the audience could
learn moral lessons from the church.
One of the most well known morality plays is “Everyman”. In this morality play, God sends
Death to tell Everyman that his time on earth has come to an end.
There was the idea of representing the virtues and vices to afford the audience a moral
lesson. From this, grew the moralities of which the most famous are the English castell of
perseverance and Everyman. There are personifications of qualities like beauty, strength…
At first certain parts of the church ritual were expanded in action, and especially at the great
religious festivals of Christmas and Easter attempts were made to exhibit vividly before the
faithful.
After a time, these or similar miracle-plays were performed outside of the churches, in the
streets of towns or in the fields at fairs of places of public resort. The actors were priests or
monks and the performance was still religious including the legends of the saints and the
Scripture stories.
These plays disengaged from the ecclesiastical influence, returned to the market-place and
became an independent institution.
Mysteries and miracles - the latter dealing with the virgin and and saints were played by
guilds and companies expressly organized for the purpose, and no popular festivity was
deemed complete without one or more of these instructive entertainments. They were given
on scaffolds in the streets, with the actors in more or less archaic costume, with an organ at
the back to accompany a chorus of angels, and also with some attempt to indicate the place
of the different actions.
Both the mystery and the morality plays were often long winded and frequently dull .
Interludes were presented and developed a moving farce that was acted independently of
any other performance. The best and most famous of these farces is the Farce of Pierre
Pathelin.

ABOUT SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE

Before Shakespeare's time, troupes of actors performed wherever they could (halls,
courts…)
In 1576, James Burbage built the first permanent theatre called “The Theatre” , outside
London city. After this, many more theatres were established including the Globe Theatre.
Performances took place during the day, using natural light from the open centre of the
Theatre. Since there was also a little scenery, audiences relied on the actor's lines and stage
directions to supply the time of day and year, weather, location…
Plays could be published in large anthologies called Folios (Shakespeare had a folio of 36
plays) or smaller Quartos. Folios had a paper folded in half to make chunks of two places to
make a large volume.
In terms of Elizabethan playhouses there are two major classes:
-​ Public (outdoor)
Large, round outdoor theatres
 Maximum capacity of 3,000 spectators
Only found in suburbs
Majority of spectators stood in the yard for a Penn (groundings=lower classes)
The remainder sitting in galeries for two pence or more (middle class)
Audiences were homogeneous (drawn from the lower classes)
-​ Private (Indoor)
Smaller, rectangular, indoor theatres
Maximum capacity of 700 spectators
Used exclusively by Boy´s companies
Were found only within the city of London.
Audiences tended to be better educated and of higher social rank (high class)
Plays usually catered for the eyes of the queen or king in the reign

PLAYHOUSES:
- Multi-sided open-air theatres built outside city limits of London
• City forbade theatre on moral grounds
• However, Queen Elizabeth and other nobles supported theatre financially, so it flourished
- Seating had three tiers
• Part of one tier was divided into boxes called lords’ rooms which were rented by wealthy
- Ground floor was called the yard
• Lower-class spectators stood here and were called groundlings
- Tiring House similar to Greek skene

Performances:
In private theatres, the plays were indoors. This means that the admission was expensive
and because of that, poorer classes couldn't afford it.
The plays were produced in winter months or night time.
Private theatres were smaller than public theatres. The stage was probably extended to the
side walls.
There was a neutral scenery that did not represent a specific location.
There was a spoken decor defined as lines that described the location.
Costumes were not accurate to time to play.
Traditional costumes to indicate antiquity.

Acting companies:
All plays had to be licensed by master of revels
All troupes had to be sponsored by a patron, nobleman …
There were two troupes around the English Renaissance:
-​ The Lord Chamberlain's men - performed at Globe. In this group took part William
Shakespeare.
-​ The Lord Admiral's men - Performed at Rose. In this group took part Cristopher
Marlowe.
There also existed different companies and each company had about 25 members
organised on a sharing plan
-​ Shareholders - elite members who bought a percentage of the company and
received profits as payment. Played major roles.
-​ Hirelings - actors contracted for a specific period of time and specific salary. Played
minor roles.
 -​ Apprentices - assigned to shareholders; received training, in the future they would
become shareholders.
-​ Householders - star members who part owned the theatre building as incentive to
stay in the company.
Playwrights hired under contract.
Plays performed once a week for a few weeks and several times latrine the season if it was
popular.

Performances
Boy actors:
-​ No women on the english stage in Shakespeare's day
-​ The parts of women were acted by child actors - boys whose voices had not yet
changed.
-​ Whole acting companies were created with child performers;the children of the
Chapel Royal, and the St Paul´s Boys. Children´s companies played regularly at
Court.
-​ Puritans (people who disapproved of the theatre) were scandalised by boys
cross-dressing as women.

Censorship:
Largely puritan leaders of the city of London disapproved of the theatres. The Privy council
was wary of the political comment often present in topical plays. The censorship under the
direction of the master of Revels was strict.
In 1596, the city corporation ordered the expulsion of players from London and the closing of
the inn-theatres.
Theatres moved across the river.

In London there were some theatres to be mentioned:

-​ The Globe (1598-1599) - Now it's called Park street. It was used only in summer.
There wasn't a roof except for the stage & galleries.
-​ Blackfriars Theatre (1578) - It was used in the winter. It was a private theatre for choir
boys to practise.
-​ Hope Theatre - former bear and bull baiting arena.

But further London there were some theatres:

-​ Rose (1586-1587) - Octagonal building of wood and plaster.
-​ Swan - Located in Paris Gardens (flint stones and wooden columns.)

Main elizabethan characters:

-​ Senex - Old man in authority.
-​ Miles Gloriosus - braggart soldier
-​ Shrew - sharp tongued woman
-​ Clever servant
-​ Machiavel - political schemer.
-​ “Calumniator believed” - a liar who is believed
-​ Idiotes - Malcontent
-​ Parasite
-​ Pedant - In love with the sound of his didactic voice.
 -​ Young lovers
-​ Fools and clowns.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Born in Stratford-Upon-Avon. He chose not to follow italian neoclassical rules (episodic
structure, subplots, comic scenes)
He wrote: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream…
Produced plays in The Globe Theatre.
Retired in 1613 and died in 1616.

First folio (1623)

This is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays.
Includes 36 plays in which 18 had never been published before.
The editors of the volume were Shakespeare's fellow actors (Heminge and Condell). The
plays were arranged in three genres: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.

Comedy:
Two groups of people/ two people against each other with humorous consequences.
They are not always entirely funny, Shakespeare's comedies often use a number of tricks to
make audiences laugh.
The fool is a key comedic character who acts as a sort of jester, who will make jokes, sing
songs and comment on every action in a funny way.
Strong female characters often appear in Shakespeare's comedies described as smart
characters that could dress up as men to succeed in a world whose power is limited.
Examples: A midsummer Night's Dream, As you like it.

Tragedy;
Tells the story of death or misery that is caused by bad luck and a human error. The main
character is a tragic hero who possesses jealousy that would be his downfall.
Fate has a role to play in the unfortunate events that occur in Shakespeare's tragedies.
Dramatic irony is often used to build tension.

HIS WORK:
- HISTORY PLAYS: Chronicles of some royal character, with dramatic purposes, falsifying
facts and raising nationalism.
- TRAGEDIES: There is a tragic hero of noble rank. There is a conflicting force “hamartia”
and a tragic flow which leads to the hero’s downfall. The conclusion brings release.
- COMEDIES: They are romantic, based on mixed up events,or mistaken identities. They
end happily for the protagonists.
• Hamlet
- To be or not to be: There is a clear influence of Seneca: whether it is nobler to endure
or to face and fight against the circumstances. To fight is to die and he knows it
• Henry IV
- The portray of prince Henry, who ends up forgetting all his vices to become Henry V.
- The portray of Falstaff, a figure coming from the Roman Miles Gloriosus and the Vice
in the Morality plays.
• As you like it
- Confusion of identities
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564-1593)
Dramatic poetry
- “The Mighty Line”
- Iambic pentameter
Tragedies:
- Tamburlaine
- Dido Queen of Carthage
- Dr.Faustus
- Edward II
- Massacre at Paris
- Jew of Malta
Marlowe explores:
- The spirit of human freedom
- The limitless power (omnipotence)
- Inexhaustible entreprise
Plays, such as The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (1588?) and The Jew of Malta (1589?),
are based on the characters who strive to go beyond the normal human limitations as the
Christian medieval ethos had conceived them.

JACOBEAN AND CAROLINE DRAMA

• New rulers in England: The Stuarts
- James I (Jacobean) and later his son Charles I (Caroline)
• Bad relations with Parliament
- Civil war in 1642 when Puritans took control of Parliament and beheaded Charles I in 1649
• Commonwealth created by Oliver Cromwell

BEN JONSON (1572-1637)

- Followed neoclassical principles
- Important comedies of humour include: Every Man in His Humor, Volpone, The Alchemist,
Bartholomew Fair
- Wrote and staged court masques with Inigo Jones
- Developed “Comedy of Humours” where each principal character had excess of one trait,
or humour
- Wrote Volpone about a man who dupes old men out of their riches by pretending he is
about to die
- He was a classicist whose plays were composed on the ancient pattern (unity of day, action
and place).

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER

- Mixed serious and comic elements
• Serious themes with a happy ending
• Wrote in an artificial, superficial style
- Wrote plays
• Philaster (1610)
COURT MASQUES
- Elaborate entertainment presented at court
• Created to honour the King or member of the royal
- Flourished under reigns of James I and Charles I
- Emphasis on music and dance with elaborate backdrops and moving equipment
- Performers were amateur members of the court
• Incorporated mythological and allegorical figures to tell a story where the monarch proved
to be the hero in the end
- Introduced Italian scenic practices in England
- Inigo Jones (1573-1652)
• Most influential set designer in the English theatre
Italianate Staging
- In 1605 Inigo Jones introduced Italianate staging to the court in his production of Ben
Jonson's The Masque of Blackness.
Jones would continue to produce masques in this manner until the fall of the English
monarchy in 1642.

END OF AN ERA
- From 1649-1660, England was controlled by Puritans
- Puritans were violently opposed to theatre
• Believed that theatre was a den of iniquity and taught immorality
• Complained the practice of boys dressed as women to play female roles
• Politically, playwrights and actors worked for the monarchy and aristocracy, so supported
theRoyalist cause.
• Outlawed all theatrical activities