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Authors: Ian Mortimer
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more and more popular, actors, writers and audiences become increasingly centred on the London playhouses.
The Elizabethan theatre as we know it develops slowly. In 1562 the play Gorboduc , the first English play to include blank verse, is performed in front of the queen at the Inner Temple in London. This is written by two gentlemen, Thomas Sackville (the future earl of Dorset) and Thomas Norton, and leaves a lasting impression. Its tale of a kingdom torn between two heirs has great significance for the audience of the day. Other plays follow, drawing on classical themes as well as on ancient British and medieval history, written by (among others) John Heywood, John Pickering and Lewis Wager. A sign of their success is the construction in 1567 of the first purpose-built theatre, The Red Lion, built by John Brayne in Whitechapel. Unfortunately this is located too far from the city and does not attract large audiences. Performances in the city inns, however, are flourishing – much to the annoyance of those who see them as uncouth and riotous establishments. In 1574 the city authorities are given powers to restrict playhouses, forcing the actors to find new premisesin the suburbs. This becomes a golden opportunity for John Brayne and his brother-in-law, James Burbage, who in 1576 build a new theatre, simply called The Theatre, at Shoreditch, just half a mile north of Bishopsgate. The following year a second theatre, The Curtain, is built just 200 yards away. Despite some heavy opposition from Puritan preachers and moralists, both theatres are successful. 56 New plays are written every year, courtesy of the new wave of playwrights, John Lyly, Thomas Preston and Thomas Hughes. The queen continues to encourage dramatic art, personally attending performances at Gray’s Inn, Greenwich Palace and Whitehall Palace. In 1583 she establishes her own theatre company, the Queen’s Men, and leading actors flock to it. Puritans are enraged, and the following year the city authorities try to outlaw plays altogether, both within and outside the city walls. But now that drama has received royal approval, they don’t stand a chance. 57
In 1587 Thomas Kyd produces The Spanish Tragedy , and soon afterwards Christopher Marlowe brings out the first part of Tamburlaine the Great . Kyd is the son of a London scrivener, born in 1558; Marlowe the son of a shoe-maker from Canterbury, born in 1564 (the same year as Shakespeare), whose intellectual brilliance earns him a university education at Cambridge. They employ new verse forms, allowing different spoken rhythms, and compose bold speeches with greater resonance and meaning. The new conceptual framework of a revenge tragedy in particular allows them to portray powerful emotions voiced by strong characters. Suddenly it is possible to show so much more passion on the stage. The old narrative objectivity of the history play is replaced with a much more involved subjective experience, which excites and astounds audiences in equal measure. More theatres open their doors to the public. The Rose is built by Philip Henslowe at Southwark, not far from the bear-baiting and bull-baiting arenas, in 1587. Eight years later Francis Langley erects The Swan on a site nearby; and in 1596 Richard Burbage builds The Blackfriars Theatre, an indoor venue, although it does not open its doors until 1599. Most important of all, Shakespeare, Richard and Cuthbert Burbage and their partners dismantle The Theatre and remove its beams to a new site at Southwark, where it is rebuilt in 1599 as The Globe. When Edward Alleyn builds The Fortune on the northern edge of the city in 1600, the array of Elizabethan theatres is complete. Including the inn yardsand the various other places where plays are still staged, London now has a dozen playhouses.
This exciting and rapidly expanding cultural melting pot – developing in parallel with the music and poetry of the 1590s – is the environment in which all the new plays are
The Elizabethan theatre as we know it develops slowly. In 1562 the play Gorboduc , the first English play to include blank verse, is performed in front of the queen at the Inner Temple in London. This is written by two gentlemen, Thomas Sackville (the future earl of Dorset) and Thomas Norton, and leaves a lasting impression. Its tale of a kingdom torn between two heirs has great significance for the audience of the day. Other plays follow, drawing on classical themes as well as on ancient British and medieval history, written by (among others) John Heywood, John Pickering and Lewis Wager. A sign of their success is the construction in 1567 of the first purpose-built theatre, The Red Lion, built by John Brayne in Whitechapel. Unfortunately this is located too far from the city and does not attract large audiences. Performances in the city inns, however, are flourishing – much to the annoyance of those who see them as uncouth and riotous establishments. In 1574 the city authorities are given powers to restrict playhouses, forcing the actors to find new premisesin the suburbs. This becomes a golden opportunity for John Brayne and his brother-in-law, James Burbage, who in 1576 build a new theatre, simply called The Theatre, at Shoreditch, just half a mile north of Bishopsgate. The following year a second theatre, The Curtain, is built just 200 yards away. Despite some heavy opposition from Puritan preachers and moralists, both theatres are successful. 56 New plays are written every year, courtesy of the new wave of playwrights, John Lyly, Thomas Preston and Thomas Hughes. The queen continues to encourage dramatic art, personally attending performances at Gray’s Inn, Greenwich Palace and Whitehall Palace. In 1583 she establishes her own theatre company, the Queen’s Men, and leading actors flock to it. Puritans are enraged, and the following year the city authorities try to outlaw plays altogether, both within and outside the city walls. But now that drama has received royal approval, they don’t stand a chance. 57
In 1587 Thomas Kyd produces The Spanish Tragedy , and soon afterwards Christopher Marlowe brings out the first part of Tamburlaine the Great . Kyd is the son of a London scrivener, born in 1558; Marlowe the son of a shoe-maker from Canterbury, born in 1564 (the same year as Shakespeare), whose intellectual brilliance earns him a university education at Cambridge. They employ new verse forms, allowing different spoken rhythms, and compose bold speeches with greater resonance and meaning. The new conceptual framework of a revenge tragedy in particular allows them to portray powerful emotions voiced by strong characters. Suddenly it is possible to show so much more passion on the stage. The old narrative objectivity of the history play is replaced with a much more involved subjective experience, which excites and astounds audiences in equal measure. More theatres open their doors to the public. The Rose is built by Philip Henslowe at Southwark, not far from the bear-baiting and bull-baiting arenas, in 1587. Eight years later Francis Langley erects The Swan on a site nearby; and in 1596 Richard Burbage builds The Blackfriars Theatre, an indoor venue, although it does not open its doors until 1599. Most important of all, Shakespeare, Richard and Cuthbert Burbage and their partners dismantle The Theatre and remove its beams to a new site at Southwark, where it is rebuilt in 1599 as The Globe. When Edward Alleyn builds The Fortune on the northern edge of the city in 1600, the array of Elizabethan theatres is complete. Including the inn yardsand the various other places where plays are still staged, London now has a dozen playhouses.
This exciting and rapidly expanding cultural melting pot – developing in parallel with the music and poetry of the 1590s – is the environment in which all the new plays are
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