The Elisabethan Age The Elisabethan Age was characterized by a general prosperity, national fervor and, thanks to an increasing

literacy, by a strong new impulse for learning. The term Renaissance was used to indicate the great flowering of the arts and of the sciences.The spirit of Renaissance brought interest in the classics and the influence on the drama was inevitable. Seneca was the reference point for tragedy, while Plautus and Terence were the models for comedy. Seneca provided the division in five acts and the theme of revenge. We must not forget that this golden period was also marked by religious persecutions and political plots, so the motive of revenge and of terrible crimes and atrocities reflected even on the stage. The drama represented the main court entertainment, but it also became the most important source of popular entertainment that reflected the society of the time. Elisabethan drama spread thanks to the travelling companies of actors who were under the protection of noblemen. The most important theatrical companies were: Earl of Leicesters Men, Lord Chamberlains Men, later Kings Men, and The Admiral Men. Women were not included in them and their role were performed by cross-dressed boys. However, this fact was considered an encouragement to homosexuality and so, in addition to the fact that theatres were considered immoral by Corporations and by Puritans because they saw them as source of corruption and prostitution, playhouses were built outside the city walls of London. The first public theatre was The Theatre. An important group of dramatists were the University Wits that included Peele, Greene and Kyd. They were fond of heroic and tragic themes. The best dramatists who produced works of extraordinary quality were Marlowe with plays like Doctor Faust and Tamburlaine, and the acclaimed greatest playwright of all times W. Shakespeare.