ELIZ A B ETH A N ER A

a time associated with Queen Elizabeths reign (15581603)

is often considered to be the golden age in English history

the height of the English Renaissance
the time of flowering of English poetry, music and literature
the time during which Elizabethan theatre flourished
William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke

free of England's past style of theatre

It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad
the Protestant reformation became more acceptable to the people
It was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm

before its royal (personal) union with Scotland.

ELIZABETH AN ERA
The Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly

because of the periods before and after.

It was a brief period of internal peace
between :
- the English reformation
(it was driven initially by the political necessities
of Henry VIII he decided to remove the
Church of England from the authority of Rome.
In 1534 Henry VIII was established the
Supreme head of the Church of England.;
there were battles between Protestants and
Catholics )
- the battles between the Parliament

SCIEN CE,TECH N O LO GY,

EXPLO RATIO N
the Elizabethan era saw significant scientific progress

in astronomy,
Substantial advancements were made in the fields of

cartography and surveying /mapovn/.

Much of this scientific and technological progress

related to the practical skill of navigation.

Noteworthy achievements in exploration
Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated /obeplul/ the

globe between 1577 and 1581, and Martin

Frobisher explored the Arctic.
The first English settlement of North America occurred

in this erathe lost colony at Roanoke Island

(established by Sir Walter Raleigh)

ELIZABETH AN TH EATRE
Theatre was the focal point /ohnisko/
of the age acting was a part of public
life
Theatre was also the most democratic cultural
institution
Actors and playwrights often had the patronage of
noblemen
The main topic of the plays were tensions and
problems of the
society

ELIZABETH AN TH EATRE
The Elizabethan Theatres started in the courtyards of Inns - they

were called Inn-yards (The Bull Inn, The Bell Savage and others)

When London authorities banned plays (1572) as a measure

against the plague and all players were formally expelled from
the city
first permanent open-air theatres were constructed
outside the jurisdiction of London

It was mainly the idea of James Burbage to construct the first

purpose-built theatre in 1576 it was simply called The Theatre.

However, other theatres followed and the popularity of drama

increased (The Globe, the Hope, the Rose, the Swan, the Curtain,
the Fortune)

TYPICAL ELIZABETH AN
TH EATRE

W hat w ere the open-air

theatres like?
usually three stories high
built around an open space at the centre
Usually polygonal /mnohohelnkov/
The three levels of inward-facing galleries overlooked

the open center into which jutted /vybhalo/ the

stage
The stage was surrounded on three sides by the

standing audience
Usually built of timber vulnerable to fire
Audience capacity: 1500 3000 people
The cost was usually 1-2 pennies
Preformances in the afternoon

Indoor playhouses
However, profit dropped in the winter

as people would not come to the cold open

arenas of these massive Elizabethan Theatres
Playhouses were therefore used for many winter
productions - they were indoor Elizabethan Theatres.
The best known:

The Blackfriars
The Whitefriars
The Cocpit
They were smaller in size
The capacity was up to 500 people

TH EATRES IN LO N D O N

W ILLIAM SH AKESPEARE

Shakespeares life
There are few facts known with certainty about William

Shakespeare's life and death

The best-documented facts:
Born: 23 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Died: 23 April 1616 (at the age of 52)
He married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three

children (his son Hamnet died of black plague at the age

of 11)
He was an actor, playwright and theatre enterpriser

/provozovatel/ in London, owned property in both

Stratford and London

 Shakespeare was part-owner of a playing

company, known as the Lord Chamberlains

men like others of the period, the company
took its name from its aristocratic sponsor, in
this case the Lord Chamberlain.
The group became popular enough that after

the death of Elizabeth and the coronation of

James I (1603), the new monarch adopted the
company and it became known as the Kings
men, after the death of their previous
sponsor.

Com plete the nam es ofsom e of

Shakespeares plays
The Merry

Ado

The Merchant Nothing of Venice

Much Wives
Julius About Cleopatra
Taming of

You

Antonio Ceasar of Windsor

The Comedy Like of Errors
The Winters and
As Dream

Lear

King It The Shrew

A Middsumer Nights

Tale

Shakespeares plays:

Julius Caesar
King Lear
Antonio and Cleopatra
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
The Merry Wives of Windsor
A Midsummer Nights Dream
The Comedy of Errors
Much Ado About Nothing
Taming of the Shrew
The Winters Tale

Shakespeares plays
Tragedies:
Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth
Historical plays:
Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV, V, VI and VIII, King

John, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra

Comedies:
A midsummers Nights Dream, The Merchant of

Venice, Twelfth Night, As you like it, The Commedy of

Errors, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Troilus and
Cressida
Romances:
Pericles, The Winters tale

M acbeth -sum m ary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

uzAujyWpK_s
Watch the video, make notes and then
write a short summary of it:
Setting
Characters (Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth, the three witches,
Banquo, King Duncan & his son
Malcolm, Macduff)
Plot
Main theme
Your opinion

O thello -sum m ary

http://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=Bp6LqSgukOU&feature=relmfu
Watch the video, make notes and
then write a short summary of it:
Setting
Characters (Othello, Desdemona,
Iago, Michael Cassio, Emilia,
Roderigo, Bianca, Brabanzio)
Plot
Main theme
Your opinion

W atch Shakespeare in love

Trailer:
http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Zi2N1Q8-Y&fe
ature=related
The Merchant of Venice (part 1):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhN7sYl
Mtgs
Romeo and Juliet (part 1):
http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6zKB6_mo_M&
feature=related

O ther Playw rights

Christopher Marlowe
Tamburlain the Great
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Edward II
Ben Johnson
The Isle of Dogs
Every Man in His Humour
Every Man Out of His Humour

The era ofm iniature portraits

and sonnets
In Elizabethan England there was a big fashion of

miniature portraits of ones beloved worn as jewels

They were placed inside an ornamented metal case

and worn as pendants (pvsky), hanging from

chains or ribbons from the neck or the waist
They remained hidden in the cases not to be seen

by anyone else
The miniature-wearing fashion is parallel with the

sonnet-writing fashion
The sonnet was, like the miniature, a jewel they

were not intended to be published at first sonnets,

like miniatures, belonged to intimacy

Shakespeares sonnets
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets mainly in the

1590s - during the plague that closed theatres

The topic of most sonnets is love or a theme

related to love
In the sonnets he often addresses a mysterious

dark lady or a young man

Some interprets claim that his sonnets to the

young man are expressions of homosexual love

However, there is no evidence in the record of

Shakespeares life

Sonnet 18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZY8coaWMg
Shall I compare thee to a summers DAY?
A
Thou art more lovely and more temperATE
B
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of MAY
A
And summers lease hath all too short a DATE
B
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven SHINES
C
And often is his gold complexion DIMMD
D
And every fair from fair sometime deCLINES
C
By chance or natures changing course unTRIMMD
D

Elizabethan Theatre youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=361

JGY-CJbM
(short version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa
WpeCqSzM8&feature=related
(extended version)

Websites devoted to W.Shakespeare: