Historically, Elizabethan theater refers to plays
performed in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603).
Students of theatre often forget Shakespeare was not the only playwright during
this time (somewhat understandable when they hear the term “Shakespearean
drama” so regularly). Shakespeare’s contemporaries included the likes of
Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Heywood and
Robert Greene. These and other playwrights also wrote and performed their plays
in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Many of the conventions used in
public performances of Elizabethan plays were so recognizable, today
Elizabethan theatre is not only referred to as a specific period in theatre history,
but also as a theatre style.
Here are some of the more identifiable acting and
staging conventions common to Elizabethan theatre:
Soliloquy
Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” is literature’s most
famous soliloquy. This popular Elizabethan convention is a literary or dramatic
technique in which a single character talks aloud inner thoughts to him or her,
but not within earshot of another character. Typically, a soliloquy is lengthy
with a dramatic tone.
Aside
The aside existed in Shakespeare’s times, but happily
continued into the melodramas of the 19th century many years later. An aside is
a convention that usually involves one character addressing the audience “on
the side”, offering them valuable information in relation to the plot or
characters that only the audience is privy to. The audience now feels
empowered, knowing more about the events on stage than most of the characters
do.
Boys Performing Female Roles
Acting in Elizabeth’s England was frowned upon my many
in society as a profession unsuitable for women, as it was rough and rowdy
instead of genteel. As a result, women were not legally permitted to act on the
English stage until King Charles II was crowned in the year 1660 (even though
women were already acting in various European countries in Commmedia dell’Arte
plays for some years). Shakespeare and his contemporaries therefore had no
choice but to cast young boys in the roles of women, while the men played all
the male roles on stage.
Masque
Existing before Elizabethan England and also outliving
it, the masque was normally performed indoors at the King or Queen’s court.
Spoken in verse, a masque involved beautiful costumes and an intellectual
element appropriate for the mostly educated upper class. Masques were
allegorical stories about an event or person involving singing, acting and
dancing. Characters wore elaborate masks to hide their faces.
Eavesdropping
Eavesdropping was a dramatic technique that sat neatly
between a soliloquy and an aside. Certain characters would strategically
overhear others on stage, informing both themselves and the audience of the
details, while the characters being overheard had no idea what was happening.
This convention opened up opportunities for the playwright in the evolving
plot.
Presentational Acting Style
It is generally agreed by scholars Elizabethan acting
was largely presentational in style. Plays were more overtly a “performance”
with clues the actors were aware of the presence of an audience instead of
completely ignoring them as part of their art. Movements and gestures were more
stylised and dramatic than one might ordinarily expect in a modern naturalistic
or realistic drama, speech patterns were heightened for dramatic effect, and
the use of conventions such as the aside, prologue, epilogue and word puns
directly connected characters to the audience watching. The aside, the
prologue, the soliloquy and the epilogue were all variations on a characters’
direct address to the audience when staged.
Dialogue
Elizabethan plays commonly consisted of dialogue that
was poetic, dramatic and heightened beyond that of the vernacular of the day.
While often the lower class characters’ speech was somewhat colloquial (prose),
upper class characters spoke stylised, rhythmic speech patterns (verse).
Shakespeare took great care in composing dialogue that was sometimes blank
(unrhymed), but at other times rhyming (couplets) and often using five stressed
syllables in a line of dialogue (iambic pentameter).
Play Within A Play
This Elizabethan convention was a playwriting technique
used by Shakespeare and others that involved the staging of a play inside the
play itself. It was not a flimsy convention, but rather one that was used
judiciously and with purpose. One of the most famous examples of this
convention occurs in Hamlet, when the title character is convinced his uncle
Claudius murdered his father for the throne. So Hamlet organises an out-of-town
troupe of performers to attend one evening and perform a play before King
Claudius that involves the same plot line as the events in the larger play
(murder of a King), but in a different setting … all to let Claudius know
Hamlet is on to him!
Stagecraft
In terms of stagecraft, Elizabethan dramas used
elaborate costumes, yet quite the opposite for scenery. Acting spaces were largely
empty (bare stage) with isolated set pieces representing many of the same and
minimal use of props (a single tree equalled a forest, a throne for a King’s
palace). This explains the use of rich dialogue full of imagery, as there was
no set on stage to designate the scene’s location. However, Elizabethan
costumes were often rich and colorful, with a character’s status in society
being denoted by their costume, alone. There were no stage lights of any kind,
with plays strictly performed during daylight hours. A simple balcony at the
rear of the stage could be used for scenes involving fantastical beings, Gods
or Heaven, while a trap door in the stage floor could also be used to drop
characters into Hell or raise characters up from beneath. Entrances and exits
were at two doors at the rear (tiring house) and not the side wings, as is the
case in modern theatre. An Elizabethan actor exiting side stage may well have
landed in the groundings after falling off the edge of the (three-sided) thrust
stage that jutted out into the audience!
Modern Variations
So how does a contemporary student of theatre
interpret 16th century Elizabethan theatre conventions? I once taught a Year 12
Theatre Studies class where we produced various Shakespearean scenes from some
of The Bard’s more popular works. Without changing a single line of dialogue, a
group of students performing Act I, Scene I of King Lear modernised it into 70s
anti-authoritarian punk. Lear wore leather pants, large leather boots and an
armless t-shirt emblazoned with a huge Union Jack. He was Johhny Rotten from
the Sex Pistols in an Elizabethan drama. It was easy to dress Lear’s three
daughters in a variety of 70s punk outfits. The slutty, bitchiness of the older
sisters Goneril and Regan were expressed through colored hairstyles, heavy
make-up, tartan skirts, stockings and high leather boots.
Shakespeare is rarely performed today in Elizabethan
costumes. Directors find an angle from which to address the play, often
modernising the setting, usually finding a recent parallel that fits so snugly,
dialogue remains exactly as Shakespeare wrote it. High school students can have
lots of fun with a modern audience in the use of the aside, even breaking the
fourth wall completely and running through the house (that would be the theatre
term “house”, meaning audience, not your own house!). Experimenting how to
perform a soliloquy without allowing your audience to fall asleep is a
challenge, too. Contemporary costumes worn by students can be symbolic,
home-made, found in op-shops, non-naturalistic etc.
Students today should be familiar with minimal use of
props from high school or university theatre classes and plays, so prop
acquisition or construction with a modern Elizabethan play is easy. If not in a
serious scene, the convention of eavesdropping can be hammed up for comic
effect with the audience and even spoken verse does not have to be taken too
seriously in a modern setting involving students. The Elizabethan convention of
word puns can be hilariously witty if used wisely with contemporary references.
Modernising Elizabethan conventions just takes a bit
of brainstorming and before you know it, the creativity will flow! It is simply
a case of understanding the nature and purpose of when and why these
conventions were used in Elizabethan theatre, and then adapting them for a
contemporary audience and/or setting.
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