Free The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer Page A

do see them as lawless places infested with rogues, thieves and prostitutes – will only go to see performances by the companies of boys drawn from the choristers of the Chapel Royal and St Paul’s Cathedral. These companies are socially more elevated, and their venues are roofed over (so there is no danger of the audience getting wet). Nor are the plays inferior: Ben Jonson writes for them regularly. However, it is to the actors of the two main companies that you will be drawn. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men have Richard Burbage, who takes the lead in many of Shakespeare’s plays. The Lord Admiral’s Men have Edward Alleyn: a very tall and powerful man who roars his part as he crosses the stage. With such actors in place, a playwright can compose the part to suit the actor’s strengths. If you really want to see an all-star cast, go to The Curtain in 1598 to see the production of Ben Jonson’s Every Man in his Humour . William Shakespeare is playing Kno’well,supported by the other leading men of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, among them Richard Burbage, Augustine Philips, John Heminges, Henry Condell and Will Kempe.
    Let’s say you want to go to one of the theatres for an afternoon performance. If you are heading to The Swan, The Rose or The Globe you will cross London Bridge or take a wherry across the river and then walk through Paris Garden. All sorts of people will be heading in the same direction: working men in groups, shop owners, gentlemen, householders’ wives accompanied by their servants or husbands, foreign tourists, boys and girls. As you approach the theatres you will notice that the buildings all seem to be round; in fact, they are polygonal – The Globe is twenty-sided, The Rose fourteen-sided. Whichever one you choose, you can expect to queue with 2,000 other people to get in. You will see people standing in hats with pipes in hand, and women in their headdresses, everyone chatting, with an eye open for people they know. Entrance costs a penny: this allows you to stand in the yard in front of the stage, an uncovered area (hence the need for a hat). Around the yard are three galleries where you can stand or sit under cover. It is an extra penny to stand here and another penny again for a place upstairs. If you are feeling very flash, you might hire a box for 6d. This gives you the best chance of seeing the stage and being seen by the crowd.
    When the trumpets sound, most people quieten down, waiting for the play to begin. If you are sitting in the gallery you will have a clear view of the stage as it projects out from the far side of the round enclosure. Leading actors will come right out along this platform and deliver their soliloquy directly to the crowd. So too will a clown like Will Kempe, when he wishes to extemporise and make ‘a scurvy face’. There are two large columns, both elaborately painted, which support the roof that covers the back of the stage. Behind them is the ‘tiring house’ where the actors robe (or ‘attire’) themselves. Above the tiring house is a gallery – useful for scenes such as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet but sometimes let out for those spectators who want to be seen. Note how few props are used: although A Midsummer Night’s Dream cannot be performed without an ass’s head, and Titus Andronicus requires a large pie, most of Shakespeare’s plays are performed without props. The costumes, however, are splendid; many lords and merchants leave their best gowns to their servants, who, being prohibited from wearing themby the sumptuary laws, sell them to the theatre companies. As a result, the players are normally better dressed than the audience. There is a low murmur of voices throughout the play as women shoulder their way through the crowd, selling apples, nuts and bottles of beer. People are constantly on the watch for cutpurses and pickpockets, and the chance encounter that might lead to an an illicit liaison. Unlike your modern theatre