ShmoopTube

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Shakespeare's stage, a la Shmoop. We all know what a modern theater looks like.

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There's the stage, the curtains, the orchestra pit, the lights...

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...the chandelier hanging above the audience, just waiting for the Phantom of the Opera

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to do something sinister.

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In Shakespeare's time, however, it was very different.

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The first theaters didn't even have walls. Instead, plays were performed in processions…

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or in circular, grassy areas.

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The actors didn't much care for this.

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Not only was there no separation between them and the audience…

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…but rain delays were a common problem, and being on a level with so much body odor

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had caused many a production not to make it past opening night.

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So, after years of careful research and analysis, actors ditched the grassy fields of the past

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for the marketplace. The early marketplace had one great advantage

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over the original outdoor theater: it had a floor.

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Naturally, this was considered a technological marvel, and the actors charged their audiences

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accordingly.

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Plays were performed on scaffolds raised in the marketplace, where people could gather

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around to watch the action, and come and go as they pleased.

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Obviously, this venue was quite noisy, especially as people bought and sold goods all around

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the stage.

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Actors had to shout to be heard above the babble, but at least no one could tell when

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someone flubbed a line. While performing in the marketplace meant

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that the actors no longer suffered so much from hay fever, they did face a couple of

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other problems.

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Sometimes, people would rush the stage, or watch a show without paying.

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We've all seen mimes and contortionists and really bad Bob Marley impersonators performing

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on street corners.

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We might stop to watch for a few minutes, and then move along without putting our spare

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change in the bucket.

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It was roughly the same thing in Shakespeare's day.

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So, how do you stop people from mooching? You build a theater, where every person who

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wants to watch the show has to put money in a box as he or she is entering the building.

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That's Nobel Prize-worthy thinking right there.

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Shakespeare spent most of his career working at a theater called the Globe.

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Here, there were three levels of seating, and a pit where people could stand.

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Audience members paid according to whether they sat or stood to watch the performance.

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Now, you might think the seats in the very, very back of the Globe theater would be the

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cheapest, given their distance from the stage.

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This wasn't the case, however: the cheapest seats, which only cost a penny, were in the

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pit where people stood to watch the show. Just like today's theaters, where you can

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go to watch a ballet or a musical or a symphony performance, open-air theaters like the Globe

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offered all sorts of entertainment.

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One of the best-selling gigs of Shakespeare's time was called bear baiting. No, it didn’t

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involve putting bears on hooks and then using them to fish for mackerel.

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In bear baiting, a bear would be chained to a pike and people would bet on how many dogs

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it would take to kill the bear.

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Ye Olde PETA frequently showed up to protest.

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So what do you think? Would you be more likely to attend the theater if there was some good

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old-fashioned animal violence to keep things interesting?

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Or do you prefer our modern theaters… where at least you can contribute to early onset

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diabetes with a rich offering at the concession stand?

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