Shakespeare AND Early MOD. ENG. LIT - Lecture 2 PDF

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Shakespeare and Early Modern English Literature: Lecture II The Renaissance Stage

Shakespeare and Early Modern English Literature: Lecture II This lecture was not generally about Dr. Faustus, but is applicable to all the plays in this course. We, in our day and age, are probably most familiar with naturalism. Naturalism is a movement in (European) drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts to create an illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies. In other words, everything on the stage is as realistic as it could be. Actors will engage with one another in a manner that is – for us – totally understandable in a manner of everyday life. It is as if the fourth wall is missing. Dr. Faustus or The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the German story Faust. It is a very allegorical and religious play. When a play, like Dr. Faustus, is allegorical, the writer (Marlowe) uses allegories as literary devices or as rhetorical devices that convey hidden meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey. Dr. Faustus can be seen as a transitional play between the Medieval and the Early Modern Period. There is a presence of virtue and vice figures, and personifications of goodness and evil would walk on the stage and actually talk to the character. This is an excellent representation of internal psychology, for the character is psychologically divided. In plays like these there was often a hell mouth on the left side of the stage, which was the bad side. This was meant to be pretty impressive and pretty big, in order to stuff some of the players in it (if necessary). Often ‘places’, temporary stages, were pushed up in a closed yard, in order to charge admissions. In this way, they could make sure everyone actually paid to see the play. Players wanted to make money. Biblical scenes, on the other hand, would often be played on pageant wagons that drove down the street. When one pageant wagons had passed, a next one would arrive (displaying a different biblical story). These plays were put on by guilds. Each guild played a different biblical scene, a succession. These pageant wagons and the plays they showed were often free of charges, in contrast to the ‘places’ mentioned earlier. The Renaissance stage is quite different. There were not that much people attending these plays due to limited places. It often took place indoors, and it thus attracted a better (read: wealthier) crowd. For example, indoor stages also took place at the court, universities, and at the great hall of an important lady or gentlemen. Some of Shakespeare’s plays were performed here. Before there were theatres, there were outdoor arenas. These arenas were used for bear baiting and cock fighting. It was essentially the same if you think about it: it was a building that a lot of people could get in and see something ‘entertaining’ in the centre for which they have paid. The audience would place bets on bears, dogs and cocks. It was important that the theatre would present itself as attractive in order to lure as many people as possible in, and make money.

Shakespeare and Early Modern English Literature: Lecture II The Renaissance Stage Shakespeare's theatre 'the Globe' has been reconstructed thanks to several pieces of evidence. One of these pieces was a sketch of the Swan Theatre, made around 1596 by Arnold Buchelius. The Globe nowadays is fireproof, and it has both fire exits and (artificial) lights. The thing about Shakespeare's plays is that they are often too long. Nowadays a director will take a decisions which parts to cut. Back then, the audience had an enormous influence, in some cases a play had to stop and another one had to be started because the audience did not like the play. In the audiences there were apprentices on their day off (people aged 13-20), prostitutes from nearby brothels, and people selling food. Other people went as well, but not the king and queen, for the theatre came to the court. The most expensive seats in those theatres would be considered worthless now, for they were places behind the stage. It was more a place to be seen than a place to actually see the play. There could have been some props on the stage, like a throne. But by the large, not very much. The scene changes in Shakespearean Drama could thus be very fast. One of the things that was regularly used was a trap door, for devils to jump out of hell or for people to fall in. There was also a certain apparatus above, which would allow people to come from the 'heavens'. Actors often used the doors to get away and change, for they often played more than one role. In 1613 the Globe burned down: “certain chambers being shot off at his [the actor playing the king’s] entry, some of the paper, or other stuff, wherewith one of them was stopped, did light on the thatch [which the audience] thought at first but an idle smoke, and their eyes more attentive to the show, [the fire] kindled inwardly, and ran round like a train, consuming within less than an hour the whole house to the very grounds”(a letter from Henry Wotton to Edmund Bacon). When the globe burned down, they calculated that the clothes and costumes were worth more than the entire theatre. The theatre itself, when it burned down, that was not the greatest disaster. There thus were very few props, but a lot of costumes. There were some restrictions on the costumes, however. There were, back in that day, laws about clothing: Sumptuary Laws. In England, which in this respect was typical of Europe, from the reign of Edward III in the Middle Ages until well into the 17th century, sumptuary laws dictated what colour and type of clothing, furs, fabrics, and trims were allowed to persons of various ranks or incomes. In the case of clothing, this was intended, amongst other reasons, to reduce spending on foreign textiles and to ensure that people did not dress "above their station". Only the King's kin, the Royal family, could wear any purple silk or cloth of gold or black sable fur, except for people playing kings and queens. When you went to the theatre, you saw people in illegal clothes, in clothes that they would not normally wear. These laws were to remind people of social stratifications, so no matter how much money a merchant would make, he would not wear these particular clothes. There were, in that time, hardly any props. Costumes did the main signifying. Professional players, in this period, almost never acted in the same play twice in one week (with some exceptions). This meant that they were doing different plays on different days, which can be hard regarding the lines and remembering those. It also meant that the actors were probably not really motivated to learn the lines, because they performed that many plays.

Shakespeare and Early Modern English Literature: Lecture II The Renaissance Stage People often went to the theatre to watch celebrities. This was about more than just actors. Actors were formed into Actors Companies: The Queen's Men (1583-?), The Lord Chamberlain's Men (1594-1642) (Shakespeare's Company), and the Lord Admiral's Men (1594-1625). If the writer was not famous, his name was often not put on the piece of paper on which the play is written, the focus was more on the actors of the play. Why are they called Companies? There were groups of people who owned shares, they owned the theatre and commissioned the revenues. Very often, share-holders were also actors. Sometimes they left London and went on tours through the country. An Acting Company could not be set up without permission, for a patron was needed (look at the names of the Companies). If you did not have a royal or a noble sponsor, you could not set up. Acting was considered so disreputable, that this was the only way to get it to work. Some actors were famous too. A good example is Edward Alleyn (1566-1626). People went to see him everywhere, they were indifferent to the plays in which he played. He was the leader of the Lord Admiral's Men and starred as Faustus and in Marlowe's other plays. Actors often played the same role in different stagings of the play. The development of a Play Script:      

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Playwright's plot: Authors sold plots to companies. Company representative: might buy plot. Foul papers (playwright): paper was expensive, that is why it is called the foul papers. Fair copy (scribe): scribes were able to make a fair copy, a nicely written out copy. Promptbook (includes stage directions): this is the full copy of the play, written out, given to the master of the Revels. Master of the Revels: employed by the monarch in order to censor things that were not allowed. Once it comes back to the Master of the Revels, it is a licensed copy. This was a form of protection, so writers held on to this dearly. If the actors don't stick to the text perfectly, they could get into trouble with the Master of the Revels. Parts (given to actors): actors needed copies of the play in order to learn their part. Scribes made one more copy, cut it into pieces and gave the actor the only parts they needed. Actors' changes: once the part is being acted, actors made changes in order to keep going. Revivals and adaptations: after the first play, in another year or so, the play might be revived or adapted.

This shows how little a writer has to do with the entire process, for he only writes the plot and the foul papers. The play at the other end is still recognizable as the playwright's play, but not as much as we give it credit for today. Next to that, the quarto's we know are printed after the play. The actual written text that we have, may be quite a bit away from the original texts from Shakespeare and Marlowe.

Shakespeare and Early Modern English Literature: Lecture II The Renaissance Stage Something that was very common until around 1610 was that, at the end of a play, all the actors reenter the stage and do a so-called jig, a little dance. This was seen as something separate of what was happening on the stage before, in the play. But the happiness after the sadness from a tragedy does not seem to make sense, right? This was exactly what Sir Philip Sidney thought. He did not like it, while a lot of people from Shakespeare’s time did seem to enjoy it. There are two texts, two versions of Dr. Faustus: the A text and the B text. The B text is longer. Changing the text can change the emphasis quite drastically. The Latin in the play shows the learning of Dr. Faustus, it works like a special effect because not everyone speaks Latin. This takes place in lateElizabethan and early-Jacobean period....