Week 4 Theatre's, Actors And Acting in Shakespeares Time

A playhouse was a small, private indoor hall and were open to anyone however were more popular amongst the richer people and therefore had a more select audience. The audience capacity  

The audience capacity was about 500 people. Playhouses were thought to be much more helpful to actors as they enabled actors to have an all year round profession as they were indoors and wouldn't be effected by the unpredictable English weather. Playhouses also allowed for luxury and comfort for courtiers and noblemen when watching plays and this encouraged an audience of wealthy and powerful people. The first playhouse, the Red Lion, was built in 1567 by John Brayne. 

There were two different types of playhouses: outdoor playhouses and indoor playhouses and they both were different therefore attracted different audiences.

All outdoor playhouses had a central yard , a raised stage that jutted out into the yard, a roof over the stage, which the actors called ‘the heavens’, a tiring house which was a place behind the stage with a backstage area, where actors dressed and waited to come on-stage. There was also galleried seating all around the yard, on several levels, which was roofed.


Playhouses drew big audiences, but they weren't popular with everyone and because the officials who ran the City of London thought that playhouses were noisy and disruptive, and attracted thieves and other ‘undesirable’ people it was decided that playhouses should be built on sites outside the control of city officials and this meant outside the city wall. The south bank of the River Thames was outside the city and already had animal baiting arenas, brothels and taverns where people could buy food and drink so people already went there for entertainment.

The experience of being an actor then differs from the experience today because most young male actors would have been expected to play women in the all male casts as women were not allowed to perform on stage. Also comic characters such as the nurse in Romeo & Juliet would have been played by a comic actor or a clown. In addition, costumes were normally the main spectacle of the play rather than the actors story-telling ability.

The actors would have had to also be good singers and musicians in order to sing songs and play music written within the play.

The stages in the playhouses in Shakespeare's day had very little scenery apart from props and objects needed due to the plot and exits and entrances where visible to the audiences. The stages were a lot smaller giving the actors less space for fighting scenes or crowds.

Playhouses were sometimes built by businessmen who had money to spare, while the acting companies did not. The businessman would rent some land, built a playhouse and leased it to acting companies for a certain amount of years. Most playhouses were made from bricks with timber-framed walls and the roofs were made from thatch or tile.