Theatres during Renaissance

The English theatres that existed between the Reformation and their shutdown in 1642 is known as the English Renaissance theatre or Early Modern English theatre. In this era Elizabethan theatre under rule of Queen Elizabeth from 1558 - 1603, Jacobean theatre, under rule of King James I from 1603-1625, and Caroline theatre, under the rule of King Charles I from 1625 till the shutdown in 1642, were operational. Sometimes the Renaissance theatres are used with reference to Elizabethan theatre due to the reforms brought up by the theatre during that period. Great Playwrights like William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe were a part of this era.

The Renaissance theatres were inspired by the medieval theatres. Its religious traditions, biblical stories, morality and mystery play have the essence of comedy and tragedy from the Greek theatre. theatre actors from noble families were in practice before the reign of Elizabeth I, so in the Elizabethan theatre there were professional performers acting on stage. They were later replaced by young aspiring actors who were more involved in morality and mystery kind of plays. To get them back, a ruling was announced in 1572 to close all theatres which lacked formal patronage. The noble professionals came back into act and flourished during that era. But the poor performers opened new theatres in the suburbs. They got permission by saying that they were rehearsing for the plays that were being performed in front of the queen. But these theatres were the actual income provider for the artists rather than the noble theatres.

The plays that were being played at first were same in the royal theatres and the public theatres. But later on the royal theatres developed a taste for plays written on the upper class and the royal family. The public theatres were open to new ideas and stories revolved around many subjects. But during Caroline theatre era plays had storyline of the yester years; nothing new was created at that time. Plays were written on history such as on lives of kings like Henry V, Richard III, Edward I and Edward III. Tragic plays like The Jew of Malta and Dr. Faustus were very famous with the crowd.

It was a trend to not to repeat the story for two continuous shows. On very rare occasion a play was staged twice in a week. Only exception was Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess which was performed nine times continuously. This was a challenge for the actors which always kept them on their toes. The plays written by the writers once being sold to the company remained the property of the company. They couldn't even interfere with the casting, revisions or publications. Women weren't a part of theatre at that time. They couldn't write plays and nor could they act. The female character was played by adolescent boys wearing feminine garment and makeup.

The theatres were made out of timber and plaster with thatched roofs. As they were more prone to catching fire these structures were later replaced with a brick structure with tiled roofs. theatres were three storied building with open air stage in the middle. The stage was surrounded from three sides by seating arrangement on the three stories; it was either elliptical or square. There were doors at the back of the stage that were used by the performers. The third level behind the stage was used as a balcony to interact with the audience. Some of the renowned theatres having such structures were Curtain theatre, The Globe, The Fortune, The Rose, The Swan and The Red Bull. Later on theatres of relatively small size with indoor stage started getting popular for privacy sake. It started with the Blackfriars theatre. Other theatres that followed the path were Whitefriars, Cockpit and Salisbury Court theatre.

The Puritan movement was the cause of closure of theatres in 1642. According to the Puritans the theatres were staging indecent stuff like men dressing up as female and also aroused opposing political thoughts. Most of the theatres were located in places where brothels dwelled. So at the beginning of the English Civil War all the theatres were closed.