Elizabethan Drama

Poetry and drama stood so close for the Elizabethans, that their combination in the plays of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), John Lyly (1554-1606), Ben Jonson (1572-1637), John Webster (ca 1580- ca 1625) and later John Dryden (1631-1700), was only natural. The schools and universities helped drama not only with their scholarship but also with an entertaining atmosphere. Students and teachers enjoyed cooperating for brief comedies and dialogues called interludes at campuses. Meanwhile, a more historical form of drama was popular at the court. This was the masque, which involved dance, song, dialogue and spectacle.

The morality play Everyman at the end of the 15^th century marks the end of medieval drama. Later, public attention switched from the general problems of human salvation, as in Everyman, to particular crises of real people. The protagonist of Skelton's Magnyfycence is a prince who is tempted with his wealth and power and, having lost them, falls into despair. The plays of John Bale (1495- 1563) are devoted to Reformation ('The religious movement in the 16th century that had for its object the reform of the Roman Catholic Church, and led to the establishment of the first Protestant churches — Lutheran, Anglican, Calvinist and others)topics. Kynge Johan, his best-known play, reaches into history and allegory to praise that king's attempt to defend English sovereignty against the Pope.

Earlier moralities and interludes were produced by the servants of a lord at his castle, or by travelling actors, giving their performances wherever they could. In 1545, when a new law was issued, these were persecuted as vagabonds and as such were subject to arrest. Some noblemen, however, had their own acting companies. Such servant actors wore the livery and badge of their master and could travel, when free from duties, and practise their craft. Each acting company in Shakespeare's time, including Shakespeare's own, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, belonged to a nobleman.

The adult companies performed in various places, in the hall of an Inn of Court, in big houses, on makeshift stages, or in London inn yards. In 1576, James Burbage, once the Earl of Leicester's player, built a house for theatrical performances, which was the first of its kind in England. Known as the Theatre, it was located in a suburb, outside London's walls and therefore less under the control of the puritanical city fathers. It was oval in shape, with an open yard in the centre where the groundlings, or men of the lower classes, stood, and roofed seats in three rising tiers around the yard for the more noble audience. A large platform stage protruded out into the yard, surrounded on three sides by spectators, who sometimes numbered up to two thousand. At the back of the main stage was a small curtained place used for inside scenes. Two galleries were above the inner part of the stage, the first one serving as a balcony, bedroom, or a castle wall. The musicians were on the second level, and sound effects, such as thunderbolts or bells, were produced on top of the stage roof. Plays were acted fast, without act or scene breaks. There was no scenery and very few props, but costumes were usually luxurious and elaborate. Performances were given in the afternoon and were sometimes cancelled due to bad weather or epidemics.

Elizabethan tragedy began with a fusion of medieval and classical elements: violent plots, loud rhetorical speeches, frequent use of ghosts. The first English tragedy using some of these features was Corboduc, or Ferrex and Porrex (1562) written by two lawyers, Thomas Norton (1532-1584) and Thomas Sackville (1536-1608). It introduced to the stage the blank verse, later greatly developed by Shekaspeare.

Another Elizabethan theatrical genre is the history play. Referring to English history, it was well suited to reflect nationalistic sentiments and the moral complexities of gaining and holding on to sovereign power. Henry IV is Shakespeare's greatest achievement in that genre.

Ralph Roister Doister (1534) was the first true English comedy, written by Nicholas Udall (ca 1505-1556), headmaster at Westminster School. Many types of comedy developed during the Elizabethan age, influenced by classical, Italian and French examples. The tradition of romantic comedy required noble characters and a central love plot, as in Shakespeare's As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Domestic comedy had a domestic situation for the plot, as in Thomas Dekker's (ca 1572 — ca 1632) Shoe­maker's Holiday (1600). A City comedy typically had bourgeois characters, a London setting, and much satire, as in Thomas Middleton's (1580-1627) A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (ca 1613).

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