The Curtain
The Curtain The Curtain was a theatre that William Skakespeare held some of his famous plays. One of the most famous plays held at the curtain, was Romeo and Juliet. The Curtain was built about 200 yards south of London's first playhouses, The Theatre. The main reason why The Curtain was named The Curtain was because it was located by a piece of land that was called Curtain Close. Most people would think that they called it The Curtain because it had big curtains that hung down over the stage, in front. The reason people would think that was because most of the modern theatres have those kinds of curtains. Although there were famous plays preformed there not much was known about the plays there. The Curtain actually was replaced by the famous Globe Theatre.

The Theatre; London's first playhouse.

The Theatre was London's first playhouse, built in 1576 by the English actor James Burbage, his dad was Richard Burbage; a great friend of Shakespeare. It was located in a northern suburb of London on the edge of Finsbury Fields. Written documents say that it was a three-story timber building, open to sun and rain. Its exterior was coated with lime and plaster. It had balconies for the rich people and trap doors in the stage floor. Most of the people that were watching had to stand the whole time. It was home to many acting companies, but mostly by Shakespeare’s acting troupe, the Chamberlain's Men. Many of Shakespeare’s most popular plays could have been performed there, including Henry V.

Our Theatres vr. Shakespeare's Theatres

How do our theatres differ from those in Shakespeare's time? To answer that question I will first talk about our theaters then I will tell you about Shakespeare’s theaters. Our new theaters are clean. They have restrooms. They have floors. There are roofs over the audience and you usually go to them at night. You can even get food with the show at some places, and you sit in chairs. That is just the audiences perspective. The actors have props on stage, they practice the play for months, they perform the same show for weeks and weeks, they have microphones, and there is an intermission so the set can get changed and the actors can have a little breather. Now I will tell you about the theaters that Shakespeare had to work with. There where little or no props, no roofs, dirt floors, no seats unless you had enough money to pay for a cushion. The costumes had to be very elaborate to get the message across. The plays where preformed in the middle of the day, the actors had only a couple of days to memorize and practice their lines for the play. They sometimes would memorize another play while they were performing the current play. They would only perform a play for a couple of days. That is how our theaters are different from Shakespeare’s theaters.

How were they designed-

Usually the plays were performed in a theater called the "Globe". They were usually three stories high, and round. The base of the stage is called the pit, where the actors performed. Where people stood is called the inn-yards. In the upper stadium seats, guests paid more to sit down. A ceiling was only over half the stadium, which was called "The Heaven's", because there were usually paintings of clouds on it. The doors on the back of the stage lead into the "tiring house" which was the backstage area. This is where the actors dressed and waited to go on the stage.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

When people hear the word ,"Shakespeare", they think Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. Well I'm here to talk about what great and marvelous places these plays were perform in! Yes Theater's, one great theatre that was constructed was the Globe Theatre in 1599. They called it the most elaborate and attractive theatre at the time. The Globe Theatre was co-owned for James Burbage and a group of five actors, one of them being , William Shakespeare. The Globe Theatre held most of the wealth created by Shakespeare. When Shakespeare was even doing the play Henry VIII they actually misfired a cannon ball which lit the roof on fire. They went into construction and the theatre was reopened in less than a year with an added tiled roof. The Globe stood until 1644 and then was demolished. Other's have tried to make a replica of the globe and some have succeeded like for instance there is a replica in Tokyo and London. Even though the real Globe doesn't stand today we know that, that is where Shakespeare completed a lot of his playes.

who went to the theatre

Almost everybody went to the theatre. Most of the people that went to the theatre were poor and could not afford to sit in the balcony and had sit/stand on the dirt floor of the theatre. some of the more richer contributers actually got to have a seat in the balcony and if you paid an extra cent or more you could have a cushion. mainly the nobles only got the cushions, the middle men had the chance to sit in the balcony, and the lower class had to stand in the filth of the floor. some of the times the queen even came to the theatre which was a great honor.

What is an outing at the theatre was like

In the theatre you had to stand on the ground in front of the stage unless you had a lots of money, if you did you could buy a seat in a belcony and you could also rent a cushion. There was no intermission so if you had to go to the bathroom you had to wait or just go on the floor. They were during the day becouse they didnt have good lighting at night. People would sneak away from work to go to plays. If you went to of the theatres and some one else had some kind of disease since you were in such a close proximity to that person. It would smell really bad and if it rained the people standing would get soaked and even though all of these difcomforts a lot of people still went to the theatre.