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50 Comments

  1. Dev Saraswat says:

    Hey, I have to give an exam of MCQ pattern. In that exam Elizabethan theatre will also come, but only in factual form. Can you suggest me some article to gloss over the major terms and facts about Elizabethan Theatre?

  2. this is really helpful, we have to do an assignment where we make an activity for the whole class to do… any suggestions?

  3. The Waterboy says:

    Massive help, would have failed without this 🙂

  4. Catherine Moggridge says:

    Brilliant article – there was a link you put in your response to comments to a related article on this site on the Elizabethan acting style and it seems to have disappeared. Any chance you could repost?

    1. Thanks for your feedback Catherine! Sorry, I’m not sure which article you are referring to in the comments section.

    2. Thanks Catherine. Sorry, I cannot find the link you are referring to…

  5. Is it really appropriate to be describing outfits 16/17 year olds are wearing as slutty. What makes an outfit constitute as slutty? And it isn’t appropriate for a male teacher to use that language on costuming for young girls.

    1. Mia, the characters Regan and Goneril from King Lear were described in the post as slutty and bitchy, not the student’s outfits. Nevertheless the costumes, along with make-up and hair, in the anti-authoritarian recontextualisation of the scene into the 1970s British punk era, were attempting to express these character attitudes. However, as this post was first written 7 years ago, and the event in question 15 years ago, things have definitively changed. So I have happily deleted “slutty” from the post.

  6. How is a soliloquy different from a monologue?

    1. Emma, a monologue is a speech from a play where other characters are present on stage and hear everything that is said and see what is performed. The difference with a soliloquy is that other characters on stage are either out of earshot (even if seen by the audience, the impression is they did not hear the soliloquy) or do not exist at all during the “speech”. A soliloquy is inner thoughts spoken aloud (to one’s self).

  7. What is Elizabethan Theatre? Your write up is very helpful to understand it in an interesting way.

  8. Olamiposi says:

    Thanks but please all those listed are they the techniques of Elizabethan drama

    1. Yes, Olamiposi. Those described in this post are the main techniques of Elizabethan drama. – Justin

  9. Hey Justin,

    Are there any physical conventions such as movement or gesture which were used in English renaissance theater?

  10. some year 11 in drama says:

    a girl in my drama class copied this into her presentation. It was great. Thanks

    1. Some Year 12 in Drama says:

      Thanks Ella 🙂

  11. Finally got a sensible answer

  12. Was there any point where the actor would actually speak to the audience directly? For example like now a days one actor might ask the actor, Can you believe this guy? while the other actor is oblivious. Like that

  13. Tony Binyon says:

    The irony! Researching some info for my daughter and seeing a familiar mug on the net!!

    1. Aha! G’day mate! Long time, no see. Trust you found this information useful 🙂

  14. Hey Justin
    I was wondering what types of characters they had in the Elizabethan era theatre? Like protagonists and antagonists… Stuff like that!
    Thanks Jemma

    1. Jemma, every type of character you can imagine was right there on the Elizabethan stage. One only has to pick up any of Shakespeare’s works to see them. His tragedies were full of strong protagonists like Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth. But Elizabethan antagonists were just as exciting as characters, such as Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius, whom Hamlet suspects murdered his father. Here’s a nice article with images of some of Shakespeare’s best characters.

  15. John Barchilon says:

    Excellent summary! I have a question about whether the Bard ever used a stage hand or actor to walk across the stage with a sign saying, Brutus’s Orchard, or A Street Near the Capitol, or The Field of Battle at Philipi, which are directions from Julius Caesar. There are no dialogue words in those in those scenes to denote the specific setting. So how did he do it?

    1. Interesting question John. Shakespeare normally left clues in the spoken text for the audience to determine setting if it was not clear, however you have said this is not the case in this example.

  16. Samal lubya says:

    Help.(a)what are the Elizabethan Theatrical Convention employed in romeo and juliet? (B) how do these convention help in shaping the overall story of the film,esp. In the scene where mercucio dresses as a female?(c) how important is the role of mercucio in the story?

  17. jamal ballari says:

    Awsome info… On Elizabethan drama.too good

  18. It was awesome to get knowledge about Elizabethan era.

  19. S.SENTHAMIZHVANI says:

    It is very useful.

  20. samim haidar says:

    I am very glad for having this information on Elizabethan theatre.

  21. Sorry Deborah, unfortunately I am unable to offer any worthwhile information on the comic conventions in Twelfth Night.

  22. Deborah Huntley says:

    Thanks for the valuable information, I am an English & Creative Writing Undergrad student at Murdoch University, this explanation of specific aspects has helped a great deal. hope to see more notes perhaps specific to certain Shakespearean texts. cheers

    1. My pleasure! I’m glad you found this information useful for your studies.

      – Justin

      1. Deborah Huntley says:

        Hi Justin, I am wondering if you have any information on comic conventions in Twelfth Night? I would be very interested to read your thoughts and gain better insight.

  23. thx for this. it really is a great site for students when our teachers dont teach it at all in this much depth.

  24. Liv Bliss says:

    I came a little late to this party, looking for a discussion of the aside in stagecraft and found just what I was looking for here. But I *know* you didn’t mean to write “it was rough and rowdy instead of gentile.” The implications are either funny … or, well, not funny at all.

    1. Whoops! That would be ‘genteel’! Fixed. Thanks for spotting it, Liv.

  25. Its really…vry useful…thankssss for this..

  26. Thanks for that, I was having a hard time finding concise notes on Elizabethan theatrical conventions. 🙂

  27. Thank you so much for this. It’s a lovely, concise summary of the conventions. Very useful.

    1. thats ok little fella

  28. Tamara Poole says:

    This is really helpful. It is often so difficult to pin point exactly how to explain students how this style of theatre works and to give them other examples other than Shakespeare.