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Description:

Imagine yourself going to see a show. The cushy red seats. The talented orchestra. The body odor and animal abuse. Not what you pictured? Be thankful that plenty has changed since Shakespeare's time.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Shakespeare's stage, a la Shmoop. We all know what a modern theater looks like.

00:13

There's the stage, the curtains, the orchestra pit, the lights...

00:16

...the chandelier hanging above the audience, just waiting for the Phantom of the Opera

00:20

to do something sinister.

00:24

In Shakespeare's time, however, it was very different.

00:30

The first theaters didn't even have walls. Instead, plays were performed in processions…

00:37

or in circular, grassy areas.

00:39

The actors didn't much care for this.

00:44

Not only was there no separation between them and the audience…

00:48

…but rain delays were a common problem, and being on a level with so much body odor

00:49

had caused many a production not to make it past opening night.

00:53

So, after years of careful research and analysis, actors ditched the grassy fields of the past

00:59

for the marketplace. The early marketplace had one great advantage

01:01

over the original outdoor theater: it had a floor.

01:02

Naturally, this was considered a technological marvel, and the actors charged their audiences

01:06

accordingly.

01:07

Plays were performed on scaffolds raised in the marketplace, where people could gather

01:11

around to watch the action, and come and go as they pleased.

01:14

Obviously, this venue was quite noisy, especially as people bought and sold goods all around

01:18

the stage.

01:22

Actors had to shout to be heard above the babble, but at least no one could tell when

01:25

someone flubbed a line. While performing in the marketplace meant

01:27

that the actors no longer suffered so much from hay fever, they did face a couple of

01:28

other problems.

01:28

Sometimes, people would rush the stage, or watch a show without paying.

01:29

We've all seen mimes and contortionists and really bad Bob Marley impersonators performing

01:35

on street corners.

01:38

We might stop to watch for a few minutes, and then move along without putting our spare

01:44

change in the bucket.

01:48

It was roughly the same thing in Shakespeare's day.

01:50

So, how do you stop people from mooching? You build a theater, where every person who

01:58

wants to watch the show has to put money in a box as he or she is entering the building.

02:02

That's Nobel Prize-worthy thinking right there.

02:07

Shakespeare spent most of his career working at a theater called the Globe.

02:11

Here, there were three levels of seating, and a pit where people could stand.

02:17

Audience members paid according to whether they sat or stood to watch the performance.

02:20

Now, you might think the seats in the very, very back of the Globe theater would be the

02:25

cheapest, given their distance from the stage.

02:29

This wasn't the case, however: the cheapest seats, which only cost a penny, were in the

02:33

pit where people stood to watch the show. Just like today's theaters, where you can

02:40

go to watch a ballet or a musical or a symphony performance, open-air theaters like the Globe

02:46

offered all sorts of entertainment.

02:49

One of the best-selling gigs of Shakespeare's time was called bear baiting. No, it didn’t

02:53

involve putting bears on hooks and then using them to fish for mackerel.

02:57

In bear baiting, a bear would be chained to a pike and people would bet on how many dogs

03:05

it would take to kill the bear.

03:09

Ye Olde PETA frequently showed up to protest.

03:12

So what do you think? Would you be more likely to attend the theater if there was some good

03:19

old-fashioned animal violence to keep things interesting?

03:26

Or do you prefer our modern theaters… where at least you can contribute to early onset

03:30

diabetes with a rich offering at the concession stand?

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