Elizabethan Theatre

Elizabethan Theatre
Conventions
Sililoques
Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” is literature’s most famous soliloquy. This

popular Elizabethan convention is a literary or dramatic technique in which a
single character talks aloud inner thoughts to him or herself, but not within
earshot of another character. Typically, a soliloquy is lengthy with a dramatic
tone.
Asides
The aside existed in Shakespeare’s times, but happily continued into the
melodramas of the 19th century many years later. An aside is a convention that
usually involves one character addressing the audience “on the side”, offering
them valuable information in relation to the plot or characters that only the
audience is privy to. The audience now feels empowered, knowing more about
the events on stage than most of the characters do.
Boys playing female roles
Acting in Elizabeth’s England was frowned upon my many in society as a

profession unsuitable for women, as it was rough and rowdy instead of genteel.
As a result, women were not legally permitted to act on the English stage until
King Charles II was crowned in the year 1660 (even though women were already
acting in various European countries in Commedia dell’Arte plays for some
years). Shakespeare and his contemporaries therefore had no choice but to cast
young boys in the roles of women, while the men played all the male roles on
stage.
Eavesdropping
Eavesdropping was a dramatic technique that sat neatly between a soliloquy and
an aside. Certain characters would strategically overhear others on stage,
informing both themselves and the audience of the details, while the characters
being overheard had no idea what was happening. This convention opened up
opportunities for the playwright in the evolving plot.
Presentational Acting Style
It is generally agreed by scholars Elizabethan acting was largely presentational in

style. Plays were more overtly a “performance” with clues the actors were aware
of the presence of an audience instead of completely ignoring them as part of
their art.
Movements and gestures were more stylised and dramatic than one might
ordinarily expect in a modern naturalistic or realistic drama, speech patterns
were heightened for dramatic effect, and the use of conventions such as the
aside, prologue, epilogue and word puns directly connected characters to the
audience watching. The aside, the prologue, the soliloquy and the epilogue were
all variations on a characters’ direct address to the audience when staged.
Play within a Play
This Elizabethan convention was a playwriting technique used by Shakespeare

and others that involved the staging of a play inside the play itself. It was not a
flimsy convention, but rather one that was used judiciously and with purpose.
One of the most famous examples of this convention occurs in Hamlet, when the
title character is convinced his uncle Claudius murdered his father for the
throne. So Hamlet organises an out-of-town troupe of performers to attend one
evening and perform a play before King Claudius that involves the same plot line
as the events in the larger play (murder of a King), but in a different setting … all
to let Claudius know Hamlet is on to him!
Stagecraft
In terms of stagecraft, Elizabethan dramas used elaborate costumes, yet quite

the opposite for scenery. Acting spaces were largely empty (bare stage) with
isolated set pieces representing many of the same and minimal use of props (a
single tree equalled a forest, a throne for a King’s palace). This explains the use
of rich dialogue full of imagery, as there was no set on stage to designate the
scene’s location.
However, Elizabethan costumes were often rich and colorful, with a character’s
status in society being denoted by their costume, alone. There were no stage
lights of any kind, with plays strictly performed during daylight hours.
Heightened Language
Elizabethan plays commonly consisted of dialogue that was poetic, dramatic and
heightened beyond that of the vernacular of the day. While often the lower class
characters’ speech was somewhat colloquial (prose), upper class characters
spoke stylised, rhythmic speech patterns (verse). Shakespeare took great care in
composing dialogue that was sometimes blank (unrhymed), but at other times
rhyming (couplets) and often using five stressed syllables in a line of dialogue
(iambic pentameter).
Iambic Pentameter
The beat/feeling of the dialogue. Almost like heartbeat.
Iambic - In a line of poetry, an ‘iamb’ is a foot or beat consisting of an unstressed syllable

followed by a stressed syllable. Or another way to think of it is a short syllable followed
by a long syllable. For example, deLIGHT, the SUN, forLORN, one DAY, reLEASE.
Penta - means five, so pentameter simply means five meters. A line of poetry written in
iambic pentameter has five feet = five sets of stressed syllables and unstressed syllables.
Putting these two terms together, iambic pentameter is a line of writing that consists of
ten syllables in a specific pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable, or a short syllable followed by a long syllable.
Example of Iambic Pentameter
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? By chance, or nature's changing course
untrimmed:
Thou art more lovely and more
temperate: But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of Nor lose possession of that fair thou
May, ow'st,
And summer's lease hath all too short a Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his
date: shade,
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven When in eternal lines to time thou
shines, grow'st,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed, So long as men can breathe or eyes can
see,
And every fair from fair sometime
declines, So long lives this, and this gives life to
thee.

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Elizabethan Theatre

Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” is literature’s most famous soliloquy. This

Acting in Elizabeth’s England was frowned upon my many in society as a

It is generally agreed by scholars Elizabethan acting was largely presentational in

This Elizabethan convention was a playwriting technique used by Shakespeare

In terms of stagecraft, Elizabethan dramas used elaborate costumes, yet quite

The beat/feeling of the dialogue. Almost like heartbeat.

Iambic - In a line of poetry, an ‘iamb’ is a foot or beat consisting of an unstressed syllable

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