Theater In Shakespeare's Time (1973)

[music] England in the 1560s. Elizabeth I is queen. [music] Wandering troops of actors travel from town to town entertaining country people. They are the forerunners of the larger companies which soon will perform the plays of writers such as William [music] Shakespeare and Christopher Marlo. >> Come on boy. The arrival of the troop creates a lively carnival atmosphere in the village. The actors set up a bare portable stage which they carry in their wagons. How would you want for that? They draw the audience to the stage with acrobatics and masks. [laughter] Hell, help. Helpless am I, for the heat here is so grave. This is a dungeon of misery that I'm put into. What has become of my fair nature? Now I am. >> There is no realistic scenery. >> The audience being close to the stage is actively involved in the play. >> My torment is ever burning. That makes me go howling and snarling. Oh, alas, I boil in misery now. >> I go mad with misery now. All our food is but filth. Vividly costumed demons reveal a flare for spectacle and symbolism in the popular morality plays. >> You have made us thus. Oh, wo is me now. Now it is worse than it was. You ch me in vain. >> Thou hast ruined us. >> You lie. Alas, I knew not that this war would befall. Out on you devils. You smother me in smoke. Horse play and comedy have long been part of the fun of playing in religious drama. >> Thou liest and thou shalt pay for it. Watch how I shall destroy you. >> Sometimes the actors find that the Puritan authorities are offended by too much play acting in religious matters. [music] This and the constas keep the players [music] on the move. [music] They often find these new audiences which begin to include the nobility in the teeming courtyards of the inns. At the same time, new plays from English history and ancient myths telling of kings, conquerors, and battles begin to replace the morality plays. [cheering] >> Here is a scene from Shakespeare's Henry V. Once more. Unto the bridge, dear friends. Once more. Or close the wall up with our English day. In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility. But when the blast of war blows in our ears, >> the stage is still very simple with little scenery and few props to come between the actor and his audience. >> Summon up the blood. An actor becomes a warrior king leading his people to battle by merely wielding a sword and wearing the proper costume. >> A sign transforms the stage into a battle or helmet AS FEARFULLY AS THE DARLING ROCK OR HANG and juty its confounded base swasteful ocean. Now set the teeth and >> for the audience the Elizabeth and theater is a showplace of excitement >> not a mirror of everyday life is full height on you novelist English >> I see you stand like greyhounds and the slips straining upon the start the game's a foot follow your spirits and upon this charge cry god for Harry England and St. John. >> Here, as in earlier plays, the audience enthusiastically responds to what happens on stage. So close are the people to the actor in the stage. [cheering] [cheering] Elizabeth and aristocrats also support the actors, sometimes arranging for performances in their own mansions. The educated noble's influence is felt in the deep emotions and rich poetry of the plays of Marlo and Shakespeare. [music] Such a play is Marlo's Dr. Fostess, the tragedy of a man who signs away his soul to the devil in exchange for power. >> Now I will make an end immediately. >> What will I not do to obtain his soul? Consumato, this bill is ended, and Fosters hath bequathed his soul to Lucifer. Eventually, most actors are attracted to London, which has England's greatest concentration of people. along with the usual urban pollution and poverty. [crying] >> Turn it to carrots. Turn it to carrots. By 1600, several public theaters appeared on the outskirts of the city, attracting Londoners, but avoiding the open displeasure of Puritan businessmen and politicians. >> Shakespeare's playhouse, The Globe, was on the bank of the Tims River across from the city. Elizabeth and public playhouses were open air and most were round. Though London audiences were larger than those in the villages and inns, they were still closely grouped around the stage on the ground and in galleries and balconies. The stage remained bare with only a few movable prompts allowing vigorous rapid action. Two doors led from the backstage or tiring house to the platform stage. Though the platform was the main acting place, a curtained area sometimes served as an inner stage and the gallery over the platform as an upper stage. We can see the use of all these areas in a scene from Shakespeare's McBTH when McBth tries to find out about his future from the witches. >> I come to you by that which you profess. However, you come to know it, answer me. >> Thyself >> through a trap door, demons and spirits appear. In the tiring house, sound effects are created by shaking metal. >> Here's another more potent than the first. >> MacB. >> Had I three ears, I'd hear thee. >> Be bloody bold and resolute. Laugh to scorn the the >> power of man. >> The power of man. For none of born shall harm McBth. and ghostly kings which the witches have conjured to haunt McBth move across the upper stage of seven eyeballs and thy hair though gold bound brow is like the first of filthy f >> in the tiring house a pig's bladder full of blood is concealed under the actor's clothing. >> Well, now let's certain you keep your face towards me. >> Oh, there may seem more than pig's blood tonight. >> Yes, sir. But I pray it's young seawward and not myself who lies dead at your feet. [music] They've tied me to a stake. I cannot fly, but bear like I must fight the course. >> What's he that was not born? >> Once again, we see the actor playing directly to his audience. >> Here, oh none, what is thy name? >> Thou be afraid to hear it. >> No, though thou call thyself a hotter name than any is in hell. My name's McBth. >> The devil himself could not pronounce a title more hateful to my near. >> No, no more fearful. >> Thou liest of hardy times, and with my sword, I'll prove the lie. Thou sweet. Elizabeth and audiences do not expect realism in the modern sense, but exciting action and meaningful characters who create a vivid experience in the theater. >> They take hearty pleasure in the actor's craft, >> just as earlier audiences did around the portable stages. >> That way the noise is tyrant show thy face. [music] A period of buffoonery which usually concludes even serious performances keeps alive the audience's participation and shows the variety and vitality of the Elizabeth and theater. Its spectacle, its exuberance, its fascination with evil, its seriousness and its fun for the members of the audience. Heat. Heat. [music]