8-1Actors

WHO WERE THEATRE-GOERS IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND? WHAT WAS AN AUDIENCE LIKE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND? Prepared by Daniel .T The theaters in Shakespearean times were built to seat a wide variety of social classes. Some people that many have attended are farmers, apprentices, bakers, weavers, royalty and nobility. There were two kinds of seats penny seats and two penny seats the wealthy would sit in the two penny seats which cost two pennies and the others would sit in the ground seats and were thus called groundings. The stage was surrounded by seats the best seats were two penny seats behind the stage (info from []). The groundlings were the farmers and apprentices of shop keepers that couldn't afford boxes, and According to //__The Eye Witness Shakespeare Encyclopedia__//, The groundlings were crude at best. They would sit close to the stage, heckle the actors, shout profanities, and throw things if they got bored. Groundlings could usually be found chugging a tankard of ale while watching a play and snacking on nuts which littered the floor of the globe. The groundlings had a few nick names as well such as shabby scare crows which came from the tattered and cheap clothes they often wore, and they were called stinkards because they were said to have reeked of garlic and onions which was often a complaint of those sitting in the two penny seats. Occasionally riots were started by the groundlings, and then not even the actors were safe. The Groundlings may have made up the majority of the audience, but that isn't to say that nobility didn't also enjoy the plays its just that there weren't as many nobles as peasants. The nobles and wealthy sat in the two penny seats which were higher up and overlooked the stage while the ground seats were right in front of the stage on the same level depriving the audience in those seats the view the two penny seats would have. The nobility worked in government, were very successful in their trade, or had wealth passed down through their family. They sipped a strong Spanish whine called Sack, showed off there expensive things to each other and complained about the groundlings. Both crowds wealthy and poor had three things in common though they both risked being pick pocketed by a cut-purse. The cut-purses could easily steal from the groundlings, but the real money was in stealing from those in the two penny seats and they would dress up in uniforms to serve those in the special seats and at the right time cut the straps of the purse from the belt of a noble making some good quick cash, they both could purchase apples from the apple wives which would roam around enjoying the play and selling snacks from the orchard, and since it was an open air theater they were both at the mercy of th elements. The Plays were an exciting thing to go to back then much like going to a concert now. We have to worry about many of the same things they did at their plays at our concerts (info from []).

Works Cited: Books: "Audience."//Eye Witness Shakespeare Encyclopedia//. 1. 2000. Print. Web: //Shakespeare's Life and Times//. Internet Shakespeare Editions, University of Victoria: Victoria, BC, 2001-2005. [].