Historical and Literary Context of the Twelfth Night

Elizabethan Theatre

     There were different types of venues for Elizabethan plays:

• Inn-yards
• Open air ampitheatre
• Play houses
• Globe theatre

The Ampitheatres were normally used in the summer months, they were up to 100 feet in diamter, and held up to 1500 to 3000 people. Its either octagonal or circular.

    

The stage of the ampitheatre is projected halfway in to the 'pit'. It had raised at one end which was surrounded by three tiers of roofed galleries with balconies overlooking the back of the stage. The poor people would stand at the front of the stage and pay a penny to do so. They weren't under any shelter so if it was poor weather they would get cold and wet. The higher class had the most segregated and exclusive seats in the theater, away from the rowdy, poor people. Seats were determined by wealth and status, and for an additional fee the better seats you got.

The fool are usually clever peasants or commoners.  They use their wit and humor to outwit higher social standing people. They played a minor role anmd brightened up the entertainment. It was traditional to have a fool in the plays in Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare he took ideas of jesters and modified it to suit his own ideas and views on how he wanted to portray the fool.

If the audience didn't like what they were seeing on stage, they would shout insults or throw food and empty beer bottles at the actors.

Three of the differences between modern theatre and Elizabethan theatre were that during performances in Elizabethan times, people were allowed to talk and eat, whereas now most theatre don't allow that. Also, there was not as much of an emphasis on making costumers historically accurate then as there is now. Finally, there was minimal scenery in Elizabethan plays - there was more emphasis on 'verbal scene painting' rather than making elaborate scenes.