Drama terms - Elizabethan Theatre/Twelfth Night

Convention - Dance

Drunken scene with Sir Toby and Sir Andrew

Convention - Mistaken identity

It’s funny, and easy to do (not a lot of props and set tech, had to use characters to create the plot line)

Convention - Invisibility (Feste)

His low status makes him able to manoeuvre between the different statuses, has freedom, lowest social class seems to have more freedom.

Convention - Disguise/cross-dressing

It is funny. Unbecoming of women to be in plays so men had to play them. Young men played women and as they grew older they’d be able to play male main characters.

Convention - Letter intrigue/plot

Maria’s letter to Malvolio

Convention - Dramatic irony

The audience knows something that the characters on stage do not e.g. Orsino is attracted to Cesario not knowing he/she is in fact a woman.

Convention - Slapstick/farce

Yellow stockings = Adds humor and ridiculousness

Technologies - Props

Minimal props: Props hand held - Sword, letter, goblet – Draw this out in the boxes in the exams

What props there were, were significant e.g. Oliva’s ring she sends to Cesario through Malvolio, and the letter created by Maria to deceive and trick Malvolio

Technologies - Set

Minimal Set

Made up for by descriptive scripts

Performed during the day – audience need to be told if it is night time through the text

Multiple shows in a week so they need to have a blank space for any play to be performed on

No time, no intermission, performance flowed continuously as entrance followed exit.

Technologies - Lighting

Plays performed in the afternoon - Natural lighting, no special effects, used language and acting to show danger etc.

Technologies - Costume

Actors wore expensive sixteenth century clothing. Often donated by patrons. No attempt at historical accuracy. Men’s clothing looked quite feminine with tights and breeches, women’s clothing covered them and was heavy and cumbersome.

Costumes made of:

Wool

Linen

Velvet

Silk (cotton not available in Elizabethan England)

Gold/silver thread stitched onto garments

The folly of ambition

“Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of puritan.”

“he thinks, with excellencies, that it is his grounds of faith that all that look on him love him”

Gender and sexuality

“I am not what I am.” - Viola

“All is semblative a woman’s part.” - Orsino

Love as a cause of suffering

“fell and cruel hounds” - Orsino

“My state is desperate for my master’s love” - Viola

Queen Elizabeth’s quote

“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and

stomach of a king, and a king of England too.”

Queen Elizabeth’s feats

Defeat of the Spanish Armada - Great military battle

Religious settlement - Declared Britain Protestant

She was a major supporter of the stage - theatres and literature blossomed

Exploration/colonisation - Naval pursuits / expeditions across the world

Brought Britain out debt and built it backup to wealth and prosperity

Squashed any attempts to overthrow her and kept peace

What was Queen Elizabeth’s time often called?

The Golden Age of Britain

The Great Chain of Being

The order of importance of life and status during the Elizabethan period.

Performance space

Thrust stage

Rounded audience on three sides

Three levels and groundlings

Raised stage with pillars and a balcony above the back of the stage.

Exit and entrances

Language

Lower class - dirty and sexual jokes would often be directed down to them

Middle class - prose and verse - less poetic verse than the upper class

Upper class - poetic, flowery and divine language directed up to the upper

level.

Acting style

Presentational style

Big and sweeping gestures

Bold physicality and facial expressions

Strong projection of the voice