ENGLISH
THEATRE
We
would like to tell you about some fun facts about English theatre in
the 16th and 17th centuries, also known as Elizabethan theatre in
honour of Queen Elizabeth I.
1.In
this period performances were held:
-During
the warmest months in daylight, early in the afternoon , since there
wasn't artificial light. That is why playhouses didn’t have a roof.
And during the coldest months, plays took place indoors, in private
playhouses.
Elizabethan
theatre was popular even though it had a bad reputation. That’s why
playhouses were set just outside London, on the other side of The
Thames.
(Image
of “The Globe” from an outside view)
2.The
most important playhouses were “The Globe” and “The Swam”,
both with an open space in the centre.
(Image
of “The Globe” from the inside)
-“The
Globe”
is the best known playhouse in London. All types of social classes
went there during this period. Each social class had an allocated
area and the Queen Elizabeth I presided over all the plays.
3.Elizabethan
theatre used blank verse, and the most popular topics were: love and
jealousy; historical and social issues.
(Image
of a clown)
4.
As for the characters,
we should highlight the following ones:
-The
"clown", whose role is similar to the one played by a
character called “gracioso”in the Spanish theatre.
-Women
were barred by law from appearing on stage, so their roles were
performed by young effeminate men, or just by men disguised as women.
(Image
of these three writers)
5.The
most important writers of the Elizabethan theatre were: W.
Shakespeare, Thomas Kyd y Christopher Marlowe.
EL
TEATRO EN LA ÉPOCA DE CERVANTES EN VALLADOLID DEL SIGLO XVII.
Os
vamos a contar algunas curiosidades del teatro en la España en la
que vivió Cervantes, cuando estuvo aquí en Valladolid:
(Imagen
del Corral de Comedias)
-El
teatro en España se representaba en los Corrales de Comedias. Allí
la gente de divertía y allí se unía la aristocracia con el pueblo.
Aunque dentro de los Corrales las distintas clases sociales se
mantenían separadas.
El
teatro se llegó a convertir en una actividad diaria, imprescindible
para la gente; por eso las compañías teatrales eran numerosas y
solían trabajar durante todo el año. La gente iba al teatro y se
pasaba allí toda la tarde.
Como
curiosidad, os tenemos que contar que: ¡Aquí en España, las
mujeres sí podían actuar, aunque tenían que estar casadas!
(Imagen
de los personajes)
-Los personajes que no
podían faltar en las tragicomedias eran: el rey, el galán y la
dama, el villano y ¡cómo no!, el gracioso quien con sus ingenios
rompía la tensión en las obras. Además, ¡todos los personajes
hablaban en verso!...
-A
la gente que acudía al teatro le gustaba ver escenas relacionadas
con los enredos amorosos y, también, escenas en las que se
defendiese el honor de la familia y la honra.
-(Imagen
de los dramaturgos) No
nos podemos olvidar de los grandes dramaturgos de la época: Lope de
Rueda, Lope de Vega, Calderón y Cervantes, que también lo intentó
en el teatro, aunque no destacó como en la novela.
(Imagen
de la Plazuela del Teatro)
Y
para finalizar, nos imaginamos que os preguntaréis dónde se
representaba el teatro aquí en Valladolid en el siglo XVII. Pues
bien, se representaba en la llamada Plazuela
del Teatro,
donde estaba el Corral de Comedias de la ciudad. Hoy,
dicha
plaza es conocida como Plaza Martí y Monsó.
LAS PROBLEMAS SOCIALES EN LA INGLATERRA DE LOS SIGLOS XVI Y XVII
SOCIAL ISSUES DURING
THE ELIZABETHAN PERIOD
During
the 16th Century
the
main problem of the so-called Elizabethan period was poverty.
This was caused by an
increase in the population because of a rise in the birth rate and a
decrease in the death one; the number of inhabitants in Elizabethan
England rose from 3 to 4 million. That huge number of people provoked
financial problems that people weren’t able to handle. Also, the
country was affected by poor harvests, which entailed a limited
supply of food. The resulting rise in food prices led, in some cases,
to starvation amongst those who could not afford to pay.
Many people became
homeless because there was neither money nor food, since the
resources available in the country had to be distributed among a
bigger number of inhabitants. Many people became unemployed and the
number of beggars in the streets increased.
Queen Elizabeth and the
English Parliament tried to find a solution to this problem, and a
series of laws was introduced, culminating in the 1601 Poor Law.
Views on the poor changed throughout this period beginning with a
harsh attitude toward the poor that later changed into a more
compassionate approach, since measures such as burning the ears of
the homeless to mark them and send them to prison afterwards led to
social disorder. Therefore, the Queen tried to solve the problem with
the afore-mentioned laws, which imposed taxes on all citizens in
order to ease poverty, since it was a widespread problem.
In the last years of his
rule, Henry VIII, Elizabeth’s predecessor, debased coinage, which
means that the amount of gold and silver in coins was reduced. In
1560 Elizabeth's government tried to solve this problem by replacing
all debased coins with new ones, thus restoring the country's
currency to its proper levels. This move served to combat the problem
of inflation in the early years of her reign.
Another significant
problem in Elizabethan England was religion. The two major religions
during this period were the Catholic and Protestant ones. The
convictions and beliefs in these different religions were so strong
that they led to the executions of many adherents to both of these
Elizabethan religions.
In spite of all these
social problems, Queen Elizabeth was a wise woman who was determined
to turn England into a powerful empire. Therefore, she fought to
bring peace and prosperity to the country and put an end to the
disputes between Protestants and Catholics. That is why the
Elizabethan Era is also remembered as a period of great splendour
which gave rise to magnificent artists such as Shakespeare.
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