Audiences in Shakespearian Time

Over the Christmas holidays my teacher asked me to research Audiences in Shakespearian times and what going to the theatre was like back in Shakespeare's time, and to create a presentation on my research.
I have researched into Theatre in the 1500-1600's and the type of audiences Shakespeare's plays attracted.
"you will see such heaving and shoving, such itching and shouldering to sit by the women, such care for their garments that they be not trod on . . . such toying, such smiling, such winking, such manning them home ... that it is a right comedy to mark their behaviour" (Stephen Gosson, The School of Abuse, 1579). 

Shakespeare wrote his plays for everybody, he wants all types of social class to attend his performances and enjoy them, he was not a "poser". He did not write his plays just for the rich and the royalty, nor did he write them for the lower classes, everyone can relate to Shakespeare;s plays, as they are either tragedies or comedies, and all types of people enjoy and understand his work.
Back in the time where Shakespeare was writing his plays for the stage, Theatre was very popular and catered to everybody, like today's Theatres, their are standard seats or standing and there are the more expensive seats with better views and more comfortable surroundings. In Shakespeare;s time there were the standard ground seats and for the richer classes there were seats in "The Lords Room" and "The Gentleman;s Room" these seats were very expensive and were only affordable to royalty and the higher classes. These were the best seats in the house.
In Shakespeare;s time, social class was imminent and everybody belonged to a class,and most people stayed in these social classes for their whole lives. There were FOUR types of social class;

• The Poor: This social class is the lowest, and many poor people were unemployed or worked in factories or work houses on farms, the poor very rarely ever moved up in social class and stayed in the poor class their whole lives, none the less the poor still enjoyed the Theatre and would attend but would be seated in The Ground.
• The Yeomanry: This class is in between Poor and Rich, the middle ground. They would probably be referred to as "Working Class" in today's society. This class were usually Farmers, Tradesmen and Craft workers, they had enough money to live on, but still at a risk of poverty, if they were to become ill or lose their jobs.
• The Gentry: This social class were very wealthy, they were usually Squires, Knights or with some relation to the Royal family. They all came from rich backgrounds and did not have work hard for their money. This audience would most definitely be seated in The Lords Room at the Theatre.
• The Nobility: This social class were upper class, extremely wealthy families. They were usually Dukes, Barons and Earls. The nobility were usually all related in some way and owned very large houses where they would accommodate their servants, maids and cooks. In Shakespeare's time they were only around 55 Noble families.

The Groundlings, would cost One Penny. This area would be filled with The Poor and The Yeomanry, these seats were seen as Lower class seats and would never be filled with the Upper classes or Royalty. People who were in the Groundlings would have to stand in front of the stage to watch the performance, there were no seats. The Upper class would pay as much as Half a Crown to sit in the Lords room, which were galleries up high with comfortable seating and the best views, and they would be served food and drink upon request.

The Audiences were VERY boisterous and rowdy at the Theatre, nothing like today's well mannered and sensible Theatre audiences. The audience would love to be involved and would get very angry or very excited at the Dramas, in The Groundlings there were often brawls and fights happening, and some audience members would try to go back stage to talk or fight with the actors!

The main Theatre in Shakespeare's time was The Globe Theatre in Southwark London. Plays were always in the afternoon, as the sun was much too bright in the morning and the night time was too dark as they did not have artificial lighting. The Globe would show case 2 play's every day. The Globe was an open air Theatre and could seat up to 3,000 audience members. The Globe attracted all sorts of classes, and people travelled from outside of London, so it was always very mixed with classes and males and females. The audience would always angrily boo the bad characters and manically cheer the good characters! As there was no female actors in Shakespeare's time, the Theatre attracted more females than males, but only by a small amount, as Theatre was the only form of entertainment back then, so everybody enjoyed going to the Theatre, just like in today's society, the Cinema is very popular, and so is the Theatre.

After Shakespeare died, the Globe Theatre was burned down by the Puritans in 1644. And was not re constructed until 1970!

Going to the Theatre in Shakespeare's time was not only for entertainment purposes, it was to socialise and network, the audience members would eat and drink, and the different classes would socialise, not with each other but within the classes, the upper class would network and become close, and the lower classes would socialise with each other.

When presenting this Friday coming, I have set myself a target to project my voice and to make my body language warm and open, so the class feel comfortable watching my presentation and they will enjoy it more as I will be warm and inviting, and will not just speak the words on my powerpoint. I feel this is very important in a presentation as I always pay more attention to presentations if the person is very friendly and warm and interesting to listen to. This is what I will do, and I will see on Friday if I have met my target.