Sunday, 22 January 2012

The beginning of theatre in England

At the beginning the first plays were those that priests would organise to show stories from the bible this was because the bible was in Latin and wasn’t yet translated to English and helped people that maybe could not read or understand the bible to understand and learn the stories from the bible.
In the Tudor times theatre become more a place to relax and enjoy used as a break from work these then developed into groups of actors that would do the same play in different countries. The most popular plays were the ones that where based around morality and became ‘teaching’ plays.
The growth of theatres in the Tudor time, and especially in the time of Queen Elisabeth, is very much associated with this era. Along with sports and pastimes, theatres provided the workers with some form of break from work.
The government didn’t approve of the messages that theatres were sending as plays such as Robin Hood so in 1572 so the touring groups of actors became banned, another reason for the ban was that people suspected that they might have been spreading the plague throughout the land. Queen Elisabeth still enjoyed theatre so give permission to 4 noblemen to start their own theatre companies and employ actors.
People had very negative views of the actors and the plays "I came to a place on my way to London....I thought I should have found company in the church but the church door was locked. One of the parish came to me and said "Sir, this is a busy day; it is Robin Hood's day". Robin Hood, a traitor and a thief....it is a weeping matter when people prefer Robin Hood to God's word." Bishop Latimer in 1549. And also "The blast of the trumpet will call a thousand people to see a filthy play. An hour's tolling of a bell would only bring a hundred people to a sermon." John Stockwood preaching in 1578. Quotes from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/theatres_in_tudor_england.htmo
So in tudor time people had become more open to seeing theatre as for entertainment that to get something (learn) from the performances. Plays like this were first performed in yards of lard inns and the first real theatre to be recognised was buit in elisabeths time. In 1577 by the Earl of Leicestr the theatre was an amazing success and this lead to more theatres being built by 1595, 15,000 people a week attended plays in London. Play writing became more seriouse and the ambision of young men being an actor was also increased.


Friday, 20 January 2012

Renaissance lecture on 18-1-2012

On the 18th we had a lecture from Sonya informing us about renaissance we were asked to think of questions at the beginning that we wanted to know about the topic to see how useful the presentation was at giving us the information we needed.

Questions and Answers
  • Were is it from?
    • Renaissance is a french word translating to rebirth - it is the beginning of a new era.

  • Who started the Renaissance?
    • As an era the renaissance is just a period of time with no defiant starting/ending date.

  • When was the Renaissance?
    • It was an era between the 1500s and the 1600s.

  • Why did it start?
    • The renaissance began as people became more aware of new discoveries and wanted to learn more about the world, slowly beginning to question religion.

  • How do the actors see the renaissance?
    • Actors of that time seen the renaissance as a time where the thought of theatre and its influence on people of this period where changing and becoming more acknowledged.

  • Who along with shakespeare was around in this era?
    • William Shakespeare
    • Ben Jonson
    • Christopher Marlowe
    • James Burbage
    • Richard Burbage

Monday, 16 January 2012

Into

Hey,

I'm a Prforming Ats (Ating) student, using this to blog my progress in unit 12 - Classical Theatre.