English Renaissance Theatre: Shakespeare, Marlowe and Jonson

Renaissance Theatre in England

Renaissance in England, context and history: The Renaissance in England began at the end of the 15th century. It did not break with classical art canons; instead, the first vision of humanism placed the human being at the centre of life. In the theatre, the 1508 printing press and the classics, through Greek works, gave new life to comedy, tragedy and drama.

The classical tragedy started to be written in national languages: Spanish, English, French, Italian and others, as each country claimed its own culture.

1568: The Council of Trent limited the freedom of expression in Renaissance art. Strict rules dictated the moral and religious monitoring of society. The Inquisition imposed censorship: prohibited works that ridiculed the Church were placed on the Index of books that could not be read.

A key principle of the era was that the limit of imagination is reality. Most works sought verisimilitude, and the theatre introduced a new way of portraying everyday concerns, comic and grotesque characters, and professional actors.

Renaissance theatre marked one of the great evolutions of the epoch. In the theatre, it was an attempt to recreate classical drama. The classical productions were not all alike; the first to break completely with neoclassicism was the new verisimilitude.

The Concept of Verisimilitude

Verisimilitude referred to the appearance of truth. It rejected the improbable and emphasised the logical, the ideal and the moral order, with a clear sense of purpose. Comedy and tragedy could not be combined, and soliloquies and choirs were used. Well-rewarded virtue and punished evil were central, and characters were presented as ideal individuals.

Strict Rules of the Classical Theatre

• A single plot, with the action set within a 24-hour period and in one place.
• The rationale: the public could not be expected to imagine that the action took place over several days and in various locations.

Renaissance in England: Historical Context

16th and 17th centuries: National consolidation and a period of expansion of its domains. Wales was incorporated in 1536 and Scotland in 1603.

• Under Elizabeth I (1558-1603) England enjoyed great prosperity, with industrial capitalism and strong growth in population.
• The English Reformation began with the marriage breakdown between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The king needed to divorce his wife and broke with the Catholic Church.
• He proclaimed the Church of England as the new Anglican Church. Elizabeth I secured Anglican commitment and peace, subordinating all churches to her command.
• James I, Elizabeth's successor, faced a grave crisis, with political tension and an absolutist crown.

Theatres

Public theatres in London were permanent during the Elizabethan period. They were built on a polygonal (often circular) plan, inspired by the inns of the Middle Ages.

1. Yard: the public stood in the yard.
2. Galleries: the seated public occupied the theatres galleries.

Early theatres included The Theatre (1576) and The Curtain, with a pact between the two. Later came The Rose and The Swan (1595), the Globe and the Fortune (1600), and The Hope (1613). The creation of these theatres fostered strong rivalry between companies and their authors.

Stage devices included trapdoors, flying machinery and minimal scenery, with powerfully symbolic props.

Private Theatres

Private theatres were built on the ruins of secularised convents, such as Blackfriars, Whitefriars and Saint Paul's. They featured striking lighting effects with candles and seating for the entire audience. They were very expensive, and the audience was drawn from the upper classes. Elaborate stage elements and very luxurious costumes were indispensable.

Genres

• Morality plays: dramatic works with a political critique, often siding with the Crown and justifying its actions. Characters were typified, such as the madman. Examples include Wit and Folly and The Four P's by Heywood.
• Historical drama: based on the nation's own history, diffusing an ideology in sixteenth-century England. These works denounced abuses by the Catholic Church, conquests and colonial expansion, and included murders, betrayals and ghostly apparitions.
• Spectacle: under James I, luxury and ostentation became central. Inigo Jones designed pastoral settings, and the text was recited with music. Under Charles I (1625), the value of spectacle increased further, and plays were attacked by English Puritanism.

Cromwell suppressed the theatre.

Scenic Evolution in England

The Elizabethan drama reached its artistic peak in England, moving away from the rules of classical drama (Renaissance precepts).

In the 16th century, groups of actors formed companies under the protection of some noblemen, who defended them against Puritanism of the era.

The Theatres

The theatres were open, cylindrical structures with an interior yard, where the stage was set up across three floors. The stage projected into the yard and had two parts: the upper section, placed at the back, and the stage front. The rear section, raised at two heights, was used for musicians, machines or seats for spectators.

The stage was about 1.5 metres high, with trapdoors underneath, and a large roof supported by two great columns. It was painted with black and white, where white signified comedy and black signified drama. Trumpets announced the beginning of performances.

Scenography was almost non-existent: a card indicated the scene of any action. The spectacle was the actor, dressed in rich, brightly coloured costumes, with a powerful voice audible from a distance. Female roles were played by young male actors.

Authors

1. William Shakespeare

Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He attended the local grammar school for about six years, learning basic Latin.

• 1582: He married Anne Hathaway, who was 18 years old at the time.
• 1587: He moved to London at the age of 23, where he worked as an actor, reviewing and correcting the works of others.
• His friends and rivals in drama included Marlowe, and his rival was Jonson.
• 1591: His first plays were performed at age 27.
• 1599: The Globe Theatre was inaugurated.
• 1602: Hamlet, at age 38.
• 1609: The Blackfriars Theatre was acquired, at age 45.
• 1610: He returned home with a great fortune, at age 46.
• 23 April 1616: He died at age 52.

Works: Shakespeare's total absence of scenography was offset by his poetry, which evoked the divine and the times of day such as night and morning, creating ambiguity. He wrote tragedies and comedies including Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Richard II, Richard III, Julius Caesar and The Taming of the Shrew.

2. Ben Jonson

• Jonson was a rival of Shakespeare.
• He wrote with a precise sense of the rules of time, place and action, which Shakespeare did not follow.
• 1598: He wrote Every Man in His Humour, which preferred character types, each with a psychological portrait of their obsessions.
• His success led to admiration from King James I.
• Works: Volpone, or The Fox (a portrait of greed), Epicene, or The Silent Woman, and Bartholomew Fair.

3. Christopher Marlowe

Marlowe was born in 1564 in Canterbury, England. He was a playwright and poet, and one of the great authors of English Renaissance theatre. His career as a dramatist was brief, lasting only six years, and his life was adventurous and dissolute.

In 1593, a friend of his was arrested and some of his writings were found. Marlowe was suspected, and he was arrested. He was killed in a tavern brawl with several friends, in a dispute over a payment account.

Works: Tamburlaine the Great (1590), The Jew of Malta (1589), which was influenced by Shakespeare; Edward II (1594), a historical drama that was a precursor to Shakespeare's Richard II and Richard III; and The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1604), his most celebrated achievement.