WEEK 3 - SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON AND ELIZABETHAN AUDIENCES
QUESTION: What was London like in Elizabethan times and who were the people attending the theatre?
You can start by reading the ‘London’ and ‘Audiences’ factsheets on the Globe website.


In the Elizabethan times London was the richest city in England and was home to multiple permanent playhouses. Many wealthy traders and manufacturers and their workers lived there. These were the kinds of people who had the money to go to the theatre. By 1600, more than 20,000 people a week went to these theatre's. London was the home to royalty and many noble families and many noblemen became patrons of the theatre's, They gave financial and legal support to these theatre's. From 1603 to 1613, Shakespeare’s company played at the court of King James about 15 times per year. London was also growing extremely fast due to migrants from the countryside and from Europe. It is estimated that between 1550 and 1600, the city grew from 50,000 residents to 200,000. Every available space was being built and suburbs were also slowly being built creeping out into the countryside. However, the dark streets attracted thieves and the overcrowding attracted unknown diseases. The plague struck most summers and in 1593 it is estimated 10,000 people were killed because of it and all the theatre's were closed.

Just about everyone in London society went to the theatre, generally more men than women. Sometimes even servants and apprentices spent their time at the theatre. In 1607, the Venetian ambassador bought all of the most expensive seats for a performance of Shakespeare's Pericles. Royalty didn't go the theatre however, they had private performances summoned to their courts. In open air theatres, a groundling ticket (on the floor standing) cost £1 (there were 240 pennies in £1) and for another penny you could have a bench seat in the lower galleries which surrounded the yard and for a penny more you could sit more comfortably with a cushion. The most expensive tickets were in 'The Lord's Rooms'. Admission to indoor theatre's started at about 6 pence. 1 penny was about the cost of a loaf of bread, so the fact that it was so cheap was a reason it was so popular. The groundlings were very close to the action and the floor there was no toilets and the floor they stood on was made up of ash, sand and nutshells. Some people said that the pit smelled of garlic and beer and that no decent citizen should be seen there. So the wealthy would pay more to get a sheltered seat and maybe a cushion. Today, the place where you buy your theatre tickets is called the Box Office. In Shakespeare’s day, as people came into the theatre or climbed the steps to their seats, audiences had to put their money in a box. So the place where audiences pay became known as the box office. Some of the audience went to the theatre to be seen and admired, dressed in their best clothes. But these people were not necessarily well behaved. Most didn’t sit and watch in silence like today. They clapped the heroes and booed the villains, and cheered the special effects. Thieves were common in the audience and sometimes fights broke out. In 1612, magistrates banned music at the end of plays at the Fortune, saying the crowd had caused ‘tumults and outrages’ with their dances.