elizabethan entertainment

Question 1

What four forms of entertainment were popular across all classes?

Answer 1

-dancing
-music
-singing
-gambling

Question 2

What four forms of entertainment were popular with the poor?

Answer 2

-puppet shows
-hawkers
-conjurors
-trained animals

Question 3

Cruel sports were enjoyed by all
-name the three most popular ones
-what did towns do during royal progresses?

Answer 3

-bear baiting, bull baiting and cock fighting
-Elizabeth loved cruel sports so whenever there was a progress towns would out on bear baiting

Question 4

What 6 forms of entertainment were enjoyed by the rich?

Answer 4

-hunting
-archery
-hawking
-horse racing
-jousts
-feasts

Question 5

What were bands of strolling players?

Answer 5

They were a group of actors who toured the country and performed plays for townspeople

Question 6

Where did the bands of strolling players perform?

Answer 6

A courtyard, inn, market square

Question 7

What were common themes of plays put on by a band of strolling players?

Answer 7

Robin Hood/poor triumphing over the rich

Question 8

What were the reactions to the band of strolling players?

Answer 8

Authorities were worried because of the content of the plays

Question 9

When were bands of strolling players banned unless they had a license to perform? Who did they get the license from?

Answer 9

-1572
-Lord Chamberlain

Question 10

When was the globe built?

Answer 10

1599

Question 11

Elizabeth loved the theater
-what was it used as
-give two examples of the themes/plots of these plays

Answer 11

-propaganda
-Shakespeare often included the theme of loyalty to the monarch and during conflict with Philip II anti-Spanish plays would be shown that showed Spanish soldiers killing Protestants

Question 12

What opposition did Theatre face?

Answer 12

-the large crowds concerned authorities because of disease and pickpocketers
-puritans viewed it as sinful

Question 13

Give a specific example of a bear-baiting arena and how many people it would accommodate and what it looked like

Answer 13

-‘Bear Garden’ in Paris Garden in Southwark, London
-up to 1,000 people
-circular with a central pit and thatched roof - copied the design of the early theatres

Question 14

Give a piece of evidence that showed how much Elizabeth loved bear-baiting

Answer 14

MPs tried to pass a law in 1585 to ban bear-baiting on a Sunday but she overruled it

Question 15

Archery: Men over the age of….

Answer 15

24 were expected to practice archery on a Sunday after church

Question 16

Compare the dancing of the upper and lower classes

Answer 16

-lower classes = traditional country dances
-upper classes = musicians played foreign tunes like the slow paven or gavotte. One dance, the Volta, was often frowned upon as it involved the lady jumping into the air

Question 17

Describe Elizabethan football

Answer 17

-no pitch, no proper goals, no limit on the number of players on each team
-finishing lines up to a mile apart, fights often erupted as you just had to get the ball to the other side by whatever means necessary

Question 18

Give two examples of theater companies established to give the government control and to give the actors patrons?

Answer 18

-The Queen’s Men (est. 1583)
-The Lord Chamberlains Men (est. 1594)

Question 19

When, where and by whom was the first purpose built theatre since Roman times built in England?

Answer 19

-James Burbage (actor-manager)
-1576
-called ‘The Theatre’
-Finsbury Fields at Shoreditch

Question 20

When did The Rose theatre open?

Answer 20

1587

Question 21

Who was the Globe built by?

Answer 21

James Burbage’s sons - Cuthburt and Richard

Question 22

Describe and explain the design of theatres

Answer 22

-round, open space with jutting out raised stage, lime washed walls, thatched roof
-beneath stage = hell were evil spirits entered through a trap door
-the stage = earthly region
-above the stage = painted with stars sun and moon = heaven

Question 23

How would a Londoner know if a show was about to be performed?

Answer 23

Flag was flown or cannon was sounded

Question 24

How was the theatre made inclusive?

Answer 24

Cheap tickets for the pit, more expensive tickets for seats

Question 25

Name one great dramatic actor and one who established a rep as comedian and acrobat

Answer 25

-Richard Burbage (Lear, Hamlet, Othello)
-Thomas Pope (colleague of Shakespeares)

Question 26

Name three famous Elizabethan playwrights and a bit of info about them

Answer 26

-William Shakespeare = 37 plays, born Stratford-Upon-Avon
-Christopher Marlowe = developed the ‘tragedy’, famous for ‘Doctor Faustus’
-Thomas Kyd = pioneered the ‘revenge tragedy’

Question 27

Give an example to prove that Elizabeth loved the theatre

Answer 27

She was at the first performance of the Twelfth Night in 1601

Question 28

Give an example of a play used by the authorities as propaganda

Answer 28

-alarum for London
-showed catholic Spanish soldiers killing innocent Protestants in Antwerp
-frequently performed in the 1580s to generate an anti-Spanish feel

Question 29

Due to opposition from authorities, many theatres had to …

Answer 29

Be built outside city walls