During Shakespeare's lifetime, theatre and the literary arts became very popular with the help of Queen Elizabeth! Elizabeth was fond of acting and theatre, so with her permission, professional theatres were built. Many of England's greatest playwrights were alive during this time, like Christopher Marlow, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare and more. Shakespeare also helped sonnets (poems) to become popular, but theatre was the main attraction during his life. The theatres were built with an opening on the top, so performances were in the afternoon and not at night because it would be too dark. The opening also made it so that if it rained the actors and some of the audience would get wet. Theatres also had no stage crew, so the actors had to set the stage. In Shakespeare's plays, the audience was interactive. They could eat, drink, boo, cheer and even throw objects at the actors. The actors were all boys though, because women were not allowed as actors during this time, so young boys played the roles of girls in the plays. Plays were organized by acting companies, who had about 6 plays a week to stay in business, which, in turn, left almost no time for rehearsals.
The Art and Literature of Shakespeare's Time
Throughout the Elizabethan Era literature was extremely important and popular!