The End
The English Elizabethan theatre developed through the combination of the “mysteries” which were religious plays that were the last remnant of theatre during the middle ages, and the migration of Comedia del arte lazzis (meaning comic bits) and the introduction of the stock characters that still populate modern comedy. During this time, such great writers as Christopher Marlowe, the notorious atheist, who was killed for his beliefs, and of course everyone’s favorite, William Shakespeare. This theatrical period defined most of what has come afterwards, and many of the lessons that bill taught us are still essential to playwriting.
However, this golden era of theatre had to end. The puritans had always been enemies of the theatre, taking issue with the idea of acting, and comparing it to possession, and with boys dressing up as women to play the female roles, as women were not allowed on stage in that period. Now during this era, there was a power struggle going on between the Royalists, and the Parliamentarians. The theatre companies were usually contracted by royals, so the royalists were obviously in favor of theatre, while the Parliamentarians were supported by the puritans, and therefore adopted parts of their agenda. So, when in 1642, the Parliamentarians took control of London, they started making changes, and on September 2nd of that year, they issued an order to shut down all of the theatres in the city.
The city was retaken in 1660, and the theatres were reopened, but by then the Elizabethan trend had passed and now plays of restoration comedy, and spectacle were played on the stage. In the 1830’s, some of the values and aesthetics of the Elizabethan era resurfaced with Queen Victoria’s rise to power. The longest reigning queen in England’s history dreamed of a return to what she felt was a pinnacle in English history. Several buildings were built in the timber framed and vernacular style of that era. However, Victoria’s fantasy did not come to fruition, and the movement died out before even starting. The era in which Shakespeare lived and loved and wrote in, is still one of the most defining periods of theatre, where Shakespeare broke a lot of the classic laws, and made his own set of them that still defines contemporary theatre.
