What was theatre like in the Elizabethan Age (time of Shakespeare)?
Acting troupes traveled around; they didn’t stay anywhere permanently. How long they stayed somewhere depended on how many or how few people came to see their show- at least before the Theatre was built. They would often get rotten food thrown at them by unruly audiences. They performed only in the afternoon, as there was no lighting. They also used little to no set- they used words to let the audience know what the setting was. There were no women in theatre at the time- the roles of women were played by young boys or eunuchs. You know how the house (where the audience sits) is slanted backwards, or “raked”? Back then, the stages were raked instead, so when the actors went upstage, they were literally going up. I can’t imagine performing on a slanted stage!
