Julien Brown
Ms. Mehok
English I Honours
2/6/08
Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare Summary
The Theatre in Shakespeare's day
The majority of Shakespeare's plays were made to be performed in a public theatre, which were open to the public, and open to the elements and the area where the poorer people stood was normally refered to as the courtyard or the pit. Theatres was open to the elements because theatres had no coverings or roofs which the groundlings; the poorer peasants stood, and the wealthy sat on the outside of the courtyard of three levels of benches, which could be compared to skyboxes in a NFL or NBA arena or stadium. The theatre most used by William Shakespear was the Globe Theatre, which was a theatre with an open sky and had a capacity of 2,500 to 3,000; but the actual dimensions are still argued. Recently the foundation of the theatre has been discovered in 1990, and in time the excavation of the theatre will help explain who acted there, the audience and the actual plays. Excavation of this has shown discoveries of the Elizabethan 'popcorn' which was a hazelnut. Further excavation of this theatre has also shown the layout of the theatre and the lavish Elizabethan clothing that the actors wuld wear.
The Globe Today
Sam Wanamaker had been fund-raising and constructing a replica of the Globe Theatre, which was completed and opened on June 8th 1997. The new 'Globe' has similar traits as the one it is trying to mimic, such as an open roof.
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare was thought to be born in 1564 and has a disputed day of actual birth and death. During his life he had written at least 37 plays and many of them have become famous and popular after his death. His work has been influencial on the literary world.
Not many records of Shakespeare's early life have been taken because during his time playwrights were not socially respected, so in turn no biographies would be writen about the life of Shakespear. He was thought to be born in Stratford-on-Avon which was a busy market town outside of London. His father was John Shakespeare and his mother was Mary Arden, and his family was socially high, this allowed him to attend Stratford Grammar School until he was 14.
Shakespeare's love of theatre caused him to leave his family to pursue his theatre career, but he had contacted them frequently. Shakespeare had even bought one of the nicest homes in Stratford for his family and settled after he retired. When Shakespeare had spent time in London, he was established as an actor, and eventually became a playwright, and joined many Theatres, writing plays, eventually retiring. Shakespear did not write his plays to be published, he wrote them to be performed. His plays and writings are reflected in literary works today, his plays were sometimes genres of their own.
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet..Montague and Capulets...fueding families, with Romeo and Juliet in love, the families have a vandetta deep-seeded in violence and animosity.