Elizabethan Theatre and Culture

A golden age, or a merry England?

The Elizabethan age is often called a golden age of theatre, and the country a merry England of festivals and pastimes. ⭐ There is real truth in it. The first purpose-built playhouses opened, drama flourished, and plays drew crowds from every rank, from the poorest standing in the yard to the queen herself. ⚠️ But it was fiercely contested. Puritans and city authorities attacked the theatres and popular pastimes. So your task is not to celebrate the golden age, but to WEIGH it: how merry, and for whom?

Flourishing, and under attack

The evidence points two ways at once, which is exactly why the golden age label has to be weighed rather than simply accepted.

Order the rise of the playhouse

Put the stages in the rise of the Elizabethan theatre into order.

• Travelling players perform in inn-yards and halls
• The first purpose-built playhouses are opened
• Plays draw large crowds from every rank
• Opponents attack the theatres as sinful and disorderly
• Playhouses are built outside the city walls to escape control

Why the city authorities were hostile

The authorities who ran the city of London were hostile to the theatres. What worried them most?

• Big crowds could spread plague, draw apprentices from work, and turn disorderly
• Actors earned more money than the city merchants
• The queen had ordered all theatres to be closed
• The plays were all written in foreign languages

Words for the world of the theatre

Five words that let you explain the theatre world, rather than just describe a play.

Spot that theatre crossed the ranks

Three of these show that the theatre was enjoyed across the whole of society. Choose the three.

• The poor could pay a small sum to stand in the yard
• The wealthier paid more for covered gallery seats
• Plays were performed at court for the queen
• Only nobles were ever allowed to watch a play
• Plays were banned everywhere in England

The attack on the theatres

The playhouses had powerful enemies, and not for one reason alone. Puritans objected on moral grounds. They saw plays as encouraging sin and idleness, and disliked that boys played the parts of women. The city objected on practical grounds. Large crowds could spread the plague, tempt apprentices away from their work, and break into disorder. This is why so many playhouses were built just beyond the reach of the city, and why popular pastimes were attacked too.

Match each part of the theatre world

Find the sentence that weighs the age

A student judges whether this was a golden age. Select the ONE sentence that WEIGHS it, as a top answer should.

• It was a golden age for theatre in many ways, yet the fierce Puritan and city opposition shows a merry England is too simple a label.
• It was simply the merriest time in all of English history.
• It was a miserable age with nothing to enjoy at all.
• Nothing can be said about it, because tastes are just opinions.

A worked example: loved and condemned at once

Think of a new style of music that packs out every hall it plays, and that millions adore. At the very same time, some people denounce it as noise that corrupts the young and should be banned. Both things are true together: it is wildly popular AND fiercely condemned. Hold that idea. Calling an age simply golden, or simply grim, misses the point when the same thing was celebrated by many and attacked by others at once.

Complete the account of the theatre

A purpose-built place for plays was a _____. A poorer viewer who stood in the yard was a _____. A strict Protestant who condemned plays as sinful was a _____. A popular amusement such as dancing was a _____. A powerful person who protected a company of players was its _____.

Judge the golden age

Which is the soundest judgement on whether this was a golden age of popular culture?

• Theatre and culture truly flourished, but a merry England is too simple, because it faced serious and organised opposition
• It was purely and simply a merry golden age for everyone
• It was a grim age with no real culture at all
• Culture was enjoyed only by the rich

Golden, and contested

The strongest answers hold both sides, because the same age was a high point for culture and a battleground over it.

Judge the age like an examiner

You are marking three claims about Elizabethan popular culture. For each, choose the soundest judgement.

• An essay says it was simply a merry golden age. Is that safe?
• An essay says theatre was only for the rich. Is that safe?
• An essay says the Puritans stopped all theatre in this period. Is that safe?

Write: how far was it a golden age

How far was Elizabethan England a golden age of popular culture? Weigh the flourishing against the opposition, and reach a judgement. This is written in English and is not auto-marked.

• Give two signs that culture flourished
• Give two signs it was contested
• Note that theatre reached every rank
• Reach a supported judgement