Wednesday 18th January

In the morning we learnt about shakespeare and what theatre was like at the time (Renaissance era).
What did i learn about Shakespeare?

• There are thirty-eight plays written by shakespeare around today, two more plays were lost in the past.
• Not much is actually known about shakespeare, there are very few paintings of him (all believed to be inaccurate), and only few facts about him can be accounted for e.g he was married
• His plays are split up into Historys, Tragedies and comedies
• He used rythm, sonnets and many forms of writing in his plays
• he is probably the most famous and popular playwright to date

We then talked about his use of language, as he used old english (from the time era) to write his plays.
In actual fact after reading through some of his material, we realised that its not that difficult to make out what he means or is trying to say, once you know this you can then research any unknown words. To explore this we looked at a poem called "JABBERWOCKY"(by Lewis Carol) which is basically written in a completely made-up form, yet you can create meaning out of it because they are believable words!.  We then looked through our monologues and scene work to make sure we actually understood what we are saying and meaning!, this is crucial as you have to understand a piece to be able to portray it correctly to an audience. I believe i now understand what my character is trying to say and what emotions she is expressing .
The afternoon was also research based, as we explored the Renaissance era.

What did I learn?

• Renaissance is the name for a time era (1500-mid 1600) the word means new birth. during this period the tudors and stuarts were in power (at different times of course).
• many aspects of life changed greatly in this era as new discoverys, beliefs and laws came into society e.g new lands discovered. This influenced theatre greatly at the time e.g war influenced theatre strongly.
• William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, James Burbage, Christopher Marlowe and Richard Burbage were famous playwright/actors around during this era.
• Myths and Magic and the society highrank ,The chain of being (see picture below) had a great influence on theatre e.g women were seen as very low in society.
• classcial style was popular
• theatre was seen as quite un-civalised for a while, only being performed by lower members of society (outside of london) and frowned upon by many, including the church. Audience members could throw food at bad actors, talk as much and as loudly as they wished, and the atmosphere was crowded and roudy.
• In 1576 theatre became recognised slightly by higher classes, meaning the first theatre in london was built, and simply called "The theatre". The Swan and The Rose (both london theatres) followed soon after. Elizabeth the first fell in love with theatre and often held productions in her court.
• theatre companies were already around and toured outside of london. Shakespeare himself spent much of his career with a company called Chamberlaines
• Shakespeare's plays were performed in either "The Blackfriars" (higher class) or "The Globe" (lower class").                                                                













 I have found a video which will give you furthur information on William Shakespeare. I found it quite interesting, i hope you share the same experience :-)



THE CHAIN OF BEING
This helped me to understand the system so i hope it helps you to!