Thesis: Shakespeare took the theater of his time, and he used it brilliantly.

The wooden O

Quote #1: Sometimes playwrights influence the shape and form of a theater, but more often existing theaters seem to influence the shape and form of plays.

Commentary: This explains the effect ones plays could have on an entire building or idea.

Quote #2: In 1576, outside the city walls of London, an actor-manager named James Burbage built the first permanent theater in England. He called it the Theatre.

Commentary: This explains how the globe first came to be. Actually this is before there was ever a globe. Because where this theatre stands there will be a theatre to stand there in it's place.

Quote #3: In,, 1599, Burbage's theatre was torn down and it's timbers were used by Shakespeare and his company to build the Globe theatre.

Commentary: So, after Burbage's theatre was torn it gave Shakespeare a chance to build his globe. If it weren't for Burbage we wouldn't have the same Shakespeare we all know today.

Quote #4: This was the theatre for which Shakespeare wrote most of his plays.

Commentary: For example, one of the more famous plays, Romeo and Juliet, probably showed that play many times in his theater.

Quote #5: It has been said that all you need for a theater is "two planks and a passion."

Commentary: Planks mean ''stage'' so Shakespeare had undergone various changes.

Monologues:

Quote #1: In his play Henry V, Shakespeare called his theater a "Wooden O".

Commentary: It was called a wooden O because the way it was formed it did look like an O.

Quote #2: The plays were performed in the afternoon. Since the stage open to the sky, there was no need for stage lighting.

Commentary: Shakespeare's plays as you would have guessed are performed in the day light.

Quote #3: The stage was "set" by the language. A whole forest scene was created in one play when a character announced, "Well, this is the Forest of Arden."

Commentary: This could be showing how the plays were so organized in the way they were set up.

Quote #4: Plays were originally performed by the all-male medieval trade guilds, so all women's parts were played by boys.

Commentary: When Shakespeare was making his plays it was that women would not have acting parts because it was just not common.

Structure:

Quote #1: In the back of this stage was a curtained-off inner stage were two doors for entrances and exits.

Commentary: This could've given the actors a way to get on and off the stage.

Quote #2: Above this inner stage was a small balcony or upper stage, which could be used to suggest Juliet's balcony or the high walls of a castle or the bridge of a ship.

Commentary: This could've helped with the plays Shakespeare had made.

Quote #3: Trapdoors were placed in the floor of the main stage for the entrances and exits of ghosts and for descension into hell.

Commentary: The play Macbeth had ghost so the trapped doors could've helped with special effects.

Quote #4: The groundings, those eight hundred or more people who stood shoulder to shoulder around the stage for the price of a penny, loved a good show. Most people still do.

Commentary: There different layers of seats in the globe. The top was for rich people who could afford the seats. And the area around the stage was for people who paid a penny to see it.

Resources: Shakespeare and his theater: A perfect match by Robert anderson