The Globe Theatre
Historical
Picture 1 The Diagram of Globe Theatre
The famous globe theatre in London was built in 1599. Shakespeare referred this theatre as the 'wooden O' as the theatre was rounded. The Globe could hold 3,000 spectators and had 20 sides for the spectators. Unfortunately the original globe theatre was burnt down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII. However in the same year a reconstruction of the globe was built. As seen from the diagram there were lots of seats to be filled. The seating was more expensive the higher you went.The Staging
The staging was set up as a thrust stage which meant it was more intimate and harder to keep all of the audience engaged. The reason why the audience is harder to engage is because the actors had to work out where to face the parts of the audience such as soliloquies were difficult because you had to keep the audiences attention even though you aren't always looking at them. In Much Ado About Nothing Benedick has two soliloquy in Act Two scene 3 expressing thought in his soliloquy.I think the audience can relate to these soliloquy as it is about love. Referring to our modern interpretation Benedick had more of a intimate feel to the audience and offer them rhetorical question that the audience answer in there head. Each solilquy was different in some ways by using a minor difference to tell the audience a story about Benedick and Beatrice love life. This is when the comic side of this piece comes in as the characteristics clash as part of the play which adds laughter and light relief. The staging would have minimal props because there wasn't many props that were made in the Elizabethan era. The only part of the staging that was on the stage all the time were the pillars that were plotted about the stage. For example in Much Ado About Nothing maybe the pillars were used for Beatrice to not be revealed to Benedick because they have a distant relationship.The pillars were there to show the audience the relationship of Beatrice and Benedick. Above the stage were was the tiring house where the costumes were put. The tiring house had a clock to represent the time of day the play had been set. Now in a modern version of Much Ado About Nothing there would be technology to cover the setting such as dark lighting in a dark play in Macbeth when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill King Duncan the dark lighting would suit that part and the audience. The characters would enter the stage if from either stage left or right if they were a human character such as in Much Ado Leonato would walk on confidently and start Act One Scene one. Compared to Rourkes version of Much Ado the staging was a proscenium stage which I think was more easier on the actors to communicate to the audience.
The Staging -Trapdoor
The trapdoor was a feature to the globe as it showed what type of character they must be. The actors would enter or exit from the trapdoor if they have died or is reflected as a ghostly character such as in Act 3 scene 4 in Macbeth when Banquo is seen as a ghost whos comes back to show the guilt of Macbeth murdering him. The trapdoor was known as hell which explains why the character would enter or exit though the trapdoor. Under the trapdoor, there was loads of space underneath which meant that the actors could wait for there scene.The Staging- The Heavens
The Globe- The Audience
The audience is relating to the people socially because of where they sat. The audience standing would be more involved with the play. For example because Much Ado is a comical play the audience would laugh at the humour that was in the play. Specifically in Act one scene one on page eight when Beatrice and Benedick have a friendly conversation they bounce of one another like a competition between each other. Personally I thought that the proscenium version works better compared to the original staging because it would of made it easier for the audience to see the actors more rather than loosing the attention. However the thrust stage is set up socially because of class. The cheapest ticket would be standing which costs 2p (£5). As sitting ticket would be 3p and so on. The reason why the standing tickets were the cheapest because of the weather conditions that could happen such as rain. Also the standing tickets can fit many people in so it can get overcrowded. The label named 'upper stage' was seating for the rich people so they can be seen 'above the actor' and so the rest of the audience can see them. They were the royals of the audience. This type of audience would not come necessarily to watch the visually. It was more to do with hearing the play and the type of voices that were heard. In Shakespeare's time the audience wasn't as responsive compared to our audience today. The seating would depend on your social class and how much money you would spend to come to the theatre.
Social and Culture relating to Much Ado About Nothing
Originally all of the actors were played by men. It was against the law for women to act in Shakespearian era which meant that boys aged 13 to 15 would play the romantic females and the older men would have the comical female such as Beatrice. The young boys didn't have a broken voice which meant that they could use a higher pitch in there voice to make it more realistic. The make up was slightly over the top with pink cheeks and eye shadow and a beauty spot. It was a stereotypical women in the Elizabethan era. This picture shows how The women were dressed by wearing a big dress to show the female character. The hair a wig that has been put on. The picture above is what the Elizabethan era would show. The picture shows the hands gesture between the man and the women.
Much Ado has themes that relate to society such as marriage with Claudio and Hero. Marriage was a common the Elizabethan era. The dowry (a contract between the families of the engaged couple of the transferring all the brides belonging to the husband house or their house)would be common in the Elizabethan era as most of the people would be Christian. After marriage in society the next stage was to have a large family which meant children. The amount of pregnant women in the Elizabethan era were very high especially for Queen Elizabeth I being born in a big family. Queen Elizabeth I was the second child of Henry VIII married to Anne Boleyn. Compared to the modern day in Much Ado has as developed in society has followed the dowry system it is optional Rourke version was set in the 1980s. 1980s society there were ideas of same sex marriages at the time when Much Ado about Nothing was performed.
Relationship was a important feature especially between the main characters Beatrice and Benedick. In the contemporary version of Much Ado I understood how the chemistry was just not entirely a love relationship yet. In the 1980s it was mainly about having a good time at the bar. However the original would be similar by saying the conversation in the Act One in a sarcastic way. There are different types of love because of the love that Hero and Claudio compared to Don Pedro and Don John. The two brothers have a different kind of love as they are family whereas Hero and Claudio show more of affectionate love to one another.
In terms of language in Act One Scene one with Benedick and Beatrice they are written in prose which is interesting because of the sarcastic it makes me understand that the light conversation is free to say anything that fits with the other comeback that has been given previously. For example 'scratched face' was used in both versions of the play. Both versions were funny because of the delivery of the line but however I thought that maybe the original play the audience may have got the jokes because of the language used.
The audience point of view
Some scenes I could feel how the audience were reacting to some funny moments in the play. For example the portaloo scene I thought that the audience related to that because they have been in a similar experince therefore could imagine what it is like for the character to sit on a portaloo.
Generally Much Ado shows a whole range of knowing how the audience is following and understand the audience such as the characters Dogberry and Verges are lower class therefore the audience could relate to that similar class as they know what it is like in that class experience. The scenes are I have seen with Dogberry and Verges are set near bins and dark and lower down than the others in the play.
On the other hand higher in class such as Don Pedro who is one of the royals which means he is more upper class compared to the lower class characters Dogberry and Verges. He is always standing proud and knows what he is doing and has direct decisions. However his niece Beatrice has slight upper class but is a big character that shines Don Pedro by confidence. The audience can relate to this as some members in the globe theatre were upper class therefore they would understand Beatrice and Don Pedro's character as they as similar themselves in class. Today we changed it to a band point of view which the audience would think about as members of a well known band are naturally higher because of the famous aspect they have. Being a fan of band the band would out shine the fans because of the status.
To conclude I fully understood the play of Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing by exploring the globe historically, in culture and social themes that the play has.
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