FREE ESSAY ON AUDIENCE SHAKESPEAREAN OF THETHEATER

AUDIENCE SHAKESPEAREAN OF THETHEATER

The Audience of the Shakespearean Theater
During the Elizabethan Age there were different social classes. What you wore depended
upon the social class to which you belonged. It was easy to distinguish the classes by
the way people would dress for the theater, and also where they sat to watch the
performance. 
The lower class, also called peasants, were poorer people. Most were merchants or
servants. A peasant man would wear a tunic or shirt, and breeches of some kind. He would
also wear a laced-up or buttoned jerkin (vest) and some kind of hat. All would have cloth
hosen (stockings) and shoes, or if he wore no hose, he would have long breeches similar
to pajama pants. 
A peasant woman wore a long-sleeved shift under everything and at least two skirts over
that. She had an apron on over the skirts. She wore a tight fitting bodice or vest (scoop
or square necked), which usually came to a point in front, and laced or buttoned on over
the shift.
Most peasants paid one penny to stand in the pit to watch what was being performed. These
people were also called groundlings. The pit is the ground floor in the theater.
The middle class and upper class were a lot wealthier than the peasants were. Most were
knights, country squires, or wealthy merchants or artisans, with their own servants.
Middle or upper class men wore a close-fitting doublet with long or short skirting that
ended somewhere between his upper thigh and the knee, this was worn over their skirt. He
wore breeches, also called truck-hose or upper-stocks on his lower half and they were
decorated to some degree. His hosen, also called nether-stocks, now reached all the way
up his legs. His fine shoes were decorated with buckles or ribbon and his garter ties
were sometimes embroidered or fringed on the ends. He wore either a flat cap or a tall
crowned, small brimmed hat with feathers and a fancy hatband. Many gentlemen wore
knee-length coats called surcoates or great coats, and if worn long, were called gowns. 
The middle class lady's chemise, a long-sleeved shirt, was almost always high-necked. It
might be embroidered and had neck and wrist ruffs. Over the chemise, she wore a corset,
bum-roll (pad-type bolster worn on top of a woman's petticoat, resting on her derriere to
support the weight of the skirt) or farthingale (hoopskirt), and petticoats. The bodice
was high-necked, with a tall collar. The overskirt was full and pleated or gathered into
the waistband. The overskirt might be split up the front to display the fancy underskirt.
She wore a variety of wigs, hats and headdresses. Jewelry would include gold and silver
chains, strings of glass beads, semi-precious stones, or small pearls. She may have worn
rings, brooches, earrings and pins as well. 
Middle class people sat in the seats above and behind the pit. This is called the
gallery. Upper class people sat on the sides of the theater, this is called the lord's
room. This can currently be compared to balconies. 
The distinctions in dress and seating helped to ensure the audience was separated in the
theater as well as they were in society during the Elizabethan age. 
Bibliography
Works Cited
Leed, Drea. Costuming Guide. Elizabethan Costuming Page. 
http://www.renfair.com/guide2.cfm#menmid. 1996.