Stuff You Should Know Part 2: Elizabethan and Jacobean England & Theatre (Revised)

This is Part 2 of our intro series “Stuff You Should Know,” which covers some background and context into the life and times of Shakespeare, because art isn’t created in a vacuum. In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about early modern England during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. And when we say basic, we mean basic. This is a quick overview of early modern England, more importantly the England that influenced Shakespeare. 

In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, as well as the public theatres during those respective eras. We'll review how the transition from feudalism to mercantilism changed English society and discuss facets of early modern English society such as fashion, social mobility, religious freedom, and public health. We will give an overview the history of the public theatre in England and discuss some key features of what theatre-making was like for Shakespeare and his contemporaries. 

Want more about the Elizabethan and Jacobean England & Theatre? Check out these episodes that go more in depth on topics we touch on in this episode:

• Mini: Commerce and Trade in Shakespeare's Time
• King Lear: Mental Health and Disability in Shakespeare's Time
• Mini-Episode: The Gunpowder Plot
• Mini-Episode: The Four Humours
• Hamlet: Ophelia, Gertrude, and Female Agency
• Mini: Plague, Quarantine, & Shakespeare
• Mini: Shakespearean Vengeance: Exploring Revenge Tragedies in Early Modern England
• Mini-Episode: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
• Mini: Traveling Theatre Companies
• Mini: Shakespeare's Folios and Quartos

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Episode written and researched by Kourtney Smith with contributions by Elyse Sharp. Revised September 2024.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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Works referenced:

Brown, John Russell, and Peter Thomson, editor and author. “Chapter 6 English Renaissance and Restoration Theatre.” The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre, pp. 173 - 200. Oxford University Press, 2001

Sherry, Joyce. “Elizabethan Theatre.” YouTube, 4 Jan. 2014, Accessed 6 Sept. 2020, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_cTCdkCAcc