A City That Wanted Entertainment
Late Elizabethan London had roughly 200,000 inhabitants, and more than 15,000 men and women attended plays each week. Theatre competed with cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and bear-baiting, all part of the city’s vigorous entertainment culture.
The Pressure of Popularity
As the Lord Chamberlain’s Men became more successful, audience demand increased. The company had to perform six different plays every week. Actors memorized lines for numerous roles and had little time, if any, for rehearsal.
This schedule reveals the physical labor behind Renaissance drama. A celebrated play was not performed occasionally as a special event; it belonged to a rotating commercial repertory that had to keep audiences returning.
Two Kinds of Theatre
In 1599 the company began performing at the outdoor Globe, which could hold about 3,000 people. In 1609 it also used the indoor Blackfriars Theatre, whose capacity was about 600.
Blackfriars demanded higher prices: the minimum entry cost sixpence, six times the Globe’s minimum, while better seats cost eighteen or thirty pence. The smaller indoor theatre helped the company earn money throughout the year and serve audiences willing to pay for greater comfort.
The company’s success was therefore built on both artistic reputation and logistical endurance. Every performance depended on actors keeping an entire theatrical machine in motion.