- Bear baiting was
also performed in the Swan
- The Swan was
opened in 1574
- The theatrical
entrepreneur involved with the Swan was Francis Langley
- The Swan was one
of the 12 massive amphitheatres, including the Globe
Theatre, which were built around the City of London
In 1574 the City of London
started regulating the Inn-yard activities. The Theatrical entrepreneurs
fought back and started to build purpose built wooden theatres such as the
Swan. It was styled on the open air
Roman amphitheatres providing a classical connection and an air of
respectability to the Theatrical profession. The Swan was extremely
quick to build, approximately 6 months, requiring only cheap building
materials it therefore increased profits for the theatre at least
five-fold.
The Swan Theatre
The
picture of the Swan amphitheatre interior at the top of the page is the only picture of an
Elizabethan theatre interior which has survived. In 1596 a Dutch
traveller called Johannes de Witt attended a play at the Swan
Theatre in London. Whilst he was at the Swan theatre Johannes de Witt made a sketch of
the inside of the Swan Theatre. A friend of Johannes de Witt named Arend van
Buchell copied the sketch and de Witt added this drawing to his diary. His
diary note, together with the Swan interior picture, is probably the
single most important source of information regarding the internal
layout of Elizabethan London theatres. All of the Elizabethan London theatres, or amphitheatres, were similar in
design, so the picture of the Swan Theatre can be used a good guide to the
structure and layout of these first purpose-built theatres. The exact dimensions of the
amphitheatres have been lost in time, but the picture of the Swan
allows for an approximation. The Swan was built by
Francis Langley and opened in 1595.
The Diary note of Johannes de Witt on the
Swan Theatre
From diary of the Elizabethan traveller, Johannes de Witt:
"There are four amphitheatres in London so beautiful that
they are worth a visit, which are given different names from
their different signs. In these theatres, a different play
is offered to the public every day. The two more excellent
of these are situated on the other side of the Thames,
towards the South, and they are called the Rose and the Swan
from their signboards. There are two other theatres outside
the city towards the North, on the road that leads through
the Episcopal Gate called Bishopsgate in the vernacular.
There is also a fifth, but of a different structure,
intended for fights of animals, in which many bears, bulls,
and dogs of stupendous size are held in different cages and
behind fences, which are kept for the fight to provide a
most pleasant spectacle to the people. The most outstanding
of all the theatres, however, and the largest, is that whose
sign is the swan (in the vernacular, the theatre of the
swan), as it seats 3000 people. It is built out of flint
stones stacked on top of each other (of which there is great
store in Britain), supported by wooden pillars which, by
their painted marble colour, can deceive even the most acute
observers. As its form seems to bear the appearance of a
Roman work, I have made a drawing of it"
Description of The Theatre
amphitheatre
The Swan was described as an Elizabethan Amphitheatre which was octagonal
or
circular in shape having between 8 and
24 sides. The
open air arena of the amphitheatre was called the 'pit' or the
'yard'. The stage of the amphitheatre
projected halfway into the 'pit'. The Swan had a raised stage at one end
which was surrounded by three tiers of
roofed galleries with balconies
overlooking the back of the stage.
Facts and Information about the
Amphitheatre styled
Elizabethan Theatres
Interesting general facts and
information about the amphitheatre venue such as the Swan:
-
Audience
capacity of an Elizabethan amphitheatre was between 1500 and
3000
-
Building
materials used in the construction of early Elizabethan
Theatres were timber, nails, stone (flint), plaster with
thatched roofs
-
The 'Box ' and
the 'Box Office' - Playgoers put 1 penny in a box at the
Elizabethan theatre entrance. At the start of the play the
admission collectors put the boxes in a room backstage
called the box office.
-
The Entrance to
the theatre - Usually one main entrance. Some later theatres
had external staircases to access the galleries
-
The owners of
the theatre were called the 'Housekeepers'
-
There was no
heating in the Elizabethan Theatre. Plays were performed in
the summer months and transferred to the indoor playhouses
during the winter
-
Lighting in the
Elizabethan Theatre - Natural lighting as plays were
produced in the afternoon. However there was some artificial
lighting mainly intended to provide atmosphere for night
scenes
-
Toilet
Facilities? None . People relieved themselves outside.
Sewage was buried in pits or disposed of in the River Thames
-
Size of
Elizabethan Theatre - Up to 100 feet in diameter
-
Shapes of the
Elizabethan Theatres - Circular or Octagonal in shape having
between 8 and 24 sides
-
The height of
the raised stage was 3 to 5 feet and supported by large
pillars or trestles
-
Stage dimensions
varied from 20 foot wide 15 foot deep to 45 feet to 30 feet
-
Only very rich
women, who often wore masks, or women of dubious morals
attended the amphitheatres
-
Musicians -
Music was an extra effect added in the 1600's
-
A selection of
ropes & rigging would allow for special effects, such as
flying or dramatic entries
-
The floor of the
Stage was made of wood, sometimes covered with rushes. Trap
doors in the floor would enable some additional special
effects such as smoke