A 'Golden Age'

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The initials ES stand for Elizabeth Shrewsbury, better known as Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury. Feature B is the huge windows: glass was very expensive, so a house that was 'more glass than wall' showed off her enormous wealth.

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From the 1570s Puritan preachers attacked the theatre in sermons and pamphlets. A sermon at Paul's Cross in 1577 argued that sin caused plague and plays caused sin, so plays caused plague. John Northbrooke wrote against plays in about 1577, Stephen Gosson, a former playwright, published The School of Abuse in 1579, and Philip Stubbes attacked plays in The Anatomie of Abuses in 1583. They said that plays taught immorality, that boys dressing as women broke the law of the Bible, and that plays drew people away from church. When the stands at the Paris Garden bear-baiting arena collapsed on a Sunday in January 1583, killing about eight people, they presented it as God's judgement. Their aim was to persuade the authorities and the public that the stage was sinful.

The City authorities used their powers more directly. In 1574 the Common Council tried to license and restrict performances in City inns, banning them during church services and in times of plague. This was one reason why James Burbage built The Theatre in 1576 in Shoreditch, outside the City's jurisdiction. The Lord Mayor and aldermen then repeatedly petitioned the Privy Council to suppress the playhouses, arguing that crowds spread plague, attracted thieves and prostitutes, caused riots and drew apprentices away from work.

Their arguments sometimes succeeded. After a riot in Southwark in 1592 the Privy Council closed the playhouses, and plague kept them shut for most of the time until 1594. In July 1597 the Lord Mayor again asked for plays to be suppressed, and after The Isle of Dogs was judged seditious the Privy Council ordered the playhouses closed. In 1596 wealthy residents stopped adult players using the Blackfriars playhouse.

However, these successes were temporary. The playhouses reopened within months because the Queen and her council protected the licensed companies, which performed at court. The opposition therefore pushed the theatre out to Shoreditch and Bankside and limited it in plague years, but could not stop it, because royal protection, profits and popular demand were stronger.

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Prodigy houses were important first because they displayed their owners' wealth and status. They were enormous and symmetrical, and as Figure 1 shows, Hardwick Hall had huge windows at a time when glass was very expensive, so it was said to be 'more glass than wall'. Bess of Hardwick's initials, ES, stand on the top of every tower, announcing to everyone who had built it. The tallest windows lit the state rooms on the top floor, and long galleries were hung with portraits and tapestries that showed off the family's ancestry and connections. For a woman who had risen from a minor gentry family to become Countess of Shrewsbury, the house was a statement of her success.

Secondly, many prodigy houses were built to win royal favour. Elizabeth went on summer progresses, staying at the houses of her leading subjects, and hosting her was a great honour that could bring influence and rewards. William Cecil enlarged Theobalds to receive the Queen, who stayed there many times, and built Burghley House; Sir Christopher Hatton built Holdenby on a vast scale. These houses therefore linked the elite to the court and to the patronage system.

Thirdly, they showed the owners' learning and taste. Their symmetrical fronts and classical decoration followed Renaissance ideas from Italy and France, as at Longleat, begun by Sir John Thynne in 1568, and Wollaton Hall, built by Sir Francis Willoughby with profits from his coal mines. Inside, great chambers and withdrawing chambers gave the family more comfort and privacy, away from their servants.

However, they could also be a burden. The cost of building and entertaining was huge, and Hatton died heavily in debt to the Crown.

These consequences were linked: the houses displayed wealth and taste in order to win and show royal favour, which in turn brought more wealth and status. Their most important role was therefore as a public display of status in a society where rank and royal favour mattered above all.

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Cheap prices were an important reason why the theatre was so popular, because they allowed ordinary Londoners to attend. However, I think the main reason was the quality and variety of the entertainment, because cheapness explains who could go but not why so many people chose to go again and again.

The case for cheapness is strong. It cost only a penny to stand in the yard of a playhouse such as the Globe, two pennies for the galleries and about three pennies for a cushioned seat. A craftsman earned about twelve pence a day by 1600, so a penny was affordable for apprentices, servants and craftsmen. Because the playhouses were large, with the Globe holding up to about 3,000 people, companies could keep prices low and still make money. Cheapness meant that the theatre was not only for the rich.

However, cheapness alone does not explain the theatre's popularity. Other entertainments, such as bear-baiting at Paris Garden, were also cheap, and the poorest still struggled to spare a penny, while workers had to miss work to see afternoon performances. Gentlemen, law students from the Inns of Court and nobles paid more for better places, so for them price was not the attraction.

The quality and variety of the plays mattered most. Audiences could see Marlowe's Tamburlaine, Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's comedies, tragedies and histories. Companies performed a changing programme, adding new plays often, as Philip Henslowe's diary shows, so there was always something new. Patriotic histories such as Henry V suited the national mood after the Armada. Star actors such as Richard Burbage, Edward Alleyn and the clowns Richard Tarlton and Will Kemp drew crowds of their own.

The spectacle and atmosphere also attracted people. Rich costumes, music, sword fights, ghosts rising through the trapdoor and the jig at the end made the theatre exciting, and people who could not read could still enjoy the stories. A visit was a social occasion, with food and drink sold in the crowd and the chance to be seen in fine clothes.

The theatre's popularity also depended on London itself. The city grew to perhaps 200,000 people by 1600, and many had money to spend on leisure. Shoreditch and Bankside were within easy reach, and protection from the Queen and her council allowed regular performances, despite opposition.

These factors were linked: cheap prices opened the playhouses to the many, but the plays and actors made them want to come back, and London's growing population supplied the crowds. Overall, I only partly agree. Cheapness made the theatre accessible, but the main reason it was so popular was the quality, variety and excitement of the entertainment itself.