Audience

In the Globe Theater, there was a 1500 plus audience capacity and up to 3000 people would flock to the theater and its grounds.

The poorer members of the audience stood in the central yard, which was open to the sky, so if it rained, they got rained on. Because they were standing on the ground, they were known as the 'Groundlings' or 'Stinkards', because they smelt so bad. The groundings had a reputation for being rowdy. They would shout and cheer throughout the play and often threw things at the actors.

The rich members of the audience sat in the covered galleries which surrounded the yard. The rich would sit in comfort and were safe from the weather.

If the audience didn't like what they were seeing on stage, they would shout insults or throw food and empty beer bottles at the actors.

inspite of this bad reputation, the theater was a place where people from many different profession, social classes and backgrounds mixed together.

The groundlings were never far away from the people in the galleries, and plays of the times often mocked any snobbish citizens who beleived that their seats i nthe galleries made them better than the people down in the yard. At the end of the play, many of the spectators coming down from the expensive seats would mingle with the groundlings

The grounds of the Globe were bustling with people and potential audience. There were stalls selling merchandise and refreshments, which attracted non playgoers to the market



There were no toilets so people had to relieve themselves outside or if they were standing in the yard, right then and there.

Plays began at 2pm and went on till about 4 or 5pm, which ment that in order to see plays people would have to miss part of the working day. Plays also clashed with afternoon church services, which also began at 2. So many people would go skip church to go to the theater, and the shouts from the audience disturbed the service. this was once of the reasons why Puritans and cit authorities saw plays and theaters as immoral.

People would go to the Globe with clear expectations about what they were going to see. The plays were advertised on sheets of paper called playbills which were put up around the streets. Many plays followed very typical patterns, and people who liked a particular kind of play would be able to choose what they would enjoy seeing. Most of the popular plays involved revenge and bloody murders because that was what people in those days enjoyed watching. The plays would often have what they were about in their title, so that the audience would know what they would be seeing from just the name of the play.

If the audience didn't like the play that was being performed, they would shout and stamp until the actors acted something else instead.