Acting+style

Although it is difficult to know the exact way in which actors performed on stage at the Globe. We do know that the acting style change through time and in Shakespeare's day, actors seem to have performed with many more over the top gestures then modern actors use.

We know about these extravagant gestures and the generally exaggerated style of acting because lots of play writers make fun of it.

Like today, there were well-established conventions for what certain gestures meant and we can also see this on portraits of the period.

One of the most famous criticisms of this style of acting can be found in Hamlet. When Hamlet invites a group of travelling players to perform a play in front of his mother and uncle, but asks them no to follow the more exaggerated style.

If the audience was bored, did not like they story or a character, they would throw food at the actors. The actors would have to stay focused and not be distracted by the untamed crowd.

All actors in Shakespeare's time were men. Women were forbidden to act on the public stage and so any female charatures in Shakespeare's plays would have been performed by boys whose voices hadn't broken.