Acting Company

• During the Elizabethan area two distinct kinds of acting companies were built, adult companies and boys' choirs. Adult companies were made up of 12 to 25 men. The men all held shares in the company, and the profits from each show were divided among them by percentage, according to their level of vestment in the corporation. Apprentices, boys over the age of 10, were trained by the senior actors. They played the rolls of children and females in the plays until their voices changed. Acting troupes had to have a patron who was a member of the ruling class to gain social status. Those that did not have a patron in the royal court were considered rogues or members of the gypsy class. Boys' choirs were under the direction of a choirmaster, who received all of the profits from their labors. They commonly performed at court chapels.
  
  

Playhouses

• The playhouses of the Elizabethan era were large, circular, open air buildings. They had a raised stage platform at the center of the floor with a pit area surrounding the stage. The poor stood in the pit during performances. The privileged paid more to be seated in the gallery. The gallery was made up of multiple levels of balcony seating. There was a tower behind the gallery, used for storage, and a tower behind the stage, used in the theatrics. On top of each tower was a trumpet house from which trumpeters announced that a show would begin.
  
  

Stage

• The main stage was simply a raised platform at the center of the theater. The back wall of the stage had two or three doors with hanging curtains, and the stage platform had multiple trap doors which allowed actors to exit and enter the stage from different points. The tower behind the stage had machinery which would lift and lower actors and props to create special effects. A canopy over the stage was painted blue with stars to represent the heavens and to protect the actors from inclement weather. Props were brought on stage only to aid the action, and never to set the scene. Setting the scene on stage was still the responsibility of the narrator.
  
  

Costumes

• The costumes worn by Elizabethan acting companies reflected the fashion of the day. Actors were dressed in the style of their royal contemporaries, even when portraying historic tales. The character's outfit was instead accessorized with historical or culturally appropriate pieces to demonstrate the character's stereotype. For example, the actor playing the Moore in Othello might have worn a long robe over his courtly attire and an actor portraying a roman soldier would have worn a helmet and breastplate over his typical garb.