Читать книгу William Shakespeare: History in an Hour - Sinead Fitzgibbon - Страница 11

Can this cockpit hold

The vasty fields of France? or may we cram

Within this wooden O the very casques

That did affright the air at Agincourt? (Henry V)

However, in spite of its commercial success and its eventual receipt of monarchical approbation, the company’s future had not always looked so rosy. During the first three years of its life, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men had operated out of The Theatre playhouse, which was situated in Shoreditch. As only the second custom-built dramatic arena in London, The Theatre’s construction was relatively rudimentary; roofless and roughly circular in shape, the building consisted of three wooden galleries surrounding a cobbled yard. Entry to the yard, which provided standing room only and which left the spectator at the mercy of the elements, was a penny. Two pennies would buy access to the galleries, while a further penny would purchase the comfort of a stool or cushion. Considering a day’s wage for the average Londoner was only about twelve pence, the few hours of escapism offered by William Shakespeare’s plays came at quite a cost.