Life in Elizabethan England

Active learning brings the Elizabethan playhouse to life by letting students physically and socially experience the conditions of Shakespeare’s original audience. When students step into roles or build models, they move beyond abstract facts to grasp how space, class, and language shaped performance in real time.

• Year 7
• English
• 3 activities
• 20 min–40 min

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze how Elizabethan social structures, such as class and gender, are represented in Shakespearean characters and plotlines.
2. Compare the staging conventions and audience experience of an Elizabethan playhouse with those of a modern theatre.
3. Explain the economic and political factors that influenced the development and popularity of theatre during the Elizabethan era.
4. Synthesize information about daily life in Elizabethan England to create a short monologue from the perspective of a theatre patron or performer.

Simulation Game

⏱ 40 min·Small Groups

Simulation Game: The Globe Architect

Groups are given a floor plan of the Globe and a list of scenes (e.g., a night-time ghost encounter). They must decide where to place actors and how to use the 'heavens' or 'hell' (trapdoor) to make the scene work without modern lights.

Prepare & details

Analyze how daily life in Elizabethan England influenced the themes and characters in Shakespeare's plays.

Facilitation Tip: During The Globe Architect, circulate with a checklist that reminds you to ask each group to justify at least one feature of their design using historical evidence.

Setup: Flexible space for group stations

Materials: Role cards with goals/resources, Game currency or tokens, Round tracker

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Role Play

⏱ 20 min·Whole Class

Role Play: The Rowdy Audience

While a small group performs a short scene, the rest of the class acts as 'groundlings' who can cheer, boo, or eat (pretend) food. This helps students understand the high-energy environment actors had to contend with.

Prepare & details

Explain the social hierarchy of the Elizabethan era and its reflection in dramatic roles.

Facilitation Tip: In The Rowdy Audience, stand at the back of the room to observe which students naturally slip into leadership roles and which need prompting to represent groundlings versus patrons.

Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging

Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Gallery Walk

⏱ 30 min·Pairs

Gallery Walk: Theater Controversy

Display 'primary sources' (quotes from Puritans, city officials, and theater-goers). Students walk around and categorize the arguments for and against the theater, then discuss why it was seen as a 'dangerous' place.

Prepare & details

Compare the entertainment options available in Shakespeare's time to those of today.

Facilitation Tip: For the Gallery Walk, place controversial quotes or images at eye level to ensure students pause and annotate before moving on.

Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter

Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Teaching This Topic

Teachers find success by treating the Globe not as a museum piece but as a living space that demands participation. Avoid over-relying on slides or lectures about the Globe’s history; instead, anchor every explanation in a concrete task. Research shows that when students embody historical constraints, they remember the consequences of those constraints long after facts fade.

What to Expect

Successful learning shows when students can explain how the Globe’s design and audience mix influenced staging choices and playwriting. They should connect historical constraints to Shakespeare’s creative solutions without romanticizing or oversimplifying the era.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During The Rowdy Audience, watch for students who assume only wealthy patrons attended or enjoyed the plays.

What to Teach Instead

After assigning roles and distributing props (penny coins for groundlings, fans or gloves for patrons), have students share how their character’s experience of the same scene would differ, using dialogue snippets from the script.

Common Misconception

During The Globe Architect, watch for students who place artificial lighting or microphones in their models.

What to Teach Instead

Prompt groups to present one design choice and explain why it matches the historical record, then ask peers to identify the linguistic or staging solution Shakespeare used instead, such as describing moonlight in verse.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

After the Gallery Walk, present the three images and ask students to write one sentence per image that names one way it differs from the others in audience access or staging technology.

Discussion Prompt

During The Rowdy Audience role play, pause after the first scene and facilitate a class discussion where students justify one rule they would implement as theatre owner, linking their choice to the mix of social classes present.

Exit Ticket

After The Globe Architect activity, ask students to write down two ways the social hierarchy of Elizabethan England might have shaped the characters or stories in Shakespeare’s plays and one way the lack of modern technology influenced his writing style.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge early finishers to write a short scene that includes at least three ‘word pictures’ to signal time and place without sets or lighting.
• Scaffolding for struggling students: Provide a word bank of Elizabethan terms and a script template with missing cues for setting and mood.
• Deeper exploration: Invite students to research how modern adaptations of Shakespeare use lighting, sound, or set changes to compensate for the Globe’s constraints and compare the effects.

Key Vocabulary

Groundlings	The audience members who stood in the open yard of the theatre, the 'pit', paying a penny to watch the performance. They were typically of lower social standing.
Patronage	The system where wealthy nobles or royalty supported artists, including playwrights and theatre companies, often for prestige or political influence.
Repertory	The collection of plays that a theatre company regularly performed. Elizabethan companies often performed a different play each afternoon.
The 'Wooden O'	A term used to describe the typical polygonal or circular shape of Elizabethan public playhouses, like the Globe Theatre.