Gender Roles In Shakespeare's Plays
There are many reasons why boys would play the female roles throughout the 1800s during Shakespeare's influence over the theatre. Young boys would often play the parts of women in Shakespeare plays and an entrance into an acting career. Often there would be only around 4 actors performing in one production at a time therefore multi rolling was common and each actor had to be versatile. Audience members gave positive impressions of the quality of the acting of boy players.
The scant serving evidence states that actors would often all be all males in their teens, this would be because they hadn't yet reached adulthood therefore could play more convincing females. Also there was a higher ratio of boys to girls in the plays therefore indicating
that it was more available for boys to take the roles. This states that it was normal for people to go to the theatre and expect to see men in women's roles, suggesting that it was the done thing of the time period and that no one dared to question theatre of the day.
During the 1800s there was no law against women on stage however due to their social class and gender status, women had little rights and it was unimaginable for them to be allowed on stage. However it could be humiliating for males to play female roles such as in Richard III where the characters were very exaggerated and pantomime like. This resulted in the females in the audience becoming offended and lead to controversial views. For the male characters to perform the female roles with conviction was often a difficult task therefore modern studies of Shakespeare plays look into the skill needed from the actors. However as Shakespeare often wrote comedies or exaggerated plays, this could add to the affect.
The scant serving evidence states that actors would often all be all males in their teens, this would be because they hadn't yet reached adulthood therefore could play more convincing females. Also there was a higher ratio of boys to girls in the plays therefore indicating
that it was more available for boys to take the roles. This states that it was normal for people to go to the theatre and expect to see men in women's roles, suggesting that it was the done thing of the time period and that no one dared to question theatre of the day.
During the 1800s there was no law against women on stage however due to their social class and gender status, women had little rights and it was unimaginable for them to be allowed on stage. However it could be humiliating for males to play female roles such as in Richard III where the characters were very exaggerated and pantomime like. This resulted in the females in the audience becoming offended and lead to controversial views. For the male characters to perform the female roles with conviction was often a difficult task therefore modern studies of Shakespeare plays look into the skill needed from the actors. However as Shakespeare often wrote comedies or exaggerated plays, this could add to the affect.