The Middle Ages

The Dark Ages

What was life like?

• Very little law and order
• Schools, churches, theaters destroyed
• Religion was confined to monasteries hidden in forests
• Plagues were common 
• Life expectancy for lower classes was 35

In the last half of the Middle Ages the church regained wealth and power.

Because most people couldn't read or write the church would use actors to perform Biblical stories.

The English Renaissance

Society During the E.R.

• De-emphasis on religion
• Invention and exploration
• Interest in art and theater
• Re-imagination of classic Greek theater

Shakespeare

• Combined comedy and tragedy
• Included fight scenes
• Wrote multiple, interconnected plots

Elizabethan England

Elizabethan England

• Conflict over recognition of England's official religion
• Queen Elizabeth banned use of political and religious themes
• In 1642 Oliver Cromwell removed Charles I from the throne
• Cromwell and the Puritan banned all theater
• They believed theater promoted the devil 

Continued . .

• Puritans control 1642-1600
• Charles I beheaded 1649 
• For the next 18 years there was no monarch
• Charles II rise to power was called The Restoration

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