In my project for Early Drama, I decided to recreate a small-scale Elizabethan outdoor theatre because I was interested in discovering more about the theatre and its history after one of the lectures on the course enlightened my understanding of the theatre in the early modern period. I explored the history of the outdoor playhouse, researching facts about its nature and composition, when the first one was built, the types of audience that would have viewed the performances and its structural elements. As drama is a popular entertainment within modern society, I was interested in discovering how entertainment was a factor of early modern drama, particularly in the Jacobean and Elizabethan eras. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, which (in my view) epitomises the innovations of early modern drama, incorporating elements of language, entertain​ment and controversy to evoke shock value and fear from the audience in relation to the moral issues of the main protagonist, Faustus. Furthermore, as drama had such an effect on contemporary society, I was intrigued to explore the opposition to drama within the period, discovering that opposition was mainly initiated by Puritan sympathisers, who regarded drama as immoral and blasphemous. Creating a project based on my interest in the history of theatre was thoroughly enjoyable and enabled me to delve deeper into areas of early drama.
