Shakespeare's London and Elizabethan Theatre audiences

Shakespeare's London was a very small and intimate place and the theatrical scene was even smaller. Despite its small size during Elizabeth's rain the population would continue to grow to around 200,000 and was starting to become a tourist attraction. The river Thames was a prominent factor of London's prosperity, it was a source of food, transport, water and sewer. In the winter the Thames would sometimes freeze over and become a skating rink for the locals, creating opportunities for market stalls to set up nearby. 

London was starting to become much more ethnically raced. This included the Jewish community and around several thousand black people in the city. In 1600 and embassy from Morocco arrived in London for a short stay, the ambassadors ways were intriguing to the locals as they inspired the climate, diet and local drinking songs. Events like this ended up in Shakespeare's work, such as 'Othello' which was written around 1602. 

The most prominent factor of Shakespeare London was the plague. In 1563 around 23% of the population in London was deceased. In 1578 laws were put in place in order to prevent the plague from spreading, the most popular law being where families who had the plague would be locked in their house with no way of getting out, regardless of how many members had the plague. They would be locked away for around 6 weeks until the plague died with them or they got over it was a very unlikely outcome. This law although thought to have worked at the time failed to stop spread the plague, as the poor sanitation conditions that spread throughout the city caused multiple rats  that carried the plague to inhabit those areas.

Queen Elizabeth loved watching plays, but this would normally be performed just for her in her private playhouses, she did not attend plays performed at amphitheatres. The popularity of the theatre Rose and reached royalty, nobility and commoners, resulting in theatres holding up to 1500 people and the expansion of 3000 people who crowded outside the theatres. By 1600 there were 20000 people in London going to the theatres a week. 

The area Southwark, was home to Elizabethan type shopping centre where you would find entertainment everywhere. A popular form of entertainment was fighting between Bears and mastiffs where they would battle until the death. Bullbaiting, inns and brothels were plentiful around this area also. Southwark would later become the home to the globe.