How do theatres of Shakespeare's time and modern times compare? Compare and contrast the theatre-going experience of Shakespeares time to the...

In the
Elizabethan period there were several theaters, and all were well attended as plays were a major
form of entertainment. Audiences interacted with the actors because there were no curtains and
the groundlings could get close to the stage as they stood in the center area with the stage
around them in a horseshoe shape, much like the courtyard of an inn. 

At the
back of the stage there were two large doors, while in the center of the platform that was the
stage there was usually a recess or an inner stage concealed by a curtain. In a play such as
Romeo and Juliet that inner stage could serve as the cell of Friar Laurence
or Juliet's tomb. A balcony often stood above this recess and can serve as a balcony scene.
Since there was no lighting, plays were performed in the afternoons withcreated by the beauty of
the poetry. For instance, in Act II, Scene 1, Romeo creates the scene as he says,

But soft! What light through yonder windo breaks!
But,
soft! What light through yonder...