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Title: Shakespeare's Audience, by Alfred, Harbage ISBN: 0-231-08513-3 Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 June, 1941 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $13.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Who Was Shakespeare Writing For?
Comment: A clear-headed bit of detective work that builds up a profile of the people Shakespeare was writing his plays for. Seven chapters: The Evidence, How Many People?, What Kind Of People?, Behavior, Quality: Elizabethan Appraisals, Quality: Modern Appraisals (these last two refer to the audience's capacity to appreciate the works), and Our Shakespeares And Our Audiences. Harbage dispels the image of the riotous, illiterate groundlings and the snobbish galleries. I was surprised to learn that the Globe probably had a maximum capacity of 3,000; and Harbage deduces that the average attendance at the Rose was 1,250. Some other tid-bits: about 10 percent of London went to plays each week; craftsmen made up the majority of the audience. Harbage qoutes a lot from a variety of sources and you will get a flavor of the times Shakespeare worked in--and because of Harbage's grounded arguments it will feel like an accurate flavor. A single hold-on-there: the book was written in 1941 and I don't know if later scholarship has made Harbage turn somersaults or not. If you're beginning your study of The Bard (as I am) then include this book--it's only 170 pages!

Rating: 4
Summary: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Comment: In his attempt to reconstruct Shakespeare's audience, Harbage rehearses the documentary evidence concerning the architecture and material practices of Elizabethan playhouses, such as the Fortune and the Rose. While arguably dated, his analysis still holds up pretty well.

An important source for anyone interested in period staging of Shakespeare's plays.