William Shakespeare was very clear about the theatre he was writing for and what he expected from actors.
This episode of 'Telefís Scoile' opens with a scene from William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' where Hamlet offers advice to actors.
The Elizabethans used the term playhouse for the building where plays were performed. A section of the roof was open to allow natural light to enter, as performances only took place during daylight hours.
Those who could afford to pay for seats sat in the upper levels of the playhouse, while those on lower budgets were permitted entry to the ground level, hence the term groundlings.
The performance area was divided into an inner and outer stage with a balcony above. This variety of levels allowed a degree of flexibility in terms of performances. At the end of a scene, the actors simply exited the stage, as there was no curtain.
A cheap ticket was not necessarily a bad thing, as the groundlings were closer to the lower stage, a section of which jutted out into the audience. This removed any barrier between the audience and the action on stage and was used to great effect in Shakespeare's plays.
It allowed for instance the actor to come down and speak directly to the audience.
This episode of 'Telefís Scoile' was broadcast on 2 March 1970. The presenter is Augustine Martin and the actors are Micheál Mac Liammóir, Frank Grimes, Christopher Casson, Jim Norton and TP McKenna.
'Telefís Scoile' was an educational television programme that gave school lessons in maths, science and literature. It was first broadcast on 4 February 1964 and continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
