The ancient theatre vs the English Renaissance theatre

I am so happy that my E class students enjoyed learning about the differences and the similarities of the ancient theatre and the English Renaissance theatre. After completing a series of lessons that I designed especially for them, where the aim was to give them new vocabulary and help them practise the Simple Past, they were able to produce the following sentences.


The Ancient Theatre

• The acoustics was very good
• The orchestra was circular
• They were all actors
• The seats were made out of stone or marble
• It had paraskenia behind the scene
• Behind the paraskenia there were two parodoi 
• The koilon was semi-cicular and it was amphitheatrical
• The actors wore always masks 

The English Renaissance theatre

• It had balconies
• It had wooden seats
• The stage was above the ground
• It was open, but the balconies had a roof
• It was circular
• The acoustics was bad
• The actors spoke loudly and made gestures
• The actors were all male

 

I also enjoyed this series of lessons very much! Especially the part where I prepared a presentation and a short video from the film Shakespeare in Love to show them.