What does this have to do with us? Everything. Think about your own experiences with live entertainment. Remember that time you went to a play and the actor forgot his lines? Or when you sat through a two-hour opera and your stomach wouldn’t stop growling? Elizabeth went through that. The Globe Theatre was open-air, so if it rained, everyone got wet, including the Queen’s velvet gown.
And the shows were long. No intermission, no bathroom breaks. You’d stand for three hours watching people die dramatically in soliloquies. The queen, however, had a secret weapon: she could leave whenever she wanted. She had a royal exit strategy. Meanwhile, the groundlings (the cheap-seat ruffians) were elbowing each other and eating pickled herrings. It’s like a modern rock concert, but with fewer lighters and more codpieces.
The Fan Theory
Some scholars think she specifically asked for plays with happy endings. No one wants to watch a tragedy when you’re the head of state and your cousin just tried to overthrow you. So, while we weep at Hamlet, Elizabeth probably preferred the messy rom-coms. She was the Queen of emotional damage control. “Let’s have a wedding at the end, Shakespeare. I need a win.”
Shakespeare’s relationship with queen Elizabeth I explained
It’s also worth noting that she watched these plays at court, too. The royal court was basically a giant, passive-aggressive office party. Imagine your boss forcing you to watch a PowerPoint presentation, but the PowerPoint is a five-act comedy about mistaken identity. You’d laugh at anything. The actors knew they were performing for the most powerful woman in the world, and a single frown from her could end a career. Talk about performance anxiety.
