https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/files/2014/01/actors.pdf
Playhouse's were a venue to Elizabethan theatre, there were also other places in which theatre took place such as amphitheatres and the yards of inns.
Image sourced from: http://shalt.dmu.ac.uk/
The layout of Playhouses:
-Playhouses were octagonal or rounded structures that surrounded a small stage that was raised from the ground. The stage is where the actors performed.
-The structure was outside and open however had a roof over both the stage and the several levels of audience seating. The roof above the stage was called 'the heavens' (however the 'Rose' theatre may have not had one). This is also where special effects were produced.
-The centre yard was open to the sky and usually contained the poorer audience members which stood to watch plays.
-Behind the stage were rooms used for storage and as changing rooms,
The Playhouses' stages resembled that of a thrust stage in the sense that there was audience on more or less all three sides of the stage. Most of the time under 10 actors (maximum) could be on stage at the same time because of their small size. And a huge difference between stages in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era is that only males could perform in the plays. Young men played girls and women and some older men played old women. Women did try performing in plays during the era but it didn't go down well with the audience and these playhouse's was vandalised in the audience's disgust.
In today's theatre we also don't expect to see an actor playing the role of a clown simply because times have changed and it's very rare that individuals are able to have the occupation of a clown, let alone for it to be put in plays. However, there are still comedic characters in most plays to create the same type of comic relief as the clown characters would have.
Similarly, as we have gained more knowledge and have invented more things, artificial lighting and extravagant scenery play a huge role in modern theatre. However, during Shakespeare's time there was no scenery or props. This was fine for past audiences because they didn't really know what scenery or props were, but if today's audience were deprived of scenery and props, it would probably trigger negative critical reviews.
In an actor's point of view (aside from acting being a male profession only), script lines were learnt in a completely different way. Shakespeare only gave his actors their own lines and their cues to learn in comparison to the entire play which each actor would be given today. This was done because scripts were written by hand and so it took a lot of time for the scripts to be produced. On top of that, individuals pirated scripts if they were able to come across the text and so this methods made it harder for scripts to be copied. The copies are often know as 'bad quartos'. In fact even some of Shakespeare's own plays are rumoured to be bad quaros'.
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