Part 3: Text Structure in an Informational Text

Which excerpt from the text signals the sequence of events?

"At the start of the reign the majority of productions are miracle plays . . ."

Which excerpt from the text signals the sequence of events? "Unfortunately this is located too far from the city . . ." "The queen continues to encourage dramatic art . . ." "Eight years later Francis Langley erects the Swan . . ." "Thomas Nashe brings forth his masterpiece . . ."

"Eight years later Francis Langley erects the Swan . . ."

Which sentence most effectively helps readers envision a scene?

"If you are sitting in the gallery you will have a clear view of the stage as it projects out from the far side of the round enclosure."

Which excerpt most effectively conveys a conversational and engaging tone?

"You will see people standing in hats with pipes in hand, and women in their headdresses, all chatting, with an eye open for people they know."

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. These [the miracle plays] go out of favor when the privy council decrees that they are too close to Catholicism and should stop. Those at York cease in 1569. In Chester the citizens defy the privy council and continue performing their play about Noah's Flood well into the 1570s. The Coventry mystery plays are finally suppressed in 1579, so this is the town to visit if you want to catch one later in the reign. The Guary miracle play in Cornwall continues for some years but is so amateurish it can hardly be seen as a threat. Which event happened second?

The plays being performed in York ceased.

Descriptive details help the reader

envision a concept or scenario.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. As you approach the theaters you will notice that they all seem to be round; in fact, they are polygonal—the Globe is twenty-sided, the Rose fourteen-sided. Whichever one you choose, you can expect to queue with two thousand other people to get in. You will see people standing in hats with pipes in hand, and women in their headdresses, all chatting, with an eye open for people they know. Entrance costs a penny: this allows you to stand in the yard in front of the stage, an uncovered area (hence the need for a hat). The purpose of the second-person point of view in the excerpt is to

make the readers feel like part of the exciting theater experience.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. More theaters open their doors to the public. The Rose is built by Philip Henslowe at Southwark, not far from the bear-baiting and bull-baiting arenas, in 1587. Eight years later Francis Langley erects the Swan on a site nearby; and in 1596 Richard Burbage builds the Blackfriars Theatre, an indoor venue, although it does not open its doors until 1599. Which theater opened last?

Blackfriars

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. The Elizabethan theater as we know it develops slowly. In 1562 the play Gorboduc, the first English play to include blank verse, is performed in front of the queen at the Inner Temple in London. This is written by two gentlemen, Thomas Sackville (the future earl of Dorset) and Thomas Norton, and leaves a lasting impression. Its tale of a kingdom torn between two heirs has great significance for the audience of the day. Other plays follow, drawing on classical themes as well as on ancient British and medieval history, written by (among others) John Heywood, John Pickering, and Lewis Wager. A sign of their success is the construction in 1567 of the first purpose-built theater, the Red Lion, built by John Brayne in Whitechapel. Which event happened first?

Gorboduc was performed in front of the queen.

Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. Eight years later Francis Langley erects the Swan on a site nearby; and in 1596 Richard Burbage builds the Blackfriars Theatre, an indoor venue, although it does not open its doors until 1599. Most important of all, Shakespeare, Richard and Cuthbert Burbage, and their partners dismantle The Theatre and remove its beams to a new site at Southwark, where it is rebuilt in 1599 as the Globe. When Edward Alleyn builds the Fortune on the northern edge of the city in 1600, the array of Elizabethan theaters is complete. How does the author effectively show the establishment of Elizabethan theaters?

by listing in chronological order when several important theaters were built.