The air was thick with the smell of roasting meat and cheap ale. Around him, the "groundlings" or "stinkards" jostled for space in the pit, while the city merchants and nobility sat in the covered galleries above, having paid their six pence for the privilege. Thomas looked up at the stage, a massive rectangular platform projecting into the crowd. There was no scenery to speak of—just a few simple props—but as the actors walked out, their elaborate costumes glimmering in the afternoon sun, the bare wood transformed.
: A raised platform featured a "trapdoor" for supernatural appearances and a "tiring house" at the back for costume changes. The Elizabethan Audience Diverse Social Classes elizabethan theatre zanichelli pdf
Theatres like the Globe were designed differently than modern indoor theatres. They were open-air, circular (or octagonal) structures. The air was thick with the smell of
