Did women want to act in the 1500s?

Question: Did women want to act in the 1500s!?

Even though they were considered prostitues if they did!? Doesn't that mean that someone tried!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

In England, women could not appear on the stage in the 1500s!.

Probably most would not have wanted to!. Remember that actors were not admired and looked up to the way they are nowadays!. people might enjoy going to plays, but actors were generally considered to be riff-raff, and not at all respectable!. Being an actor often meant that you would spend at least some of your time travelling from town to town, and would not always get a warm reception, sometimes you'd have the dogs set on you, or even end up in the stocks!. it was a rough life and probably would not have appealed to many girls!.

There were probably a few adventurous girls who did want to be actors, and for all we know some may even have manged it!. There are lots of fictional stories about girls who disguise themselves as boys to become actors in elizabethan times, for example 'No Bed for Bacon' by Caryl Brahms and S!.J!. Simon, and 'Cue for Treason' by Geoffrey Trease, and for all we know things like that may have happened in real life!.

Women acted on the continent, the Commedia del Arte in italy had actresses for instance, and so did the French theatre!. But, as in England, actors were not held in very high esteem!. They felt about them much as people nowadays would feel about street entertainers, you might enjoy watching them, but it is not very likely that many people would envy them or particularly want to emulate them!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I know that in England they ere forbidden to act (remember Shakespeare's plays all actors were men in those times)!. I do not know about other countries!.Www@QuestionHome@Com