[00:04.04]Late 16th and early 17th century England
[00:07.53]was a time of great Iiterary creativity,
[00:11.05]but is was in theatre that major advances
[00:13.42]were made.London's first theatre,
[00:16.13]the Great Theatre,was built in 1576,
[00:19.70]and within a few years,
[00:21.43]dozens of theatres had sprung up in the city.
[00:25.39]More than 800 plays were written and performed
[00:28.08]in London between 1570 and 1620.
[00:32.31]Famous playwrights of the time included Marlowe
[00:35.52]Johnson, Webster and Shakespeare.
[00:38.49]What caused this literary-theatrical revolution
[00:41.73]to take place?At this time,
[00:43.94]London was undergoing some dramatic changes.
[00:46.90]There was an economic boom
[00:48.82]and thousands of people flocked to the city
[00:51.81]from the countryside in search of work.
[00:54.43]These poor people,and the wealthy merchants
[00:56.96]who traded in London,
[00:58.74]looked for ways of enjoying themselves
[01:01.13]and learning new things about the world.
[01:03.96]This was why the theatres became so popular.
[01:05.95]
