What type of patrons did the theaters have wherever Shakespeare worked at?

Answer 1

All kinds. There was "the pit" - really cheap standing space in front of the stage, where the rowdy crowds stood - talking, eating during the performance, yelling comments, and throwing stuff on the stage.

Then there were the cheaper seat, where the middle classes sat and watched - presumably slightly better behaved, but back then, no one expected the theater audience to be quiet.

And there were boxes, where Aristocrats sat. They probably didn't make a spectacle of themselves by yelling or throwing things, but they'd certainly talk to each other, have some wine, etc.

One of the amazing features of Shakespeare's plays is that they have the ability to fascinated the uneducated masses and the more educated upper class alike. The plots are usually easy to follow, and have simple "action film" appeal, but many of the puns and word plays would have gone right over the head of the lower class spectators, but been appreciated by the aristocrats.

The classic example of this are the so-called eye-rhymes - words that are spelled as if they should rhyme but don't, such as tough and dough. The lower class spectators usually couldn't read and write and wouldn't think anything of this air of words, but the educated members of the audience would note the eye-rhyme and find it clever.

(Please note that many words were pronounced differently back then, so not *every* pair of words that'd be an eye-rhyme today was back then - many of them actually rhymed in the pronunciation.)

Answer 2

They ranged from nobility to common, very common. The lowest class got standing room only tickets and were crowded in front of the stage. No seating. People paid extra for hard wooden benches in the galleries and even more for a cushion. No food vendors. You snuck in a snack if you needed one.

Some people came prepared to hate the play with rotten vegetables, horse turds, and worse. It gave the actors the incentive to be good.

For a re-creation of the Globe Theater where Shakespeare played and wrote for, check out Shakespeare in Love. The theater is accurate.

Answer 3

I believe they tended to be rather rowdy, if they didn't like your play they let you know it but not by booing you off the stage but throwing vegetables and rotten fruits to you as you performed. Remember in those days most or all of the actors where men even those with the parts of women so either you did your part well or you paid the price of a tomato in the tush!