Editing Shakespeare's late romances (section)

==History==
The popular drama during the Renaissance was subject to external influences, specifically what the ruler wanted to see. [[Elizabeth I]] enjoyed watching what the people liked, which were the tragedies. Elizabeth reigned until her death in 1603. [[James VI and I|James I]] succeeded her, and he preferred the romances.<ref>Adams, pp. 411–412</ref>

Shakespeare's health was impaired, and he died about five years after ''The Tempest'', the last play he wrote by himself.<ref>Adams, p. 422</ref> The shift indicates that he was giving up composition. He retired to Stratford following completion of his final play.<ref>Adams, p. 429</ref> The scholar Catherine Alexander has suggested that the plays were not specifically autobiographical in respect of Shakespeare's advancing old age, but reflected the fact that the actors themselves were older. The King's Men occupied a second playhouse, the Blackfriars, which had been out of use for several years. The playhouse had been shut down because of objections by local residents, but was reopened during the second half of 1608. In the interim the actors had aged, and Shakespeare adjusted the age of his characters.<ref>Alexander, p. 8</ref>

The King's Men were allowed to change their name from the [[Lord Chamberlain's Men]] in 1603, when James I came to the throne. They would put on as many as two new plays a week. Many plays had only a few performances, and there was no director: actors were expected to know fairly standard blocking patterns.
<ref>Bevington, pp. 17–20</ref> Audiences at the Blackfriars were generally upper class, as the cost of admission was so high that the lower classes were unlikely to attend many performances.<ref>Hildy and Brockett, p. 126</ref> Because of the sophistication of the audience, the romances leaned more toward aesthetics and culture.<ref>Thorne, p. 14</ref>