QUESTION: Who were the actors of Shakespeare’s plays and how did the experience of being an actor differ from the experience today?

Used the Globe’s fact sheets 

The actors in William Shakespeare's plays were always played by men because in this time period they believed that men were the only ones that could enjoy or portray true characters, therefore, only the men were the actors of the Elizabethan period of England. Even if their were women in one of William Shakespeare plays, they would of been played as men, for example, in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet maid was played by a man and this added to the comical side of the character, this was done because they lived in a very patriarchal society.

The actors in this era didn't really care for historically accuracy concerning their costumes, unless, they were acting as a Roman in a Roman play, they would have wore A toga to show the tradition within the Romans clothing and if it was a normal modern style play of the era , they would have worn gorgeous modern outfits, especially for the leading parts of the actors. In addition to this even if costume was worn , it was usually second hand clothes once owned and worn by real life noble people of that era.

Being an actor in modern day society is seen more respectful and appreciated in this modern day era compare to the Elizabethan period actors like because people see the theatre to be a more respectable play to be in, in this modern day age, for example, people usually don"t bring food in to the theatre, even though some food and drink is sold during the intermission of some plays, in comparison to this, actors in the Elizabethan era were not respected by the audience for their art and skills that were shown on the stage, instead, they were attacked and couldn't do anything bout it because they had to remain in role as a true actor, however, some actors did come out of character to abuse the audience member's for what they do throughout the performance and some actors abused the audience in characters as well because they didn't want to break role.

In this Shakespearean time period the entrances and exits of the actors were in plain sight of the audiences members , therefore, the audience members could constantly see the actors entering and exiting from the stage, moreover, if the actor was looking at lines before entering the stage , there was no way to hide it because the audience could see everything from where they were sitting or standing because there was no Flats to hide the actors enters and exits throughout the show duration. Since the audience could see the actors standing there waiting for their ques of occurred, most stages in Incorporated some vertical entrances and exits into the theatre, for example, if relevant actors could enter from what would be seen as the heavens by entering from above the stage and entering from would could be seen as hell by entering or exiting the stage from below through a trapdoor in the middle of the stage.