The early days of Elizabethan commercial theatre. Performances were held in private London inns. Inexpensive. They were held indoors or yard. The audience capacity rose up to 500.
Theatre was new in Shakespeare’s time. The first commercial theatre in the world (The Bulls Inn) was opened when Shakespeare was already fourteen years old, and the world “theatre” was invented by James Burbage, who built the second one.
James Burbage had one of the first theatre companies, and when his son Richard took over the families one of the first things he did was to hire a young actor from Stratford Upon-Avon called William Shakespeare.
The Elizabethan stage had next to no scenery (this is why William Shakespeare changes scene so easily, and also why so many of his speeches tell you what is going on around the characters), but the companies spent a lot of money on costumes and props.
React!