Final answer:
During Shakespeare's time, popular entertainment included vaudeville shows, melodramas, and traveling circuses, with theaters such as the Globe hosting a miscellany of performances. Skills in poetic recitation, music, and swordplay were essential for actors. The theatergoing experience was informal, with audiences interacting casually with the ongoing performances.
Step-by-step explanation:
During Shakespeare's time, a variety of entertainment forms were popular beyond the famed theatrical productions. Vaudeville shows, which featured a combination of songs, dance, and slapstick comedy, were an admired form of entertainment.
Audiences enjoyed classical productions such as Shakespeare in the afternoon followed by vaudeville in the evening. Another beloved entertainment medium was melodrama, with its exaggerated style, clear-cut heroes and villains, and moral narratives that mirrored Victorian values.
The traveling circus was an extravagant form of live performance, with P. T. Barnum's being among the most renowned for promising 'the greatest show on earth.'
Furthermore, actors required a diverse set of skills, including proficiency in delivering poetic text, dance, music, and swordplay, to entertain audiences that ranged from the common 'groundlings' to the aristocratic classes. This era also saw the emergence of new theatrical spaces, such as the Elizabethan and Olympic Theatres.
Although women were not permitted to perform, men filled women's roles, often with extensive training from a young age. The integration of theater with nearby pubs and the informal nature of performances, where audiences would come and go, signifies the casual yet engaged atmosphere of Elizabethan entertainment.