During the time of Shakespear, did the poor consume as much Shakespeare as the rich?

by TheTallestOfTopHats
texpeare

Yes.

The majority of admissions sold were for standing room and the cheap tickets were affordable to the working poor. Almost all of Shakespeare's plays include scenes/jokes/characters designed to appeal to low-income/low-education Londoners.

Here's an excerpt of an answer I gave to a similar question:

The cost of a show at the Globe Theatre between 1599 and 1613 was 1 penny for standing room in the "pit", 2 pence for a seat in the lower galleries, 3-4 pence for the wings of the upper galleries, and the prime seats (lords rooms) at 5 pence or more. An extra penny bought you a cushion to sit on and there was often food for sale just outside the theatre door. One penny was approximately the cost of a loaf of bread in the early 1600s, but bread would have been more expensive at the time. Calculating precise values is difficult.

Here are some common annual wages according to a Westminster statute in 1588:

Clothworkers £5

Fullers £5

Shearmen £5

Dyers £6

Tailor's hosier £4

Drapers, hosiers £4

Shoemakers £4

Pewterers £3 6s 8d

Whitebakers £4 6s 8d

Brewers £10

The underbrewer £6

The foredrayman £6

The miller £6

The other draymen £3 6s 8d

The tunman £3 6s 8d

Saddlers £4

Turners £4 6s 8d

Cutlers £4 6s 8d

Blacksmiths £6

Curriers £6

Brownbakers £3 6s 8d

Farriers £4

Glovers £3 6s 8d

Cappers £4 13s 4d

Hatmakers & feltmakers £4 13s 4d

Butchers £6

Cooks £6

This information can be found in The English Renaissance by Kate Aughterson, 1998.

At the time: 12 pennies = 1 shilling. 20 shillings (240 pennies) = 1 pound.

According to my own imprecise math and assuming 254 working days per year:

A glover earned 3.3 pence in one day. A saddler made 3.7. For a cutler, 4.3. The clothworker brings in 4.7. 5.6 went to the butcher, and the master brewer made 9.4.

A visit to the theatre was well within the means of just about anyone with a steady income.