Although there are many similarities between the theatres of Shakespeare's time and the theatres of today, there are big differences too. Nowadays the audience is used to sitting in a large darkened room, watching a piece of drama in near silence. In the theatres of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, plays were more often than not performed during daylight in spaces open to the elements. Most of the audience stood and were not hesitant to make their feelings known, whether these were positive or negative.
Possibly the biggest difference we would notice is how the plays were staged. Staging a play is the part of the overall creative process which involves making choices about the design and the supportive elements of a piece of drama, namely: