What did the flags on Elizabethan playhouses mean?

Answer 1

There is an oft-repeated story that they used to fly different coloured flags at the Globe Theatre (and, one presumes, at the other playhouses) to let potential audience members know what type of play was being shown. They were either Red, White or Black depending on if the play of the day was a History, Tragedy or a Comedy play. A white flag was for comedy or a light subject, black was for a dark subject usually associated with death and red was for a Play about History (usually associated with blood).

That's a pretty story but unfortunately many plays do not fit comfortably into those three categories. Is Macbeth a tragedy or a history? What about Richard III? Is Troilus and Cressida a comedy or a tragedy? What about Cymbeline? Shakespeare himself laughs at the categorization by putting these words into the mouth of Polonius in Hamlet: "The best players in the world, for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral . . ." So what colour flag would they fly for a tragical-comical-historical-pastoral play?

There does not seem to be any genuine evidence for this practice and since it does not really make much sense, we should be dubious about it.

On the other hand, contemporary pictures of the theatres do show them flying flags. Some people say that when the flag went up the mast, it meant that a play was going to be performed that day, without saying anything about what kind of play. This would certainly get the message over a large area that the playhouse was open for business. It would be a good way to advertise the show and it is more plausible than the coloured flags theory.