<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings about a topic . Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style . (July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings about a topic . Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style . (July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> A groundling was a person who visited the Globe Theatre in the early 17th century . They were too poor to pay to be able to sit on one of the three levels of the theatre . If they paid one penny, they could stand in "the pit", also called "the yard", just below the stage, to watch the play . Standing in the pit was uncomfortable, and people were usually packed in tightly . The groundlings were commoners who were also referred to as stinkards or penny - stinkers . The name' groundlings' came about after Hamlet referenced them as such when the play was first performed around 1600 . At the time, the word had entered the English language to mean a small type of fish with a gaping mouth - from the vantage point of the actor playing Hamlet, set on a stage raised around 5 feet from the ground, the sea of upturned faces may have looked like wide - mouthed fish . They were known to misbehave and are commonly believed to have thrown food such as fruit and nuts at characters they did not like, although there is no evidence of this . They would watch the plays from the cramped pits with sometimes over 500 people standing there . </P> <P> In 1599, Thomas Platter mentioned the cost of admission at contemporary London theatres in his diary: </P>

What did the groundlings do during the play