Staging in Shakespeare's Theatres (Oxford Shakespeare Topics) - Softcover

Gurr, Andrew; Ichikawa, Mariko

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198711581 ISBN 13: 9780198711582

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

By bringing together evidence from different sources--documentary, archaeological, and the play-texts themselves--Staging Shakespeare's Theatres reconstructs the ways in which the plays were originally staged in the theaters of Shakespeare's own time, and shows how the physical possibilities and limitations of these theaters affected both the writing and the performances. The book explains the conditions under which the early playwrights and players worked, their preparation of the plays for the stage, and their rehearsal practices. It looks at the quality of evidence supplied by the surviving play-texts, and the extant to which audiences of the time differed from modern audiences; and it gives vivid examples of how Elizabethan actors made use of gestures, costumes, props, and the theater's specific design features. Stage movement is analyzed through a careful study of how exits and entrances worked on such stages. The final chapter offers a thorough examination of Hamlet as a text for performance, excitingly returning the play to its original staging at the Globe.

About this title

About the Author:

Andrew Gurr is Professor of English at the University of Reading. Mariko Ichikawa is Associate Professor of English at the University of Tohoku, Japan.

Review:

"Gurr and Ichikawa offer a wealth of useful information about rehearsals, text preparation for performance, staging conditions, stage properties, audience comfort, and doubling practices in the playhouse."-Renaissance Quarterly

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0198711581
• ISBN 13: 9780198711582
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192