The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 9.0473  Monday, 18 May 1998.

[1]     From:   Laura Fargas <
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        Date:   Sunday, 17 May 1998 00:18:04 -0400 (EDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 9.0441  Re: Elizabethan Staging

[2]     From:   Ildiko Solti <
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        Date:   Monday, 18 May 1998 06:44:41 -0700 (PDT)
        Subj:   Elizabethan Staging


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Laura Fargas <
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Date:           Sunday, 17 May 1998 00:18:04 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: 9.0441  Re: Elizabethan Staging
Comment:        Re: SHK 9.0441  Re: Elizabethan Staging

On the subject of using "sides," no one seems to have mentioned the
expense of paper and copyists.  Paper was surprisingly expensive; I
believe I remember that the price of a folio sheet was the same as the
price of two loaves of bread, a penny.  I don't know offhand what the
hire of a copyist would have been, but I have the impression that the
player companies did their own copying.  Ink was cheap but light
(candles) could be dear.

Ron Ward's notion of surprising players with elements of the story not
in their parts seems far-fetched, as it seems plays were rehearsed even
in their premiere presentation at the Globe.  Again, there is a
suggestive, though certainly not probative, economic indicator in that
the price of admission doubled on a premiere day.

Laura Fargas

[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Ildiko Solti <
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Date:           Monday, 18 May 1998 06:44:41 -0700 (PDT)
Subject:        Elizabethan Staging

Justin Bacon raised the intriguing question of the relationship between
reading, hearing and seeing. If "going to a play" means, first of all,
experiencing it live and in space, perhaps people would go "see" it
regardless of what reading means to them (except perhaps some
Victorians). However, it would be good to know more about the specific
qualities of speech in Elizabethan times, and also about how our own
TV-movie-novel culture affects present-day play-interpretation.

Other: "Shrew-ish" remarks about problems and traps  concerning the
interpretation and production of the play would be very welcome as we
are in the process of trying to "tame" it in rehearsal.

Ildiko Solti