The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1893  Wednesday, 16 November 2005

From: 		Al Magary <
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Date: 		Tuesday, 15 Nov 2005 15:26:05 -0800
Subject: 16.1873 Railed Stage
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1873 Railed Stage

Does the Globe's stage rail come and go?  When I saw the all-female Much 
Ado in 8/04 there was a short (perhaps 9") rail that caught my attention 
because I feared some actor, especially in interacting with the 
audience, would catch her toe on the rail and pitch forward not only on 
top of the groundlings but onto the ground.  This would, I suppose, have 
interrupted the performance.   Perhaps some directors have the rail removed?

When Steve Purcell first queried on this subject a couple weeks ago, I 
emailed him offlist to point out the Globe's rail, which I assumed to be 
a permanent fixture, then was surprised that no one else mentioned it. 
Now, in searching (at Google Image) on the Globe, I see the majority of 
the pictures of the stage do not show the rail, and neither does the 
Globe's own virtual tour at 
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/navigation/framesetNS.htm  However, 
one photo at http://www.unhmagazine.unh.edu/sp01/cambridge3sp01.html 
does have the rail.

Puzzled,
Al Magary

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