The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1939 Wednesday, 23 November 2005
[1] From: John Briggs <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 22 Nov 2005 18:16:20 -0000
Subj: Re: SHK 16.1923 Empty Stage
[2] From: Matteo Pangallo <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 22 Nov 2005 18:58:53 -0000
Subj: RE: SHK 16.1923 Empty Stage
[3] From: M Yawney <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 22 Nov 2005 10:21:15 -0800 (PST)
Subj: Re: SHK 16.1923 Empty Stage
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Briggs <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 22 Nov 2005 18:16:20 -0000
Subject: 16.1923 Empty Stage
Comment: Re: SHK 16.1923 Empty Stage
Christopher Baker wrote:
>At the end of act four of The Tempest, the stage direction reads
>"Exeunt." Act five begins when Prospero returns wearing his magic
>robes. Is there thus a moment when the stage is literally empty? How
>frequent are empty stages in the plays? My understanding of
>Elizabethan performance is that there was a fairly rapid and seamless
>transition between scenes/acts which would seem to have prevented a
>vacant stage at any point in a production.
By the time of "The Tempest", we have long left Elizabethan performance
behind and are well into Jacobean. "The Tempest" was written for the
Blackfriars theatre. The indoor theatres had act breaks between the
acts. The outdoor theatres didn't (partly because they didn't have acts).
John Briggs
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Matteo Pangallo <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 22 Nov 2005 18:58:53 -0000
Subject: 16.1923 Empty Stage
Comment: RE: SHK 16.1923 Empty Stage
At the Globe and the other outdoor venues performances would indeed have
been staged seamlessly, with little or not break between acts (and
certainly none between scenes). However, "The Tempest" was probably
written expressly for the Blackfriars Theatre, an indoor space that the
King's Men had moved into in 1608-9. At the Blackfriars, and other such
indoor venues (including the Banqueting House at Whitehall, where
"Tempest" was also staged), lighting was provided mainly by candlelight;
act breaks became the norm as the candles would need to be tended to
(wicks trimmed, relit, etc.). During these intervals music would play,
candles would be tended, and the stage prepared for the next act. Thus,
when reading a post-1608 King's Men play (like "Tempest"), one should
remember that it was probably initially staged with breaks between the
acts. This would allow for Prospero's exit at the end of IV and re-entry
at the start of V. The interesting question, of course, is what happened
at this moment when the play was transferred to the Globe? The King's
Men continued to operate both venues after Blackfriars opened, playing
in the outdoor space in the summer and the indoor space in the winter.
Of necessity, then, their plays were transportable. Christopher has
raised an intriguing question!
- Matteo Pangallo
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: M Yawney <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 22 Nov 2005 10:21:15 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 16.1923 Empty Stage
Comment: Re: SHK 16.1923 Empty Stage
Scenes in English Renaissance drama almost always end with every
character exiting. How much (if any) time elapsed before the entrance of
actors at the start of each following scene is a matter of speculation.
The rarity of actors exiting and immediately re-entering suggests that
there may have been some overlapping. (The effectiveness of this
technique in modern productions also offers some support for this idea.)
However, it is not possible to give a definitive answer. Nor is it
possible to know if the technique
for exeunt/enter was consistent.
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