The Shakespearean Stage Space

236 Pages·2013·2.933 MB·English

by  Mariko Ichikawa

THE SHAKESPEAREAN STAGE SPACE
How did Renaissance theatre create its powerful effects with so few
resources?InTheShakespeareanStageSpace,MarikoIchikawaexplores
theoriginalstagingofplaysbyShakespeareandhiscontemporariesto
build a new picture of the artistry of the Renaissance stage. Dealing
withproblematicscenesandstagedirections,Ichikawacloselyexam-
ines the playing conditions in early modern playhouses toreveal the
ways in which the structure of the stage was used to ensure the
audibilityofoffstagesounds,tocontrolthevisibilityofcharacters,to
conveyfictionallocales,tocreatespecificmoodsandatmospheresand
tomaintainafrequentlyshiftingbalancebetweenfictionalandtheat-
rical realities. She argues that basic theatrical terms were used in a
much broader and more flexible way than we usually assume and
demonstratesthat,ratherthanimposinglimitations,thebarestageof
the Shakespearean theatre offered dramatists and actors a variety of
imaginativepossibilities.
mariko ichikawa is Professor of English at the University of
Tohoku, Japan. Her previous publications include Staging in
Shakespeare’s Theatres (co-authored with Andrew Gurr, 2000) and
ShakespeareanEntrances(2002).

THE SHAKESPEAREAN
STAGE SPACE
MARIKO ICHIKAWA
cambridge university press
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107020351
©MarikoIchikawa2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedandboundintheUnitedKingdombytheMPGBooksGroup
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Ichikawa,Mariko.
TheShakespeareanstagespace/MarikoIchikawa.
pages cm
isbn978-1-107-02035-1
1. Shakespeare,William,1564–1616–Stagehistory–To1625. 2. Shakespeare,William,1564–1616–
Stagehistory–England–London. 3. Theaters–Stage-settingandscenery–England–History–
16thcentury. 4. Theaters–Stage-settingandscenery–England–History–17thcentury.
5. Theater–England–London–History–16thcentury. 6. Theater–England–London–
History–17thcentury. 7. Englishdrama–EarlymodernandElizabethan,1500–1600–History
andcriticism 8. Englishdrama–17thcentury–Historyandcriticism. I. Title.
PR3095.I28 2012
792.0942009031–dc23
2012018845
isbn978-1-107-02035-1Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
To Andy Gurr, Alan Dessen and Ray Powell

Contents
Listoffiguresandtable page viii
Acknowledgements ix
Noteontextsandoldspelling;systemofdating xi
Editorialabbreviations xiii
1 Playhouses,playtextsandthetheatricallanguage 1
2 ‘Maluoliowithin’ 29
3 ‘Musicwithin’and‘Musicabove’ 52
4 Werethedoorsopenorclosed? 72
5 ‘EnterBrutusinhisOrchard’ 100
6 Whattodowithonstagecorpses? 129
Conclusion:theShakespeareanstagespaceandstagedirections 151
Notes 158
Playscited 194
Otherworkscited 204
Index 217
vii
Figures and Table
FIGURES
1a. TheRoseTheatre:Phase1(bypermissionofMuseumof
LondonArchaeology) page 2
1b. TheRoseTheatre:Phase2(bypermissionofMuseumof
LondonArchaeology) 3
2. DeWitt’ssketchoftheSwanTheatre(bypermissionof
UtrechtUniversityLibrary.MS842,fol.132r) 5
3a. InigoJones/JohnWebbdrawings:elevationandplanfor
anindoorplayhouse(bypermissionoftheProvostand
FellowsofWorcesterCollege,Oxford.HarrisandTait
10(Gotch1/7B)) 10
3b. InigoJones/JohnWebbdrawings:twotransversesections
ofthesameplayhouse(bypermissionoftheProvostand
FellowsofWorcesterCollege,Oxford.HarrisandTait11
(Gotch1/7C)) 11
4. ThenewGlobeTheatre,Bankside,London(photoby
MarikoIchikawa) 36
5. ThefrontispiecetoFrancisKirkman’sTheWits,orSport
uponSport(bypermissionoftheFolgerShakespeare
Library.WingW3218) 54
6. AwoodcutfromThomasHill’sTheGardener’sLabyrinth
(bypermissionoftheFolgerShakespeareLibrary.STC
13483,sig.G3r) 102
TABLE
1. Positionswhichmightbereferredtobythestagedirections
‘enter’,‘within’and‘above’ 155
viii
Acknowledgements
Ihavereceivedhelpandsupportfrommanyindividualsandinstitutionsin
theprocessofwritingandrewritingthemanuscript.Itisagreatpleasureto
acknowledgemyindebtednessandexpressmygratitude.
This book is mainly based upon my essays that have been published in
journals and collections of essays. I wish to thank the editors and the
publishersfortheirpermissiontouserevisedversionsoftheseessays:
‘What to do with a Corpse?: Physical Reality and the Fictional World in the
ShakespeareanTheatre’,TheatreResearchInternational,Volume29(3),pp.201–15,
(2004)©InternationalFederationforTheatreResearch,publishedbyCambridge
UniversityPress,reproducedwithpermission.
‘“Maluolio within”: Acting on the Threshold between Onstage and Offstage
Spaces’,inS.P.Cerasano(ed.),MedievalandRenaissanceDramainEngland,vol.18
(FairleighDickinsonUniversityPress,2005),pp.123–45.
‘“Music Within” and “Music Above”’, Shakespearean International Yearbook,
Volume 5, ed. Graham Bradshaw and Tom Bishop (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005),
pp.314–35.Copyright©2005,reproducedbypermissionofthepublishers.
‘Were the Doors Open or Closed?: The Use of the Stage Doors in the
ShakespeareanTheatre’,TheatreNotebook,60(2006),5–29.
‘“EnterBrutusinhisOrchard”:GardenScenesinEarlyModernEnglishPlays’,
Shakespearean International Yearbook, Volume 9, ed. Graham Bradshaw, Tom
Bishop and Laurence Wright (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 214–47. Copyright
©2009,reproducedbypermissionofthepublishers.
‘A Special Meaning of “Within”?’, in Frank Occhiogrosso (ed.), Shakespeare
Closely Read: A Collection of Essays (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2011),
pp.9–17.
‘ShakespeareanSpeeches:ThePhysicalRealityofthePlayhouseandtheFictional
RealityoftheDramaticWorld’,inShakespeareandTheatreCulture:ACollectionof
Essays inCommemoration ofthe 50thAnniversaryofthe Founding ofthe Shakespeare
SocietyofJapan(Tokyo:Kenkyusha,2012),pp.180–95[writteninJapanese].
TheawardofascholarshipfromtheFulbrightProgramintheacademic
year 2004–5 made possible a substantial period of research at the Folger
ix