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Elizabethan Public Theatre: 'Conventions of Presentation and…
Elizabethan Public Theatre
: 'Conventions of Presentation and Acting'
Stage
Playhouse flag
top turret
Trapdoors on stage platform
Doors to the stage
Upper space
with windows
Small discovery space
closed by a curtain
Projecting main stage
No darkened theatre
So audience's attention could not be focused as in a darkened theatre
Need for exaggerated effects and gestures
Location indication
No scenic background
no indication for unimportant scenes
Location could be indicated by actors
a particular set of actors belonged to a scene
Actos would carry their properties with them
eg. chair
1st floor can be House/ Senate/ Court
Front stage denotes street
title boards with name of place painted on them
Early Elizabethan theatre
Declaration of space by a character
"Well, this is the forest of Arden"
Properties to indicate a location
Chair
throne
court room
Table
hall
altar
tomb
Discovery space
cave
bower
Central stage door
city gates
Movement
Movement across the stage could indicate journey
March of army round the stage
Scene change
No clear indication of change of scenes
Diffcult to say at what point the scene changed
Time
Not indicated
for unlocated scenes
Telescoping
instantaneous conversion of love at first sight
hatching a plot on the spur of the moment
Two time sequences
Plot
Sub-plot
Dialogue
Interval
"last Tuesday"
"next Wednesday"
Inconsistencies
Elizabethan audiences were not trained to read clock time
Indication of time not a priority
Rapidity
not bothered about real time
hightening suspense
Costume and Make-up
Contemporary dressing
No concept of period dressing
Some differentiation of dressing for various European countries
Costume could indicate character
white
old men
innocence and purity
purple
rich men
gorgeous colours
young men
black
evil
the Sultan in
The Raging Turk
Disguise
could be donned on stage
a false beard was enough
a long coat
Characters could be exchanged by copying costume
Stage Effects
Spectacular
Trees shooting up through trap doors
Pageants and Dumb Shows
play within the play
The Bloody Banquet
Use of bladders of red ink or animal blood
Appearance of ghosts
rise from tomb
chorus from above or beneath
Descent of gods
music
thunder
Striking of Bell/ Clock
suspense
Torture scenes
violent
an audience accustomed to bear-baiting and real torture as entertainment