Shakespeare in the Theatre

The book provides a comprehensive study of Theatres in which William Shakespeare conducted his plays, going into THE STAGE OF SHAKESPEARE, The Elizabethan Playhouse and its Plays and Players, THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE, the mistakes of editors and actors, stage versions of the plays (in particular: The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and King Lear), and the THE NATIONAL THEATRE: The Repertory Theatre, The Elizabethan Stage Society, Shakespeare at Earl’s Court, The Students’ Theatre, and The Memorial Scheme

The interdependence of Shakespeare’s dramatic art with the form of theatre for which Shakespeare wrote his plays is seldom emphasized. The ordinary reader and the everyday critic have no historic knowledge of the Elizabethan playhouse; and however full the Elizabethan dramas may be of allusions to the contemporary stage, the bias of modern dramatic students is so opposed to any belief in the superiority of past methods of acting Shakespeare over modern ones, as to effectually bar any serious inquiry. A few sceptics have recognized dimly that a conjoint study of Shakespeare and the stage for which he wrote is possible; but they have not conducted their researches either seriously or impartially, and their conclusions have proved disputable and disappointing. With a very hazy perception of the connection between Elizabethan histrionic art and its literature, they have approached[Pg 4] a comparison of the Elizabethan drama with the Elizabethan stage as they would a Chinese puzzle. They have read the plays in modern printed editions, they have seen them acted on the picture-stage, they have heard allusions made to old tapestry, rushes, and boards, and at once they have concluded that the dramatist found his theatre inadequate to his needs.