Henry V by William Shakespeare

The Elizabethan stage lacked scenery. The Chorus (a single speaker) apologizes for the limitations of the theatre, acknowledging that "a Muse of fire", an actual sun, would be the ideal source of theatrical power, and that real princes and a real kingdom are superior to actors and their small stage. The Chorus then speculates: just as an actor "plays" King Henry, King Henry would play the god of war himself, would "[a]ssume the port [bearing] of Mars". The Prologue is thus a formal Apology for the production, but tempered with the speculation that the world, too, is a kind of stage, nested in a larger structure of imitation. The Chorus encourages the audience to use their "imaginary forces" to overcome the stage's limitations: "Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts."