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Shakespeare's Stagecraft

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Paperback | 1 December 1967

At a Glance

Paperback
256 Pages

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21.59 x 13.97 x 1.47

Paperback

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For many years, critics and students of Shakespeare have tended to stress that his plays are poetic structures embodying ''themes'', and these structures have been analysed in great detail. Professor Styan advocates another approach. The plays were written for acting, in a theatre of a particular type. If we ask what effects this kind of theatre encouraged and how Shakespeare exploited them, the plays are seen as a sequence of stage-effects, planned with great art so as to enrich, reinforce and modify each other. Professor Styan begins with the known facts about the Elizabethan theatre, stressing the effect of the size of the apron stage, and the degree in which the spectators situated all around are involved in the action. It was a theatre of movement and grouping, and above all speech. Shakespeare''s verse is full of suggestions about how it is to be delivered; it is, in Professor Styan''s word, ''gestic''. Professor Styan shows in very many examples, quoting the text and examining its dramatic implications, what the words suggest about movement over the stage, about the relationship between groups of players on the stage, and about the delivery and dramatic effect of the words themselves. Thus we build up a new sense of the whole play. This is a convenient and comprehensive introduction to the study of Shakespeare''s dramatic craftsmanship, which also reopens that direction of enquiry which Granville-Barker first explored.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Literature, Poetry & Plays History & Criticism of Literature Literary Studies of Plays & Playwrights Shakespeare Studies & Criticism Plays Arts & Entertainment Acting & Theatre Studies

Introduction	p. 1
Shakespeare's Theatre Equipment
Shakespeare's Stage	p. 7
The flexibility of Elizabethan theatre
The essential Elizabethan stage
The intimacy of the auditorium
The focus of the platform
A pair of permanent doors
'Knocking up the curtain'
Another level
Staging and Acting Conventions	p. 28
Convention in Shakespeare's theatre
Properties and symbols
A wardrobe for scene and symbol
Ranging between naturalism and ritual
Actor and atmosphere on a neutral stage
A note on sex and the boy actor
The daylight convention
The localizing convention
Dramatizing time
Shakespeare's Visual Craft
The Actor and his Movement	p. 53
Shakespeare as director
Gesture stated and implied
Gesture and dramatic meaning
Gesture into symbolism
Movement over the platform
Entrance on to the platform
Alone on the stage
Playing to the audience
Exit
Grouping on the Open Stage	p. 81
Planning for three dimensions
The duologue visualized
Spatial distinctions between characters
The importance of upstage and downstage
Speaking to the audience
The ways of eavesdropping
The silent figure
The Full Stage	p. 109
Successive entrances
Controlling the visual images
Crowds
Armies into battle
Two-fold grouping
Grouping, three- and four-fold
The Shakespearian spectacular
Shakespeare's Aural Craft
Speaking the Speech	p. 141
Vocal tones
Uses of tone and rhythm
Repetition and pace
'For every passion something'
The variation of Shakespeare's speech
The setting and the solo speech
The Orchestration of Speech	p. 172
Contrasting patterns of sound
Duologue and duet
Pace
Crescendo
Variation of tempo
A note on pause and silence
Conclusions
Total Theatre	p. 195
Eye and ear inseparable
The actor's contribution
Building the action
Shifts of tempo, mood and perspective
Extension into symbolism and ritual
An 'epic' structure
The audience and dramatic form
The study of Shakespeare in the theatre
Selected Bibliography	p. 232
Index of Subjects	p. 235
Index of Proper Names	p. 239
Index of Scenes	p. 241
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Shakespeare's Stagecraft

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Paperback

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