Recovering Shakespeare's Theatrical Vocabulary

Alan Dessen draws upon stage directions from hundreds of plays (from 1425 to 1642) to investigate what a playgoer may actually have seen when watching the original productions of Hamlet or Macbeth. He argues for the presence of a shared vocabulary among playwrights, players and playgoers geared to a sense of theatre which is easily obscured or eclipsed today. Chapters are devoted to such things as early entrances, the sick chair, vanish effects, tomb scenes, and to the staging of...
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Alan Dessen draws upon stage directions from hundreds of plays (from 1425 to 1642) to investigate what a playgoer may actually have seen when watching the original productions of Hamlet or Macbeth. He argues for the presence of a shared vocabulary among playwrights, players and playgoers geared to a sense of theatre which is easily obscured or eclipsed today. Chapters are devoted to such things as early entrances, the sick chair, vanish effects, tomb scenes, and to the staging of places such as a forest, a shop, a study or a house.