Shakespeare's StagecraftFor 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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Page 6
... sense electrical and magnetic fields. Each animal was chosen as a unique exemplar for a sense – for instance, while all animals possess a sense of taste, certain fish rely on this sense exclusively, while humans enjoy the smells, sight ...
... sense electrical and magnetic fields. Each animal was chosen as a unique exemplar for a sense – for instance, while all animals possess a sense of taste, certain fish rely on this sense exclusively, while humans enjoy the smells, sight ...
Page 2
... sense for the past , for the value of experience the historical faculty ; a sense for the future , for natural law , for prediction - the scientific faculty ; a sense for fellowship , co- operation , and justice the political faculty ...
... sense for the past , for the value of experience the historical faculty ; a sense for the future , for natural law , for prediction - the scientific faculty ; a sense for fellowship , co- operation , and justice the political faculty ...
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... sense modality contributes to “making sense” ofspace. Vision is undoubtedly the sense thatis most closelyassociated with space perception. Moststudies focus on vision.The two areeven sometimes identified.Butitis preciselybecause vision ...
... sense modality contributes to “making sense” ofspace. Vision is undoubtedly the sense thatis most closelyassociated with space perception. Moststudies focus on vision.The two areeven sometimes identified.Butitis preciselybecause vision ...
Page 11
... senses or meanings - the celestial , the spiritual , and the natural or literal . These three senses make one by correspondence . The lowest or " literal sense is the basis , the continent , and the firmament of its spiritual and celestial ...
... senses or meanings - the celestial , the spiritual , and the natural or literal . These three senses make one by correspondence . The lowest or " literal sense is the basis , the continent , and the firmament of its spiritual and celestial ...
Page 1
... sense the outer world only by means of its physical and chemical influence on the special sense cells of the nose , the ears , or the eyes . Thus the senses are the bodily mechanisms for gathering up - to - date information , and as ...
... sense the outer world only by means of its physical and chemical influence on the special sense cells of the nose , the ears , or the eyes . Thus the senses are the bodily mechanisms for gathering up - to - date information , and as ...
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acting action actor Angelo Antony and Cleopatra Antony's audience audience's auditorium aural balcony Banquo Brutus Brutus's Capulet Cassius character chorus Claudius comedy comic contrast convention Cordelia Coriolanus curtain dance death Desdemona downstage drama duologue effect Elizabethan stage Emilia Enobarbus Enter entrance exit eyes Falstaff feeling gesture Gloucester groups Hamlet heaven Henry Iago Iago's imagination irony Julius Caesar Kent King Lear Lady Leontes lines lord lovers Macbeth Merchant of Venice Midsummer Night's Dream mind mood movement murder Ophelia Orlando Othello pace pattern pause Phebe platform play play's players playhouse playwright poetry Prince prose Queen rhythm Richard Richard II Roman Romeo and Juliet Rosalind scene seems sense sequence Servingman Shakespeare Shakespearian silent soliloquy speak spectator spectator's speech stage direction stagecraft suggest symbolic theatre theatrical thee theme thou tone tragedies Troilus and Cressida Twelfth Night Tybalt verbal verse Viola visual voice Winter's Tale words