Approaching the Interval in the Early Modern Theatre : The Significance of The 'Act-Time' / Mark Hutchings.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hutchings, Mark, author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in Shakespeare performance

Elements in Shakespeare Performance

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stage lighting--History.

Stage lighting.

Theater--History--17th century.

Theater.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (102 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, England : Cambridge University Press, [2024]

Summary:

In requiring artificial light, the early modern indoor theatre had to interrupt the action so that the candles could be attended to, if necessary. The origin of the five-act, four-interval play was not classical drama but candle technology. This Element explores the implications of this aspect of playmaking. Drawing on evidence in surviving texts it explores how the interval affected composition and stagecraft, how it provided opportunities for stage-sitters, and how amphitheatre plays were converted for indoor performance (and vice versa). Recovering the interval yields new insights into familiar texts and brings into the foreground interesting examples of how the interval functioned in lesser-known plays. This Element concludes with a discussion of how this aspect of theatre might feed into the debate over the King's Men's repertory management in its Globe-Blackfriars years and sets out the wider implications for both the modern theatre and the academy

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Approaching the Interval in the Early Modern Theatre: The Significance of the 'Act-Time'

Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Backstory

1.2 Archive of Evidence

1.3 What the Interval May Tell Us

2 Candles and Questions

2.1 The Act-Time: Length/Number

2.2 Candles +

2.3 Imagining the Act-Time

3 Scripting the 'Act-Time'

3.1 The 'Unscripted' Interval

3.2 The 'Law of Re-entry' and 'Enter [. . .] / Exeunt [. . .] Severally'

3.3 The Dumb Show Interval

3.4 Scripting Stage-Sitting

4 Amphitheatre Hall

4.1 Tracing Conversion

4.2 The Manuscript Interval

4.3 Print Traces: Outdoor > Indoor

4.3.1 A Midsummer Night's Dream

4.3.2 Titus Andronicus

4.4 Print Traces: Indoor> Outdoor

4.4.1 The Malcontent

5 The Globe Blackfriars Effect

5.0.1 The Duchess of Malfi

5.1 Globe Blackfriars

5.2 The Shakespearean Text

5.2.1 The Tempest

5.3 Outdoor Intervals?

5.4 Jacobean-Caroline Repertory Management

6 Coda

6.1 Performance

6.2 Print

Appendix

References

Acknowledgements

A Note on the Texts and Abbreviations

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 12 Apr 2024).

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781108857758

1108857752

9781108866842

1108866840