Reviews current knowledge of the character and operation of theatres in Shakespeare's time, with an explanation of their origins. Coverage includes the practices of Elizabethan actors and script writers: methods of characterization; gesture, blocking and choreography, including music, dance and fighting; actors' rhetorical interaction with audiences; and use of costumes, stage props, and make-up.

Table of Contents

• List of Figures
• Series Editor’s Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• a
• above
• abridgement
• absolute
• abuses
• academe
• accent
• accost
• achieve
• acoustics
• act and scene divisions
• acting on an Elizabethan stage
• action
• actors in Shakespeare’s companies
• adaptation
• addition
• Admiral’s Men
• admiration
• advance
• advice
• affect
• affront
• Africa
• against
• age
• alarum
• alchemy
• allegory
• Alleyn, Edward
• alliteration
• allow
• All’s Well That Ends Well
• amazement
• ambling
• America
• anachronism
• ancient
• angels
• animals
• anon
• antic
• Antony and Cleopatra
• apocryphal plays
• apparent
• appeal
• appetite
• appointment
• apprehension
• apprentices
• approbation
• approve
• apt
• Arden
• Arden, Mary
• argument
• Aristotle
• armies
• Armin, Robert
• arms
• arras
• art
• artificial
• As You Like It
• asides
• askance
• aspect
• assist
• assonance
• assume
• astrology
• astronomy
• attach
• Aubrey, John
• audiences
• autobiographical allusions
• avaunt
• avoid
• awful
• ay
• Bacon, Francis
• bad quartos
• ball
• ballads
• Bandello, Matteo
• bandy
• Bankside
• Bardolfe, George
• barren
• bastards
• bate
• battles
• bauble
• bawds
• beadsman
• beards
• Beargarden
• bed-trick
• beds
• bell
• Belleforest, François de
• below
• Benfield, Robert
• Bible
• bill
• birds
• bishops
• black
• Blackfriars Theatre
• blank verse
• blocking
• blood
• boar
• Boar’s Head
• Boccaccio, Giovanni
• bombast
• book-keeper
• boots
• bosom
• boy actors
• brackets
• braggart
• brothels
• brother
• brow
• Bryan, George
• Buck, Sir George
• buckler
• buff
• Burbage, James
• Burbage, Richard
• by’r lady
• caitiff
• cancel
• candles
• canon
• canopy
• cap
• Cardenio
• cardinals
• careless
• carol
• case
• Castiglione, Baldassare
• casting
• castles
• catastrophe
• catchword
• Catholicism
• caves
• censorship
• ceremony
• chairs
• Chamberlain’s/King’s Men
• chambers
• change
• Charles I
• charm
• chase
• chastity
• Chaucer, Geoffrey
• check
• cheer
• Chettle, Henry
• children’s acting companies
• choler
• chorus
• chronology
• churl
• Cicero
• Cinthio
• circle
• cities
• civil
• Clink
• cloak
• Cobham, Lord
• clowns
• coats
• Cobham, Lord
• Cockpit Theatres
• coffins
• coil
• collaboration
• colour coding
• comedy
• The Comedy of Errors
• commedia dell’arte
• companies of actors
• competitor
• complexion
• compositors
• conceit
• Condell, Henry
• confessions
• conjure
• constables
• Cooke, Alexander
• cornet
• coronations
• correspondencies
• costumes
• countenance
• counterfeit
• court
• courtship
• cousin
• Cowley, Richard
• coxcomb
• crests
• critics in Shakespeare’s lifetime
• Crosse, Samuel
• crown
• cry you mercy
• cuckoldry
• cuckoo
• curses
• curst
• curtain
• Curtain Playhouse
• cushions
• Cymbeline
• daff
• dagger
• dance
• dark
• daughters
• Davenant, Sir William
• Davies, John
• dawn
• De Witt, Johannes
• Dekker, Thomas
• deletion
• Denmark
• deputy
• desert
• despite
• device
• devils
• dialogues
• Diana
• die
• Digges, Leonard
• directly
• discharge
• discomfort
• discover
• disease
• disguises
• dismal
• dispatch
• dissemble
• distemper
• doctors
• dogs
• Don
• Donne, John
• doors
• dote
• doubling
• down
• dramatic irony
• dramatis personae
• Drayton, Michael
• dreams
• drift
• drinking
• Droeshout, Martin
• drum
• duels
• dukes
• dumbshows
• dump
• duration of performances
• ease
• Ecclestone, William
• economics of the Elizabethan theatre
• ecstasy
• Edgar
• editions
• Edward III
• Edwards, Richard
• element
• elision
• Elizabeth I
• emendation
• enchant
• end-stopping
• engage
• engine
• English
• engraffed
• enjambment
• ensconce
• entertain
• entrances
• epilogues
• Essex
• Euphuism
• executions
• exit
• eyas
• fain
• fairies
• faith
• falconry
• fall away
• Falstaff
• fat
• fathers
• fealty
• feat
• fellowship
• feminine endings
• fencing
• festivals
• Field, Nathan[iel]
• Field, Richard
• fife
• flags
• Fletcher, John
• Florio, Giovanni
• flourish
• foil
• foin
• folio
• fond
• fools
• foot-land-raker
• fop
• forests
• form
• Fortune Playhouse
• forward
• foul papers
• Foxe, John
• frame
• France
• fret
• friars
• friendship
• fub
• Fuller, Thomas
• furniture
• fustian
• gage
• gallant
• galleries (audience)
• gallery (stage)
• galliard
• gamester
• gardens
• garland
• Gascoigne, George
• gatherers
• general
• genius
• gentle
• gentleman
• gentlewoman
• Germany
• ghosts
• Gilburne, Samuel
• Giovanni, Ser
• gleek
• Globe Playhouse (first)
• Globe Playhouse (second)
• Globe Theatre (restored)
• gods
• gog’s wouns
• Gosson, Stephen
• Goughe, Robert
• Gower, John
• grace
• gramercy
• Granville-Barker, Harley
• greasily
• Greece
• green
• Greene, Robert
• Greenwich
• grief
• Grooms of the Chamber
• grossly
• groundlings
• gull
• gust
• gyves
• ha!
• haggard
• halberd
• halidom
• Hall, Edward
• hallo
• haply
• harness
• harpy
• Hart, William
• Harvey, Gabriel
• hats
• haunt
• hautboy
• havoc
• hawking
• heap
• heart
• heavens
• heaviness
• Hecate
• Hell
• Heminge, John
• Henryson, Robert
• Henslowe, Philip
• heraldry
• heralds
• Herod
• Heywood, Thomas
• hie
• hierarchy
• hilding
• hind
• hired men
• history plays
• hoar
• hobby-horse
• Holinshed, Raphael
• Hollar, Wenceslas
• Homer
• homosexuality
• hooded
• Hope Playhouse
• horn
• horns
• horses
• housekeeper
• houses
• hull
• humanists
• humours
• Hunsdon, Lords
• hunting
• husband
• husbands
• iambic
• idle
• ill
• illustrations
• imagery
• imagination
• impertinent
• incontinently
• indifferent
• indirection
• influence
• informal
• Iniquity
• injury
• inland
• inner stage
• innocent
• inns
• Inns of Court
• instrumental music
• intelligence
• intention
• interest
• interludes
• interpolations
• intervals
• invention
• invisible
• inward
• Isabella
• italics
• Italy
• iwis
• Jacobean drama
• Jaggard, William
• James I
• James, Richard
• jealous jet
• jig
• Joan
• Johnson, William
• Jones, Inigo
• Jones, Thomas
• Jonson, Benjamin
• Jourdan, Sylvester
• journeyman
• juggling
• Keeling, William
• Kemble, John Philip
• Kemp, Will
• Kenilworth
• kersey
• kill
• kindly
• kings
• kirtle
• kiss
• knave
• knocking
• knotgarden
• Kyd, Thomas
• ladies
• Lancaster, House of
• law
• Legge, Thomas
• Leicester’s Men
• letters
• liberties
• licensing
• lighting
• Lily, William
• location signs
• Lodge, Thomas
• London
• Lord Chamberlain
• lords
• lords’ room
• Lowin, John
• lumpish
• lute
• Lyly, John
• Machiavel
• machines
• Maddermarket Theatre
• madness
• madrigal
• magic
• magistrate
• make-up
• malapert
• Malapropism
• malcontent
• mammet
• manage
• mandrake
• manner
• Manningham, John
• Margaret of Anjou
• maps
• Marlowe, Christopher
• marriage
• marry
• marshal
• masques
• Master of the Revels
• measure
• mechanical
• medievalism
• mercy
• Meres, Francis
• Mermaid Tavern
• messengers
• metrics
• Middleton, Thomas
• mid-line pauses and speech-endings
• Middleton, Thomas
• milk-livered
• minister
• miracle plays
• mislining
• misprints
• modern-dress productions
• Montaigne, Michel de
• mood
• Moors
• morality plays
• Morgann, Maurice
• morris dances
• motley
• mummers
• murders
• music
• music room
• mutes
• mysteries
• Nashe, Thomas
• national characters
• natural
• nature
• naught
• neoclassicism
• Newington Butts Theatre
• nice
• night
• Norden, John
• North, Sir Thomas
• Norton, Thomas
• not-pated
• nothing
• oaths
• observance
• oeillade
• officials
• Oldcastle, Sir John
• omens
• onomatopoeia
• original orations
• Ostler, William
• overhearings
• Ovid
• Oxford
• paddle
• pageants
• pages
• paint
• Painter, William
• palaces
• pale-hearted
• palmer
• pander
• pantaloon
• pander
• parti-coloured
• partisan
• Partlet
• parts
• pass
• pastorals
• patched
• patents
• pathetic fallacy
• patriotism
• patrons
• pauses
• pay of actors and sharers, etc.
• Peacham, Henry
• Peele, George
• Pembroke, Earls of
• Pembroke’s Men
• perdie
• permissive stage directions
• personification
• perturbation
• Petrarchism
• Phillips, Augustine
• pick-thank
• picked
• picture
• pillars
• pin
• pioner
• pit
• placket
• plagiarism
• plague
• plain-song
• plainness
• Plantagenets
• Platter, Dr Thomas
• Plautus
• players
• playhouses
• playing
• plays
• plays within plays
• pleached
• plot
• Plutarch
• Poel, William
• poems
• point-device
• point of view
• poise
• polarities in drama
• politics
• Pope, Thomas
• port
• portraits
• possess
• possibility
• practice
• predominance
• pregnant
• prehistory
• presently
• pretence
• pretty
• prick
• pride
• priestesses
• priests
• prime
• princesses
• principality
• professions
• prohibitions on playing
• prompt books
• prone
• pronunciation
• proof-reading
• properties
• prophecy
• proscenium arch
• prose in Shakespeare
• prostitution
• provost
• publication
• pudder
• punctuation
• puns
• Purchas, Samuel
• Puritans
• quarto
• queens
• Queen’s Men
• Quince, Peter
• Quiney, Thomas
• rack
• rage
• Rainolds, John
• rascal
• Red Bull Theatre
• Red Lion Inn
• Reformation
• Renaissance
• repertory
• Revels Office
• revenge
• revision
• rhetoric
• rhyme
• Rice, John
• rings
• rituals
• Roberts, James
• Robinson, Richard
• rogues
• romances
• Rome
• Rose Playhouse
• roses
• royal
• ruff
• rushes
• Russia
• Rutland, Francis Manners, sixth Earl of
• ruttish
• ’s
• sackbut
• Sackville, Thomas
• sad
• save thee
• Saxo Grammaticus
• ’s blood
• scamble
• scan
• scarf
• Scot, Reginald
• Scotland
• scripts
• scrivener
• seal
• secure
• Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
• sennet
• sequels
• sergeant
• Serlio, Sebastiano
• servants
• settings
• several
• sewer
• sex
• Shakeshafte, Richard
• Shakespeare, Hamnet and Judith
• Shakespeare, John
• Shakespeare, Susanna
• Shakespeare, William
• Shank, John
• sharers
• shirt
• short lines
• Siddons, Mrs Sarah
• Sidney, Sir Philip
• silences
• silly
• Simmes, Valentine
• simple
• sirrah
• sisters
• skipping
• sky
• Slye, William
• smug
• sola
• soldiers
• solemn
• soliloquy
• songs
• sons
• sounds
• sources
• Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of
• Southwark
• Spain
• Spedding, James
• speech prefixes
• Speed, John
• spelling
• spirits
• spleen
• squire
• stage directions
• state
• Stationers’ Company
• stichomythia
• stinkards
• stomach
• storms
• Stow, John
• strain
• Strange’s Men
• Stratford-upon-Avon
• Stubbes, Philip
• subtle
• suicide
• sumptuary laws
• sun
• Sussex’s Men
• swain
• Swan Playhouse
• swashing
• swinge
• tabor
• Tarlton, Richard
• Tate, Nahum
• Taylor, John
• Taylor, Joseph tents
• Terence
• tetralogies
• Theatre Playhouse
• theatres, London private
• theatres, London public
• thou
• thrasonical
• thrill
• thrum
• thunder
• Tilney, Edmund
• time of day
• tires
• tiring house
• title-pages
• tool
• Tooley, Nicholas
• torches
• touring companies of actors
• tragedy
• tragicomedy
• train
• trapdoors
• traverse
• trees
• trials
• trumpet
• tucket
• tun
• Udall, Nicholas
• unaccommodated
• uncase
• Underwood, John
• undo
• unhandsome
• unhappily
• unintelligent
• universities
• University Wits
• unkind
• upper stage
• variorum editions
• Venice
• Vergil, Polydore
• versification
• vice figures
• viol
• violence
• visor
• Visscher, Jan Claes
• vocabulary
• vocal nuances
• vouchsafe
• vows
• Wales
• walls
• wan
• Wanamaker, Sam
• wanton
• Ward, John
• warder
• wars
• Warwick
• Warwick’s Men
• watch
• weak
• weather
• Webster, John
• wen
• Wheel of Fortune
• whisper
• whistle
• Whitehall Palace
• Whitgift, John
• whores
• Wilkins, George
• will
• Willobie, Henry
• window
• Wise, Andrew
• wise woman
• wit
• within
• witches
• within
• wives
• women’s roles
• Worcester’s Men
• worship
• Wright, James
• y-
• yard
• yeoman
• York, House of
• zany
• zodiac
• ’zounds
• Bibliography