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From Forestage to Proscenium: A Study of Restoration Staging Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

Lee J. Martin
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Extract

Relatively little is known about the actual techniques employed in staging a play in the theatres of Restoration England (1660–1700), and consequently many problems concerning these techniques remain unsolved. One such problem, that of the amount of action which took place within the scene, that is, behind the proscenium arch, has received scant attention in published works. Theatre historians generally assume that Restoration actors confined their movements to the forestage and that they moved into the “scene” infrequently, if at all. However, a detailed study of the techniques for changing the scene and an analysis of the stage directions and lines of a large number of plays written and produced during the period under consideration affords an indication of the significant amount of action which took place within the scene.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 4 , May 1963 , pp. 3 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1963

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References

NOTES

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