Shakespeare's Theatres and the Effects of Performance

How did Elizabethan and Jacobean acting companies create their visual and aural effects? What materials were available to them and how did they impact on staging and writing? What impact did the sensations of theatre have on early modern audiences? How did the construction of the playhouses themselves contribute to or enable technological innovations in the theatre and what impact might these innovations have had on the writing of plays in this period? This landmark collection of essays by leading intermational scholars addresses these and other question to create a unique and comprehensive overivew of the practicalities and realites of the theatre in the early modern period.

Farah Karim-Cooper is Head of Research at Shakespeare's Globe, London and the author of several critical studies focussing on performance. Tiffany Stern is Beaverbrook and Bouverie Fellow and Tutor in English, University College, Oxford. She is a General Editor of the New Mermaids series and the author of several critical studies.

Table of contents: Preface - Andrew Gurr Introduction - Farah Karim-Cooper and Tiffany Stern Part One - Fabric of the TheatreStorm Effects in Shakespeare's Playhouses - Gwilym Jones, Queen Mary LondonTraps, Doors, Pillars and Rails - Tiffany SternHangings and Paintings - Nathalie Revere de Carles, University of Toulouse Part Two - Theatre ProstheticsStage Blood and Body Parts - Lucy Munro, University of KeeleCosmetic Transformations - Andrea Stevens, University of IllinoisThe Effects of Disguise - Bridget Escolme, Queen Mary LondonCharacter Acting - Paul Menzer, Mary Baldwin College Part Three - The Sensory StageThe Circulation of Sound in Shakespeare's Theatre - Bruce Smith, University of Southern CaliforniaThe Smell of the Hope Theatre - Holly Dugan, George Washington University Touching and Tasting Effects in Shakespeare's Playhouses - Farah Karim Cooper The Look of the Theatre - Spectacular Queens - Clare McManus, Roehampton University Conclusion - Farah Karim Cooper and Tiffany SternIndex