The views about Hamlet, and other essays . n diameter by thirty-two high, andhad a pit of fifty-five feet across, in which stood thestage. Probably the Globe had as much room, ora diameter, say, two and a half times its Hale adds pungently that these theatresseem, according to the contemporary pictures,about as available for dramatic purposes as anew factory chimney would be. We may safelybelieve, however, that the picture of the secondGlobe Theatre that is here presented gives in otherrespects a correct general impression. Let us now look at the modern method of pre-senting S
The views about Hamlet, and other essays . n diameter by thirty-two high, andhad a pit of fifty-five feet across, in which stood thestage. Probably the Globe had as much room, ora diameter, say, two and a half times its Hale adds pungently that these theatresseem, according to the contemporary pictures,about as available for dramatic purposes as anew factory chimney would be. We may safelybelieve, however, that the picture of the secondGlobe Theatre that is here presented gives in otherrespects a correct general impression. Let us now look at the modern method of pre-senting Shake^eare. A modern manager puts aShakespearean play on the stage with a vast displayof elaborate scenery and gorgeous costumes. Longwaits between the scenes and acts make it neces-sary to mutilate the play in various ways. Scenesare combined that Shakespeare kept apart, theorder of the parts of the play is freely departedfrom, and many passages and whole scenes areomitted altogether. In this way many touches of AND MODERN ADAPTATIONS 133. THE SECOND GLOBE THEATRE, OPENED IN 1614 From Halliwell-Phillipps Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare, 10th edition, vol. 315 ; taken by him from Visschers engraved view of London, 1616. 134 SHAKESPEARES STAGE preparation, retrospect, transition, and characteri-zation are simply dropped. The result may bemagnificent, but in many ways it is not Shake-speare. Though the dramatist sometimes went toofar in breaking up the action of a drama intoseparate, scattered scenes, yet in his greatest worksall the parts of the play should be presented, andthe correct order of the scenes is a definite partof the dramatic effect. Moreover, the expenseof the elaborate setting is so oppressive that man-agers are loath to produce Shakespeare at all. SirHenry Irving made the statement, a few years ago,that his losses on Shakespearean productions hadamounted to X100,000. Shakespeares plays were constructed for Shake-speares theatre ; they are falsified when p
Size: 1340px × 1866px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksu, booksubjectenglishpoetry
