How Act 2, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet May Have Been Staged

Open in London in 1599, William Shakespeare’s Globe theatre grew to be recognized as the most popular playhouse in the region and home to some of the greatest players in England. The King’s Men, previously the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, were a playing company for whom Shakespeare was a member of for most of his career. They frequently performed in the Globe and staged many of Shakespeare’s works. Nevertheless, the lack of stagecraft information provided from these XVI century texts has made it hard to interpret how Shakespeare originally intended his plays to be performed in the Globe. In particular, the famous tragedy of Romeo and Juliet suggests that there are many alternative staging options for each scene. However, from a close reading of the play-text as a manual for performance, it is possible to describe how the play may have been staged, specifically in Act 2, Scene 1, by analysing elements such as the acting measures, the costume design and the stage setting.

To commence, in the Elizabethan and Jacobean period, there were many important rules in regards to acting that players had to consider when performing in the Globe theatre. When Shakespeare wrote his plays, he included as many female characters as he did male characters. Nonetheless, the traditions and values of the Renaissance did not allow women to act or become actors, due to the fact that it was considered immoral for a woman to be on stage. At the time, they had no social status other than their association with their husbands or fathers. Moreover, actors were considered to have a low social status, thus it was considered improper and socially unacceptable for a woman to become a performer. Instead of editing all of Shakespeare’s texts to adher...

... middle of paper ...

...e theatre’s unique structure.

Works Cited

Adams Novak, Elaine. Staging Shakespearean Theatre. Cincinnati: Betterway Books, 2000. Print.

Hodges, C. Walters. The Globe Restored: A Study of the Elizabethan Theatre. London: Oxford University Press, 1968. Print.

Leed, Drea. “Elizabethan Make-up.” Elizabethan Costuming Page. 2010. Web. 10 December 2013.

Smith, Irwin. Shakespeare’s Globe Playhouse. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1956. Print.

Staging Shakespeare. Seminars on Production Problems. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1990. Print.

The Arden Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s Theatres and the Effects of Performance. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2013. Print.

The Oxford Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2000. Print.

The Signet Classic Shakespeare. Hamlet. New York: New American Library, 1998. Print.