many, and the German stage directions of that time speak of the "inner stage."

In the last act of The Tempest, where Prospero "discovers [that is, discloses] Ferdinand and Miranda playing at chess," we are to understand that he draws back the side curtains, which up to that moment had shut off the back stage, in order that the king of Naples and his nobles may behold the lovers.

It must be admitted that we see nothing in the sketch of any curtain that could be drawn to separate the front part of the stage from the back. The Swan had a removable stage, two of the supports of which we see in the picture. This fact enabled the structure to be changed into an amphitheater for various athletic contests; and this theater appears to have been more frequently employed for such uses than as a playhouse. It may be, therefore, that it was not fully supplied with the usual stage devices. That a portion of the stage could be curtained off in a well-equipped Elizabethan theater, is certain.

The doors which lead from the back stage into the "tiring house," or dressing-room, sometimes come into the action. For example, they represent the gates of Corioli. Through one of these Caius Marcius enters the city alone, and then fights his way out again covered with blood, thus inspiring his followers to capture the city, and winning for himself the proud name, Coriolanus. These same doors are the gates of many different castles and cities in the plays which are named from the various English kings.

Only one who has given special attention to the matter can realize how important in the presentation of Shakespeare's plays was the balcony over the "tiring house." This third, or upper stage, with the rear wall of the back stage, represented the walls of many cities and castles; for example, the castle wall from which young Arthur jumps to his death in King John. This little gallery becomes the

window from which Brabantio speaks at the opening of Othello, and the window of Juliet's chamber. In the sketch of the Swan Theater, this balcony seems to be occupied by spectators.

Professor Alois Brandl believes that inasmuch as the back stage was furnished and arranged to represent in a rough way each specific indoor scene, two back scenes representing different interiors could not come in succession, since this would give no opportunity to change the furnishings, and the Elizabethan audiences had not learned to wait. He thinks that Shakespeare was compelled to insert at least one front scene whenever two back scenes with different settings would otherwise come together. Sometimes these inserted scenes are dramatically superfluous and ineffective. III, vi, of Richard III, and III, v, of The Merchant of Venice have been considered to be scenes of this kind, forced upon Shakespeare by a stage necessity. Since III, ii, of Julius Cæsar uses the entire stage, as we shall see, and IV, i, a room in a house at Rome, requires the back stage, it has been claimed that III, iii, was necessary in order to give time for the preparing of the back stage for IV, i, and that III, iii, is in itself a useless scene. III, iii, is almost universally omitted upon the stage at the present day.

The stage directions of Julius Cæsar in the Folio are very scanty. Let us go through the play and consider how each scene was presented on the Elizabethan stage. The whole of Act I would be presented upon the front stage, in the open air; also the first scene of Act II, in Brutus's orchard. From his orchard Brutus hears the knocking upon the door of the dressing-room back of the stage, which represents the outer door of his house. Scene i of Act II, in Cæsar's house, is the first indoor scene, the first one played upon the back stage. Scenes iii and iv are street scenes on the front stage. The opening of Act III is a problem. The Folio simply states that the characters "enter" at the begin

ning, and tells us after 1. 76 that "They stab Cæsar." The stage directions here in all editions are modern; those in this book are based upon the account given by Plutarch. Apparently the procession is upon the front stage, representing the street before the Capitol, for the first twelve lines; it then passes to the back stage, and this represents the entry into the Capitol. After 1. 26 we suppose that Cæsar takes his seat, and that the senators, who have been standing in compliment to him, do the same. The remainder of the scene takes place upon the back stage, within the Capitol. III, ii, the great scene of the play, is a mass scene, and the entire stage, front and back, is used to represent the Roman Forum. Indeed, the balcony is also employed; for when Brutus "goes into the pulpit," he mounts into this rear balcony; and Antony succeeds him there, until asked by the mob to come down. Next we have the much-discussed front scene between Cinna the poet and the mob, III, iii. We infer that IV, i, takes place in " a house in Rome," and was represented upon the back stage. In IV, ii, the front stage represents the space before Brutus's tent; at the end of this scene Brutus and Cassius pass to the back stage, the interior of the tent, for scene iii. Concerning the Ghost the Folio is very specific: "Enter the Ghost of Cæsar." Act V was played entirely upon the front stage, in the open air.

Professor Brandl believes that the three separate divisions of the Elizabethan stage were sometimes all in use together, that three different groups of persons could in some measure claim the attention of the audience at the same time. He thinks that Act IV, scenes iv and v, of Romeo and Juliet were thus presented. I translate his words:

"In the reception hall - that is, upon the back stage Lady Capulet and the nurse are busily engaged in preparing

1 From the Introduction to Vol. I of the new edition of the SchlegelTieck translation of Shakespeare.

the meal for the wedding guests; servants with food, firewood, and baskets are hurrying to and from the kitchen; the nurse is sent up into Juliet's chamber in order to waken the prospective bride. Above in the balcony we see her draw back the window curtain, but she cannot arouse the sleeper - below the clatter of preparation continues - the nurse becomes anxious and calls for help. Lady Capulet climbs the stair and beholds the sad spectacle; Capulet appears; both lament over the body of their daughter. In the meantime, musicians have drawn near upon the front stage; Paris will carry away his bride with cheery piping; thus the festive tumult ever increases on the floor of the stage, as does the noise of lamentation above in the chamber; and both of them are both seen and heard by the spectator, until at last the words of Capulet spoken to Paris from the window put an end to this shocking contrast. In the modern theater, with all its elaborate apparatus and decorations, half of the effect of such scenes is lost."

A modern manager puts a Shakespearean play on the stage with a vast display of elaborate scenery and gorgeous costumes. Long waits between the scenes and acts make it necessary to mutilate the play in various ways. Scenes are combined that Shakespeare kept apart, the order of the parts of the play is freely departed from, and many passages and whole scenes are omitted altogether. In this way many touches of preparation, retrospect, transition, and characterization are simply dropped. The result may be magnificent, but in many ways it is not Shakespeare. Moreover, the expense of the elaborate setting is so oppressive that managers are loath to produce Shakespeare at all. Sir Henry Irving recently announced that his losses on Shakespearean productions had amounted to £100,000.

Undoubtedly Shakespeare sometimes went too far in breaking up the action of a drama into separate, scattered scenes, but in his greatest works all the parts of the play should be presented, and the correct order of the scenes is a definite part of the dramatic effect.

But

Shakespeare's plays were constructed for Shakespeare's theater; they are falsified when presented to an audience in an entirely different manner. This fact has come to be recognized more and more, and various attempts have been made to remedy the difficulty. A number of Elizabethan plays have been presented by the students of Harvard University during recent years upon a stage especially constructed in the Elizabethan fashion. Since 1895 the Elizabethan Stage Society of London has presented a number of Elizabethan plays in the Elizabethan manner. the only important attempt to appeal to the general public by means of a reformed method of presenting the plays of Shakespeare has been made in München (Munich), Germany. In 1889 the director of the court-theater in that capital began to present the plays of Shakespeare upon a specially prepared stage. The only omissions made were such as good taste demanded. Only a moderate use was made of stage furnishings and decorative effects. There were no waits between the scenes, and only slight ones between the acts. This special stage was called "die Shakespeare-Bühne," the Shakespeare stage. It consisted essentially of a stage divided into front and back portions, like the Elizabethan. The front stage remained unchanged in appearance throughout the play; the back stage could be shut off by a separate curtain. This double stage, with moderation in the use of stage furnishings, permitted a rapid succession of front scenes, and a rapid alternation of front and back scenes. Many lovers of Shakespeare were enthusiastic over this reform. The acting and elocution were made prominent, not the scene-painting and rich setting. It was found that a whole play of Shakespeare makes a very different impression from the selected parts and tableau effects to which the modern stage has accustomed us. One writer tells us that, when Julius Cæsar was presented in its entirety, III, iii, the scene with the poet Cinna, showed itself to be both