The student should turn to pages 376-378 in Traditions in Literature. Read the passage The Globe Theater and write a commentary on how the design of the building would limit or enable a play to be performed.
The Globe Theater was very unique in the way that it was constructed. Standing three stories tall and having numerous stages for performances must have made acting there a very unique experience. For the most part, I would think that the theater would make acting easier. Since it has many stages, many things could be going on at the same time, but in more than just one location. There could be dialogue on one stage, while there is some sort of action on the other, and yet something else going on on another stage. This would make the experience of going to the play much more interesting and unique because the point of focus wasn’t always on one main point. This way, many things were going on at the same time, or spectators could better comprehend that different scenes occurred in different places.
But, there seems as though there would be drawbacks to the Globe Theater as well. For commoners, who could not afford actual seats, standing on the round and trying to watch the play that was two to three stories high might have been a problem. I think that it would be hard to see everything that was going on from the ground when the actors are elevated very high in the air. Another potential problem that I see is that of the multiple stages. Although these allow many things to go on at the same time, which is more than likely a good aspect, when too many things are going on, one may loose the main gist of what he’s seeing, and become confused. But I really don’t think that any playwright would let that happen for that reason.
The Globe theater was indeed a very unique place to go and watch a play. I think it made theater more exciting to watch because of the way that it was designed. I don’t know of many theaters that are constructed in such a way (multiple stages), but I think as it did then, it would make theater much more interesting than it already is