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A generic theater

Reconstruction by C. Walter Hodges. Reproduced by permission.

This reconstruction (also by C. Walter Hodges) is based loosely on the Rose, but takes characteristics from other theaters as well. Though they shared many features, the theaters differed one from another, sometimes quite spectacularly; the Fortune, for example, was square.

Though some of the later plays in the period used quite elaborate stage devices (a banquet appears in The Tempest, for example, then is made to vanish by "a quaint device" [3.2.11]), most plays could be acted on almost any surface where a couple of entrances could be arranged. Thus, plays could be acted at Court, or on tour when the theaters in London were closed by the plague, as well as in the theater the actors normally used.