Introduction

Abstract

We do not know in which theatre Antony and Cleopatra was performed during Shakespeare’s day. As mentioned earlier, it may have been either The Globe before 2500 to 3000 people, or at the much smaller Blackfriars theatre, holding about 400. Either way, the part of Cleopatra would have been taken by a boy actor, as would the roles of Iras, Charmian and Octavia. Even if presented at The Globe, the play’s impact would not have lacked immediacy, even intimacy; such was the design of the theatre that no member of the audience would have been more than twenty-five feet from the action.