Dramatic Techniques

Abstract

Our word ‘theatre’ derives from the Greek word that means to ‘see’; and in a theatre audiences literally see the meaning of the play, as its plot, brought to life on the stage, unfolds before their eyes. The division of Antony and Cleopatra into five separate acts and forty-two scenes is the work of modern editors; this conventional division, however, obscures the real structure of the play. As originally published in the First Folio of 1623, it had no divisions at all; and this is how it was staged at the Globe theatre. Shakespeare’s audience saw, in effect, a one-act play, probably performed with no intervals and moving swiftly on an open, uncurtained stage with no scenery, (see Appendix: Shakespeare’s theatre). The action alternated between Rome and Egypt, with brief excursions elsewhere, and the scenes flowed one into the other, without any noticeable pauses between them — like a motion picture today. The Critical Commentary above points out in detail the relevance of this flow and juxtaposition of scenes to the play’s meaning.