Shakespeare and the Stage: With a Complete List of Theatrical Terms Used by Shakespeare in His Plays and Poems, Arranged in Alphabetical Order, & Explanatory Notes

This 1918 volume serves dual purposes that remain useful today. Part one traces the remarkable journey of English drama from its origins in medieval church productions, liturgical plays performed in Latin during holy festivals, through the gradual secularization of performance, the rise of guild-sponsored productions, and the eventual emergence of London's iconic playhouses. Jonas paints a vivid picture of how Shakespeare's stage was built: not from nothing, but from centuries of theatrical evolution, from roped-off church aisles to the wood-timbered arenas where groundlings stood. Part two offers something rarer: a complete glossary of theatrical terms Shakespeare deployed across his plays and poems, alphabetically arranged with explanatory notes. Here readers discover what a 'tiring-house' meant to an Elizabethan actor, how a 'discovery space' functioned, or why 'property' referred to more than furniture. Nearly a century old, this book endures because it answers questions both broad and specific, what was the stage like?, and intimate, what did this word mean to its first audiences?