eaters imposed
strenuous imaginative exercise on the spectators. This effort was
fortunate for all concerned--for the dramatist and for the actor, but
especially for the spectator, who became accustomed to give an
imaginative interpretation and setting to a play that would mean
little to a modern theatergoer.

Actors.--Those who have seen some of the recent performances of
plays under Elizabethan conditions, on a stage modeled after that of
Shakespeare's time have been surprised at the increase of the actors'
power. The stage projects far enough into the pit to bring the actors
close to the audience. Their appeal thus becomes far more personal,
direct, and forceful. The spectator more easily identifies himself
with them and almost feels as if he were a part of the play. This has
been the experience of those who have seen the old-time reproduction
of plays as different as _The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The
Merchant of Venice_, and _Much Ado About Nothing_. In the case of _The
Tempest_, a very interesting act was presented when all the scenery
consisted of a board on which was painted "Prospero Isle."

In Shakespeare's times, the plays were probably well acted. While the
fame of Elizabethan actors like Edward Alleyn and Richard Burbage has
come down to modern times, the success of plays did not depend on
single stars. Shakespeare is said to have played in minor roles. The
audience discouraged bad acting. The occupants of the pit would throw
apples or worse missiles at an unsatisfactory player, and sometimes
the disgusted spectators would suddenly leap on the stage and chase an
incompetent actor off the boards.

Prior to the Restoration in 1660, the women's parts were taken by
boys. While this must have hampered the presentation of characters
like Lady Macbeth, it is now known to have been less of a handicap
than was formerly thought. The twentieth century has seen feminine
parts so well played by carefully trained boys that the most astute
women spectators never detected the deception. Boys, especially those
of the Chapel Royal, had for a long time acted masculine, as well as
feminine, parts. As late as the beginning of the seventeenth century,
the choir boys were presenting some of the great Elizabethan plays in
a private theater connected with St. Paul's Cathedral. Rosencrantz in
the second act of _Hamlet_ bears witness to the popularity of these
boy actors, when he calls them "little eyases, that cry on th