Directed Love's Sacrifice by John Ford.

Role of researcher: Martin White, originator/director Chief Collaborators: N/A Participants: students of Department of Drama. Venue: Reconstructed, full-size, candle-lit Jacobean playhouse situated in the Wickham Theatre, Department of Drama, University of Bristol. Dates: March 18-21, 1997; 4 performances. Other outcomes: conference presentation; public lecture; national and international conference papers; book chapter; references in publications by other scholars, including new Revels edition; International Shakespeare's Globe Centre (ISGC) workshops and (under development)web site. Documentation available: programme, production file, stills, video tape, reports, etc. Funding: University of Bristol fund for Excellence in Teaching and Learning RESEARCH CONTEXT Section A Since 1992 I have been engaged in a series of research productions investigating indoor performance in the English professional theatre in the Jacobean and Caroline period. This work has focused largely on little-known plays, or on those which have been ignored by professional repertoires or academic syllabuses. This not only extends the current range of plays known in performance, but also allows exploration to be unhindered by a backlog of critical comment, itself frequently written with no reference to the texts in performance. Section B This research production was staged on a full-size, candle-lit reconstruction based as accurately as possible on the Inigo Jones drawings (Worcester College 7B and 7C) which are widely – if not unanimously – believed to be plans for the Cockpit/Phoenix opened in Drury Lane in 1616/17. They are, in any event, the only extant plans for the interior of a commercial indoor playhouse. Ford’s play was chosen as it was first staged at the Phoenix and because Ford’s regular use of the playhouse gives him a particular understanding of the resources available. The project allowed investigation of a number of key aspects of the implied performance that cannot be fully investigated without the use of the reconstruction. These included the demands on the physical structure of stage and tiring house (particularly the use of the upper level, the staging of the masque and the staging of the final scene), the specific relationship of the text/actor to the likely composition and deployment of the audience, and the opportunities for lighting (one of Ford’s particular interests) and the integration of language, action and music (played by members of the Music Department on appropriate instruments). The research advanced the study of Early English drama through practical exploration of the relationship between texts and performance space