Introduction: Space on the Early Modern Stage

This introductory article situates the collection ‘Space on the Early Modern Stage’ (Cahiers Elisabéthains 88) within the context of existing scholarship on the staging practices and architecture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century playhouses. Pointing to the impact that reconstructed theatres have had on scholars' interest in the relationship between space and performance, it argues that, nonetheless, work in this area remains comparatively fragmented. It then outlines the various ways in which the collection develops scholarship in this emerging field by considering how the practical conditions of staging – both within and beyond the commercial playhouses – shaped the spatial grammar of early modern performance.