Space on the Elizabethan Stage, 1576-1599

University of Leeds

Following the opening of The Theatre in 1576, an innovative relationship developed between the newly-permanent space of the stage and the physical place of the theatre. The performative possibilities were quickly grasped and exploited by the men who came to write for the professional theatres, as they experimented with new ways of staging space in the Elizabethan playhouses: men such as Thomas Kyd, Thomas Lodge, Christopher Marlowe, George Peele, Robert Wilson, and the young William Shakespeare.

The purpose of our conference, 'Space on the Elizabethan Stage, 1576-1599', is to explore the relationship between the theatre as real place and the imaginative construction of space in early modern dramatic text and performance. The longer-term aim of this conference is to bring together postgraduates and established scholars, from both literary-critical and theatre/performance disciplines, who would be interested in contributing to a special journal issue on the theme of staging space in the early modern theatre.