Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) Shakespeare in the Theatre [Illustration: Yours truly, Wm. Poel. _Photo. Bassano._] SHAKESPEARE IN THE THEATRE BY WILLIAM POEL FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE ELIZABETHAN STAGE SOCIETY LONDON AND TORONTO SIDGWICK AND JACKSON, LTD. 1913 _All rights reserved._ NOTE These papers are reprinted from the _National Review_, the _Westminster Review_, the _Era_, and the _New Age_, by kind permission of the owners of the copyrights. The articles are collected in one volume, in the hope that they may be of use to those who are interested in the question of stage reform, more especially where it concerns the production of Shakespeare's plays. W. P. _May, 1913._ ADDENDUM An acknowledgement of permission to reprint should also have been made to the _Nation_, in which several of the most important of these papers originally appeared. W. P. _Shakespeare in the Theatre_ CONTENTS PAGE I THE STAGE OF SHAKESPEARE The Elizabethan Playhouse--The Plays and the Players 3 II THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE Some Mistakes of the Editors--Some Mistakes of the Actors--The Character of Lady Macbeth--Shakespeare's Jew and Marlowe's Christians--The Authors of "King Henry the Eighth"--"Troilus and Cressida" 27 III SOME STAGE VERSIONS "The Merchant of Venice"--"Romeo and Juliet"--"Hamlet"--"King Lear" 119 IV THE NATIONAL THEATRE The Repertory Theatre--The Elizabethan Stage Society--Shakespeare at Earl's Court--The Students' Theatre--The Memorial Scheme 193 INDEX 241 I THE STAGE OF SHAKESPEARE THE ELIZABETHAN PLAYHOUSE THE PLAYS AND THE PLAYERS SHAKESPEARE IN THE THEATRE I THE STAGE OF SHAKESPEARE THE ELIZABETHAN PLAYHOUSE.[1]