Shakespeare and Reflecting on Space as an Invitation to Interaction

This paper seeks to trace the organic process by which the architecture of The Globe theater influenced Shakespeare's drama in the sense that the playwright's relation to his audience encouraged him to cast them in the role of accomplices, urging them to compensate for the scenographic deficit through their own imagination. The first part of our research will provide a description of The Globe’s architecture and the categories of spectators in order to exemplify the ways in which the scenery provided a minimalist support for the imagination of Elizabethan audiences. The second part of our research will focus on the rhetorical devices that Shakespeare used in his plays, particularly in his play’s prologues, to establish a kind of convention in which the dialogue with the audience and the smooth running of the performance depended on the involvement and the indulgence of those present in the theater.