ABSTRACT

‘Place-and-scaffold’ staging was widely used in outdoor performances. A character moving from one house to another would enter from one scaffold, cross the empty acting space and mount the other scaffold. The individual locus, or scaffold, on the other hand, was always throughout the performance one predetermined location. The scaffolds were usually booth stages, probably with curtains which remained closed when the action was elsewhere. The ‘place-and-scaffold’ arrangement is seen most intriguingly in The Castle of Perseverance, the text of which is accompanied by a teasing diagram of the original acting space. The stage plan for St Meriasek survived, and it looks rather like the plan for The Castle of Perseverance, being a circular platea, surrounded by no fewer than thirteen scaffolds. The Castle of Perseverance’s Mankind stands between Good Angel and Bad Angel, who cajole, urge, counsel and tempt him.