ABSTRACT
The reliance of Elizabethan playwrights on the actors with whom they worked – and, by implication, the trustworthiness of those actors – is the single, major contributing factor to the greatness of Elizabethan drama. But the actors, in their turn, relied on the playhouse servants to aid the visual and aural display that was so attractive a part of London life. Backstage activity in any theatre has its own rules and its own crescendo and diminuendo. What may be a quiet scene on the platform can call for hectic preparation in the tiring house. An actor’s performance may depend on the precise timing of a sound effect, or the precise placing of a property. The job of the tireman was not ended when he had assembled the costumes. He would have to supervise changes, fix and remove beards for actors who were doubling roles, and make sure that everything was available when needed. Conspicuous display became increasingly a feature of the Jacobean theatre. We do not know whether the number of hired stagehands increased, though it seems likely. We can, however, see that the demands made on them increased. A comparison of Macbeth with Hamlet will illustrate the change. It is not the aim of this chapter to make that comparison – though it ought to make itself – but rather, by a scene-by-scene analysis, to bring into focus the nature and the significance of the stage-hands’ responsibilities during the first performances of Macbeth.
