ABSTRACT
Previous chapters have argued for a relatively simple model of early Restoration staging based on John Webb’s drawings of the Hall stage. The model has been shown to be serviceable for plays originally produced at the LIF and Bridges Street theatres; indeed, the majority of these plays can be staged using the LIF model simply by following the printed stage directions. Others, such as those that form the specific test cases discussed, have required more analysis and interpretation to demonstrate how the model can accommodate specific staging demands. This chapter takes a different stance; instead of arguing for or testing the model it presumes its operations and uses it as a tool to crack two long-standing Restoration theatre conundrums. Certain aspects of both Samuel Tuke’s The Adventures of Five Hours (LIF 1663) and Roger Boyle’s Guzman (LIF 1669) have stumped theatre historians for different reasons. Commentators have struggled to make sense of the rapidly changing stage action in Tuke’s play and have been unable to reconcile various levels of staging information embedded within the printed text of Guzman. However, I believe that the LIF model and its associated analytical methods can be used to decipher the codes effectively presented by these texts. While the notion of code breaking is a little fanciful, as there was no conscious effort to mystify or ‘encode’ in the first place, the metaphor is useful because it promotes a different relationship with these texts. Instead of assuming, as many commentators do, that they are deficient or muddled, it requires us to take them seriously. By so doing, we may learn more about Restoration theatrical production and the relationship of the published texts to performance. In each case the nature of the problem and the state of the texts is discussed before a practicable solution is proposed.
