ABSTRACT
Shakespeare's characters already gave the tragic actors the chance to display strong emotions through a codified gallery of mimic signs. Georgian actors could refer to classical statuary or galleries of codified poses that signified such various emotions as grief, fear, horror and joy, exactly as in Charles Le Brun's heads. Anatomies of men and women actors similar to those offered by Williams and Baillie were frequent features of contemporary theatrical accounts as well. The documents relating to Siddons's acting suggest that Romantic actors and actresses would hold each stance for a certain length of time, changing to another attitude with every new emotion. The Gothic verisimilar staging manufactured an illusion of truth, codified acting, paratextual evidence and theatre reviews in fact suggest that the audience could leave the auditorium comforted by the awareness of the truth of illusion. Acting was also influenced by the changes in the theatrical morphology: projection became essential, and so did externalization.
