ABSTRACT

Dresspins,hooks,buttons,costumewires,cosmeticimplements,lace,fringeand beads,areamongthediverse,theatricalephemerafoundinarchaeologicalexcavationsofthesitesuponwhichearlymodemEnglishplayhousesoncestood(Bowsher andMiller,esp.138-57,191-92,200-08).Whatarewetomakeofthesefripperies recoveredfromtheRoseand"thegreatGlobeitself",whichhaveenduredinspiteof Prospera'sprognostications?Alltooeasilydismissedordisregardedasinsignificant, theseremnantsofthe"glisteringapparef'(TheTempest4.1.193s.d.)wornonstage bearwitnesstotheeverydayworkofproducingtheatricalspectacle.Asweshallsee, theyalsosuggestthatwomenmayhavecontributedtosuchworkbehindthescenes, fortheyareallartefactsofindustriesinwhichwomenworkedactively,andincertain instances,almostexclusively.Assuch,theyinvitefurtherscrutinyofthegendered divisionoflabourthatgaverisetothe"all-male"professionalstage,andofthe ideologicaldevaluationofitsephemeral,andofteneffeminized,pageantry.