ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the quite common technique, the onstage observer. It looks at a number of instances where the main stage is separated into two discrete fictional places: in this technique various parts of this 'split' stage signify different locations, often to the end of foregrounding not just the spatial, but also the power relationship between them. The chapter examines the particular case of 'discoveries', which provides a different way of dividing up the performance space. The use of an onstage observer - whether secreted like Polonius in a concealment space, or visible to the audience but mysteriously unseen by other characters - is a very old theatrical technique. In some cases onstage observers are clearly visible to the audience, in others they might effectively disappear behind a hanging - though in either case they are clearly intended to remain in the audience's mind: the playwrights often take steps to remind the audience of the latent unseen presence.
