Theatrical Italics | Theatrical Italics
Theatrical Italics
Allan C. Dessen, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
"The Drawer stands amazed, not knowing which way to go"
I Henry IV, 2.4.76.s.d.
Evidence from the Shakespeare quartos and First Folio suggests the possibility of various forms of onstage juxtaposition, ranging from the early entrances of a Dogberry or Cassandra to the continued presence of a Jaques or Sir Walter Blunt. The resistance to such a practice today by editors, critics, and theatrical professionals acts out a dismissal of a phenomenon that seemingly defies "common sense" but a phenomenon that may equally well signal a gap between the theatrical vocabulary shared then and what is assumed today (or, in some instances, what has been assumed since the eighteenth century). By one set of yardsticks, such juxtapositions can be intrusive and therefore distracting,...
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