"Bodied Forth": Spectator, Stage, and Actor in the Early Modern Theater

Authors

Jennifer A. Low

Abstract

As Edward T. Hall has shown, the physical experience of corporeality generates a type of subjectivity, one that responds to interactions in the physical world. Through analysis of such proxemic relations in Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Coriolanus, and other early modern plays, this article considers how staging and physical experience affect the relation between the spectators and the bodies onstage. This article examines how, in specific dramatic instances, the penetration of space represents the act of gaining access to a character’s interior self. The physical space in question may be the personal space of a character, the space created by a grouping of actors, the space of the stage as a whole, or even the personal space of the audience.

Recommended Citation

Low, Jennifer A. (2005) ""Bodied Forth": Spectator, Stage, and Actor in the Early Modern Theater," Comparative Drama: Vol. 39: Iss. 1, Article 1.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol39/iss1/1