Troilus and Cressida on the Renaissance Stage
Alissa LaBold
Class of 2012

Classical and historical dramas performed during the Renaissance period in England had specific staging practices. The stages of that time were set up in a predictable pattern so that traveling acting troupes could perform in many different theaters easily. Promptbooks were an invaluable part of a performance because they provided the actors with directions relating to the stage that they were performing on. Actors had a challenging job: they had to make sure that they pleased the audience. In this way, actors selected their words with care. One play in particular demonstrates these staging practices—Troilus and Cressida.
            Renaissance stages were built similarly which allowed troupes that performed in many different areas to use any stage with ease. There were doorways on both sides of the stage as well as a trapdoor at center stage that actors could enter through. Stage equipment was, for the most part, very meager (King 200). Usually, the stage was almost empty, which gave the playwright an advantage. He could rely on the audience’s imagination rather than the stage equipment. Through the audience’s imagination, simple equipment could be transformed from a single object to a multitude of different props (Styan 195). Stages during this time were considered “placeless” (King 201). This meant that different parts of the stage did not represent specific places. The upper stage could be a wall during one scene and then transform into a window or tower for the next. These “temporary localizations” made the stage more flexible for the actors, playwrights and audience (King 200). Every time a new scene was introduced, the audience instinctively knew that the localizations of the last scene were no longer in place: each scene had its own localizations. All of these similar characteristics allowed different acting troupes to use the Renaissance stage to their advantage.
            Promptbooks, copies of the play that are written on by the cast, are an indispensable guide to understanding the Renaissance stage. Professional actors did not keep records of their productions, and they learned their trade through a “master-apprentice training system” which depended on oral rather than written instruction (Langhans 131). Therefore, these promptbooks, even though they are rare, are the only surviving documentation of the plays. Every prompter marked his book differently; however, promptbooks had common characteristics which included warnings/cues for the actors, music, sound, properties (props), dancing, special effects, etc. The warnings were numbered within each act, so that they were easier to follow (Langhans 133). The entrances of the actors, or the use of music, sound, props, dancing, and special effects were marked by certain abbreviations that, because of the similarity of all Renaissance stages, could be used wherever the company performed. Promptbooks were an important part of Renaissance staging practices. 
            The most important staging practice in the Renaissance was the development of the actor’s relationship with the audience. The actor had to convince the playgoers to accept and believe the play’s content. Today, a play is considered to be a battle pitting one actor against another; however, in Shakespeare’s time, a play was a connection between the actor and the audience (Styan 198). Time and place were not significant parts of a play. At the beginning of a play, the setting would be established, but it was not repeatedly reinforced. This allowed for the emotions and imagination of the audience to have a significant impact: the playgoers did not need to constantly think about place and time. Because of the emotions and imagination of the audience, the actor’s location was not important, but what that actor represented was essential (Styan 198). During the Renaissance, attending plays was a social event. So it took a skilled actor to make the audience “take the play seriously” (Langhans 156). In this way, the actor’s relationship with the audience was a vital staging practice.
            The actors of this time had to choose their words with care: they needed to please the audience and to establish a relationship with them. This word selection became a noteworthy stage practice. If an actor said something during a play that part of the audience did not agree with, the playwright risked losing valuable patrons. Therefore, performers would change the words, as well as their emphasis and phrasing, according to the desires and feelings of the public. The actors’ speeches were never the same twice because the performers would change them according to the mood of the playgoers (Brown 49). Soliloquies were important parts of plays. Though this stage practice was not recognized by Shakespeare who simply labeled them “addressing the audience,” soliloquies made powerful statements to the playgoers (Styan 198). Throughout these speeches, the actor directly influenced the audience by talking to them and allowing them into the character’s mind. Soliloquies were speeches that helped to join the actor and the audience (Styan 198). In an attempt to develop this connection further, the performers rewrote parts of Shakespeare’s plays. Actors, whose main goal was to bring in more patrons and maintain the audience they had, took liberties with the original material. They severely altered and cut plays, twisted meanings and changed characters to appeal to the greatest number of people. In this way, the Renaissance was a time of players not of playwrights (Langhans 156). The actor’s relationship to the audience was an important staging technique, which the performers attempted to enhance through their use of carefully selected words.
            The play Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare would have contained many similar staging practices to those performed during the Renaissance. Performers of this play were concerned with the relationship between the actor and audience and would have severely altered it to fit into the general ideas of the time. In addition, the stage was not something to be seen but, rather, heard (Styan 209). The places on the stage were not as significant as what the actor said. The neutrality of time and place allowed this play to take certain dramatic liberties. For example, Troilus and Cressida leaps from the Greeks to the Trojans without a change of scenery. It also jumps from the court to the battlegrounds. These leaps are possible because time and place were unimportant to the Renaissance audience. The freedom of this play also allowed for visual connections between themes like sex and war. Playgoers would see love and battle scenes side-by-side (Styan 197). In addition, there are quick changes in tone and style within Troilus and Cressida. For example, the first half of the play is filled with day scenes and a light tone. Then, once Troilus and Cressida sleep together, the tone suddenly becomes much darker and the scenes occur at night. This sudden switch is only possible because of the relative unimportance of time and place (Styan 197). Playgoers had a different way of looking at these plays. They opened their minds not only to the neutrality of place and time but also to alternate interpretations of the play. The audience would not listen to a character and automatically believe whatever he/she said. They would choose what to believe based on their own emotions. For example, in Ulysses’ speech about Cressida in act IV scene v, he refers to a wanton Cressida; however, this contradicts a previous scene where Cressida was crying because she did not want to leave Troilus. In this case, playgoers would not automatically believe whatever Ulysses said but would have reasoned using past events in the play to reach a conclusion (Styan 197). Therefore, Troilus and Cressida followed the distinctive staging practices of the Renaissance.
              Locations and props, like those in other Renaissance plays, were an important part of staging practices. Scenes were set by the actors rather than by the theater, which did not have many props. The landscape was one of performers rather than places. Unless props or locations were specifically mentioned in Troilus and Cressida, they were left out of the performance (Foakes 151). However, acting companies often had a difficult time deciding which props were required and which were not. For example, Troilus and Cressida could be acted out without any torches, despite the many references to them throughout the play. In addition, there were more than thirty references to tents within the play; however, the performance did not need thirty different tents (Foakes 153). A company only needed three locations for Troilus and Cressida: the Greek tents, Troy or Ilium, and the battlefield. This play is written with stage details as well as scene arrangements and character groupings within the text. A promptbook could have been easily written using the directions given by Shakespeare (Foakes 153). In these ways, Troilus and Cressida uses the stage practices of the Renaissance period.                                                   
                Throughout a performance of Troilus and Cressida, the actors would be trying to connect to the audience through their words. In this way, Pandarus’ soliloquies to the audience would have been significant. Playgoers related to plays emotionally and used soliloquies to better understand a character. This would give the audience an opportunity to decide which character they will believe and agree with. Troilus and Cressida would have been a performance in which the actors would try to win the support of the audience (Foakes 157). In addition, grand processions or parades were very popular during this time because they added to the dramatic experience for the playgoers. Therefore, the processions of the Greeks and Trojans would have been significant stage practices (Foakes 156). Actors during the Renaissance were concerned with gaining the support and connection of an audience which they could obtain through the soliloquies and processions in Troilus and Cressida. Plays that were performed during the Renaissance period had very specific staging practices. The stages were set up in a similar manner so that traveling acting companies could adjust to different stages easily. Promptbooks were a necessary part of the stage: they provided the actors with directions and are the only surviving record of many performances. Performers had a very specific job—to connect with the audience. The actors selected their words carefully so that they could keep their audience and patrons happy. Troilus and Cressida is a clear demonstration of all of these staging practices. It would have been performed on a typical Renaissance stage using promptbooks and other cues for the actors and props. The actors tried to connect to their audience through this play. Fortunately for the performers, many of the popular components of a play, like the processions and soliloquies were already included. In these ways, Troilus and Cressida contained many of the staging practices of the classical Renaissance drama.

Works Cited

Brown, John R. "The Nature of Speech in Shakespeare's Plays." Print. Rpt. in Shakespeare andthe Sense of Performance. Ed. Marvin Thompson and Ruth Thompson. Newark:
University of Delaware, 1989. 48-59.

Foakes, R. A. "Stage Images in Troilus and Cressida." Print. Rpt. in Shakespeare and the Sense of Performance. Ed. Marvin Thompson and Ruth Thompson. Newark: University of
Delaware, 1989. 150-61.

 King, T. J. "The Stage in the Time of Shakespeare: A Survey of Major Scholarship." Print. Rpt. in Renaissance Drama. Ed. S. Schoenbaum. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1972. 199-235

Langhans, Edward A. "Eighteenth-Century Promptbooks and Staging Practices." Studies in
 Eighteenth-Century Culture 12 (1983): 131-57.

Styan, J. L. "Stage Space and the Shakespeare Experience." Print. Rpt. in Shakespeare and the