he double construction of
Shakespeare's plays provided a sub-plot which held or amused the
audience while the actors of the main plot rested. It is possible, but
not certain, that the scenes were played on alternate halves of the
stage, and that when one half of the stage was being cleared of its
properties, or fitted with them, the play continued on the other half.
It is not possible to speak of the general quality of the acting.
Acting, like other dependent art, can only be good when it has good art
to interpret. The acting was probably as good and as bad as the plays.
Careful and impressive speaking and thoughtful, restrained gesture were
qualities which Shakespeare and Ben Jonson praised. It is likely that
the acting of the time was much quicker than modern acting. The plays
were played very swiftly, without hesitation or dawdling over
"business."

There was little or no scenery to most plays. The properties, _i.e._
chairs, beds, etc., were simple and few. The play was the thing. The aim
of the play was to give not a picture of life, but a glorified vision of
life. The object was not realism but illusion. The costumes were of
great splendour. In some productions (as in _Henry VIII_) they were of
an excessive splendour. Music and singing added much to the beauty of
many scenes.

Women were not then allowed upon the stage. Women's parts were played by
boys. Some have thought that this must have taken from the excellence of
the performances. It is highly likely that it added much to it. Nearly
all boys can act extremely well. Very few men and women can.

The playing of women's parts by boys may have limited Shakespeare's art.
His women are kept within the range of thought and emotion likely to be
understood by boys. This may account for their wholesome, animal
robustness. There is no trace of the modern heroine, the common woman
overstrained, or the idle woman in her megrims, in any Shakespearean
play. The people of the plays are alive and hearty. They lead a vigorous
life and go to bed tired. They never forget that they are animals. They
never let any one else forget that they are also divine.

CHAPTER III

THE PLAYS

Three plays belong to Shakespeare's first period of original creative
writing. It is fair to suppose that the least dramatically sound of the
three was the one first written. We therefore take _Love's Labour's
Lost_ as his first play. It is commonly said by critics that _Love's
Labour's L