er the stage, was a
square structure called the 'hut,' which rose above the level of the
outside walls. Built out from the bottom of this, a roof, or 'shadow,'
extended forward over a large part of the stage. The front of this
'shadow' was borne, in the better theaters, on two columns. The shadow
and the hut, taken together, are often referred to as the 'heavens.'

+The Stage+.--When we turn from these general features of the theaters
to the stage, we shall find it convenient to speak of a front and a
rear stage, but this does not imply any permanent line of demarcation
between the two, or that they were not often used together as a single
field of action. The rear stage is simply that part of the stage which
could be shut off from the spectators by curtains; the other, that part
which lay in front of the curtains. In other words, the front stage is
that portion of the stage which was built out into the yard, for the
curtains continued the line made around the rest of the house by the
front {41} of the galleries. In both front and rear stages were traps
out of which ghosts or apparitions could rise and into which such
properties as the caldron in _Macbeth_ could sink. From the 'heavens,'
actors representing gods or spirits--as Jupiter in _Cymbeline_ or Ariel
in _The Tempest_--could be lowered by means of a mechanical contrivance.

======================================================================

[Illustration: TIMON OF ATHENS, v, 4. OUTER SCENE.

_Trumpets sound. Enter Alcibiades with his
Powers before Athens._

_Alc_. "Sound to this Coward, and lascivious
Towne. Our terrible approach."

_Sounds a parly. The Senators appeare upon the Wals._

Reproduced from _The Shakespearean Stage_, by V. E. Albright, through
the courtesy of the publishers, the Columbia University Press.]

======================================================================

The arrangement of the rear stage may have differed considerably in the
various theaters, but the typical form may best be described as an
alcove in front of which curtains could be drawn. This alcove was by
no means so small as the word may seem to imply, but must have been
about half as wide as the front stage and perhaps a quarter as deep.
In its rear wall was a door through which the actors could enter
without being seen when the curtains were drawn, and it seems to have
had side doors as well. To the right and left of it were