| ‘the Gl 
statement of the facts. 
BLACKFRIARS .THEATRE BUILDING 
49 
It may be said here simply that an examination of even such ma- 
terials as now are known shows a stage plastic to the play in 
hand in all particulars, a stage of real and individual existence, 
different in certain essentials from the ratiocinative results of 
_ studies hitherto made, in which plays of private and public the- 
atres have been injudicially thrown together to make a sort of 
universalized or theoretical stage that has no historical basis.+ 
It seems hardly necessary to add that the rooms, galleries, and 
pit of Blackfriars were all provided with seats.” 
As already pointed out, the Great Hall of Blackfriars was 
about half the size of the Globe or Fortune. 
Its capacity for 
accommodating spectators was also not far from half. 
is nothing sure about it. Not all 
evidences are available which are 
necessary in putting out a final 
I have con- 
fidence from the definite clues un- 
earthed that ultimately I shall reach 
documents giving schedules of the 
furnishing and equipment of Black- 
friars stage and theatre, as also of 
obe. It is merely a question 
of time and means. 
*For a late example, based upon 
and supporting Professor Brandl’s 
alternation theory, see Cecil Brod- 
meier, Die Shakespeare-Biihne nach 
den alten  Biihnenanweisungen 
(Diss. Jena, 1904). This work 
takes the plays of Shakespeare per- 
formed at “The Theatre,” the Cur- 
tain, Globe, and Blackfriars, and 
constructs of those four dissimilar 
stages a single composite. 
More commendable in theory and 
generally combative of Brodmeier’s 
position is the recent work of G. F. 
Reynolds, Some Principles of Eliz- 
abethan Staging, in Modern Philol- 
ogy, April and June, 1905, later 
reprinted in separate form (Diss. 
University of Chicago). It is unfor- 
-tunate that the author did not from 
the first follow the plan he leaned 
toward, and use his masses of ma- 
terial in studying the individual the- 
atres to which the respective plays 
belonged,—as he must ultimately do. 
Instead he has followed up one sin- 
gle Stage-feature after another in 
plays ranging through Elizabeth’s 
reign and into the period of James 
I, which were presented at various 
theatres or not presented anywhere 
(e. g., the Percy plays), and tried 
to establish or disestablish there- 
from certain principles of staging 
or facts of stage structure and 
equipment for the dissimilar thea- 
tres throughout that long time, 
In both these works there is the 
impairing spirit of “proving” some- 
thing and of establishing history by 
deductive argtment. With the 
great industry displayed and the 
splendid collection of materials in 
each study, it would be high satis- 
faction to find one new fact of dra- 
matic or stage history brought to 
light or one point of debate placed 
beyond controversy. It must not 
be expected however that any study 
of stage-directions or other internal 
evidence can ever be final in mat- 
ters of stage-history. Such a study 
at best can be but corroborative, 
never determinative of data, and 
may thus rightly serve to illuminate 
and enliven placid realities. 
7A schedule of seats was at- 
tached to the lease of Burbage to 
Evans. See supra, 36%. 
°Cf. supra, 39. 
The outside dimensions of the 
Fortune were 80x80=6400 saft. 
The inside dimensions-of Blackfri- 
ars auditorium were 66 x 46 = 3036 
sqft. 
163 
