Costumes and Scripts in the Elizabethan Theatres

R. Kerry White is the director of theatre arts at Laurentian University.

An important stage in the evolution of theatre and drama scholarship
occurred when those employed in English departments recognized that the
dramatic text is essentially a compilation of code systems for
performance. An excellent case in point is this study of costumes in the
Elizabethan theatres. Its central premise is that costumes and costume
changes (both on and off stage) are a rich field of semiotic
information. As the author points out, it is a neglected field, but one
that unites the dramaturgy of text, performance, and reception.

Since principles of decorum resonated throughout Renaissance social
life and art, the portrayal of characters on the public stage linked art
and life through clothing with a sense of immediacy easily understood by
all in the audience. Added to the use of costume as an indicator of sex,
age, occupation, social status, and even moral and mental disposition
are the conventions governing disguise and the practicalities of
multiple role playing. The costumes a company owned or borrowed were
thus its major capital resource and key to success. MacIntyre proves
that a close analysis of both stage directions and organic codes
indicating costume use in texts (in conjunction with written accounts
such as those found in Revels and Henslowe records) provides valuable
insights into performance dramaturgy.

The author covers all major aspects of this field. Chapters on
contemporary conventions, the relative value of Revels and Henslowe
records, the resources and practices of major companies (including
boys’ companies), the special case of court festivities, and the
significance of changes in patronage with the advent of the Jacobean
court are documented with wide-ranging references to both well- and
little-known plays of the period. Scholarship demands detailed evidence
and documentation, but the reader of this book may object that each
chapter’s detail tends to overwhelm the subject’s dramaturgical
significance. This is not helped by the lack of an index to plays used
as examples, let alone to subjects treated. Such a book deserves to be
used by theatre practitioners. An index (in addition to the notes and
excellent bibliography included) would provide more efficient access.