Article: Women and crowds at the theater.(Report)

AUDIENCES at the early modern theaters from Shakespeare's time up to the closure of 1642 were different from modern spectators in two distinct ways. First, they behaved as crowds, not as individuals, and second the female element in their composition influenced their behavior more strongly than the witnesses of the time were prepared to admit. The prejudice behind the early testimonies, and the effect of spectator behavior and female presences, need a careful and a cautious examination.

The chief problem with the available testimonies is that so much of it is obviously prejudiced. A great deal throughout the period was written by men about how plays could so ...

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