Shakespeare and the Stage / With a Complete List of Theatrical Terms Used by Shakespeare in His Plays and Poems, Arranged in Alphabetical Order, & Explanatory Notes

Chapter 83: TEMPEST

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About This Book

A historical and practical study of dramatic performance and stagecraft that traces how medieval religious spectacles gave way to secular comedy and tragedy, examines inn-yard presentations and purpose-built playhouses, and surveys company organization, acting practice, court performances, and theatrical allusions. The work describes theatre architecture, audience arrangements, production practices, and contemporary documents and illustrations, and concludes with an alphabetically arranged glossary of stage terms associated with Shakespeare, each entry supplied with explanatory notes to clarify period usage and theatrical meaning.

TEMPEST

PERFORM. CAST. ACT. PROLOGUE. DISCHARGE.

We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again

And by that destiny, to perform an act

Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come

In yours and my discharge.

II, 1, 252.

ACTORS.

These our actors

As I foretold you, were all spirits.

IV, 1, 148.

CAST.

We all were sea-swallowed though some cast again.

W. A. Wright would associate cast with its modern theatrical meaning, namely, of a company of actors to whom different parts of a play are assigned. The word in this sense was unknown in Shakespeare’s day; its earliest use as a theatrical term dates from 1631.

PLAYED. PART.

To have no screen between this part, he play’d,

And him he played it for.

I, 2, 107.

REVELS.

Be cheerful, Sir,

Our revels now are ended.

IV, 1, 148.