Lecture on Shakespeare's London

Professor Baker delivered his second lecture on "Shakespeare's London" in the Fogg Lecture Room yesterday afternoon, describing the bankside and especially the theatres. The stereopticon illustrations were taken from old wood-cuts on the theatres of the time.

At first, said Professor Baker, the theatres were rude platforms built in the public squares. Then they were moved to the inn-yards. The galleries around these yards gave rise to the upper stage of Elizabethan drama. Later the actors constructed theatres of their own, using the bear-baiting rings as models.

Professor Baker then described the stages in the theatres and discussed the use of curtains in the performances. Nearly all of the mechanical appliances of modern theatres were known in the days of Shakespeare. Although the stages were bare and were equipped with but little scenery, this very simplicity made the conditions for the dramatist nearly perfect, for everything could be subordinated to the development of a perfect plot.