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Preface
This study considers the plays of Aphra Behn as theatrical artefacts, and examines the presentation of her plays, as well as others, in the light of the latest knowledge of seventeenth-century theatrical conditions of staging on the scenic stage.
The various analyses of stage action, in all the plays discussed, are undertaken from the viewpoint of someone faced with preparing a practical production of the play in the theatrical circumstances presumed to have prevailed at the time. That is, they attempt to recreate the physical stage work and movement patterns dictated by a having a fore stage with entrance doors, sets of painted sliding shutters, and a fully lit auditorium, for which whoever first presented the play had to plan. In each case, the directions of the first edition have been assumed, as far as possible, to be a record of the writer’s intentions. Surprisingly few directions and the inherent action in any play have been found unstageable or totally illogical in context