The Discovery-space in Shakespeare’s Globe

Summary

This paper proposes the theory that the tiring-house of the First Globe was essentially similar to that of the Swan as pictured in the De Witt drawing of 1596. Thus the Globe tiring-house would have been equipped with two (or three) double-hung stage-doors. (Probably there were three rather than two doors, but since the problem of discoveries is essentially the same in the one case as the other we may leave the question temporarily undetermined.) Each door (since as wide as high) would have been some 7 ft. or 8 ft. wide and (since hinged on the outside) would have opened upon the stage. When fully opened, either door (or a presumptive third door) would have discovered a considerable space within the tiring-house; and this space might have been discovered by drawing aside curtains instead of opening a door if we accept the expedient of fitting up hangings in front of the open doorway. Such a ‘discovery-space’ (behind an open doorway in the tiring-house facade) must be distinguished in what follows from that other kind of discovery-space known as the ‘inner-stage’.