Viewing Event Record: A stage direction in Thomas Middleton's 'A Chaste Maid in Cheapside' provides evidence about early staging practices

Abstract

A stage direction in the 1630 quarto of Thomas Middleton's 'A Chaste Maid in Cheapside' sees a bed 'thrust out upon the stage, Allwits Wife in it.' Collier, pointing to similar directions in Brome's 'City Wit' and Davenport's 'New Trick to Cheat the Devil,' offers the practice as evidence that the seventeenth century stage had not yet developed moveable scenery.

Date Event Recorded

Date
To: 1630 (Source of claim: original)

Date Event Happened

Date
From: 1613 To: 1625 (Source of claim: externally supplied)

Venues

Name
playhouse

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Event Type

  • staging context