Terence-Stage

The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre | 1996 | 700+ words | Copyright

Terence-Stage, name given to the setting shown in Renaissance editions of the plays of Terence. In the Trechsel edition of 1493 a woodcut shows a two-storey structure with arches (fornices) below and an auditorium (theatrum) above. Three tiers of spectators are seated in front of a stage-wall (proscenium) divided into sections by columns, with curtains hanging between them. There is a large forestage on which a musician is seated playing a wind instrument. In a box on the side wall between the spectators and the stage are two officials (aediles). The appearance of this stage is vouched for by another woodcut in the same volume, showing a scene from the Eunuchus with four curtained arches, each labelled with the name of a character in the play. Although this is reminiscent of the ‘houses’ of the liturgical drama the pillared façade is more like the scaenae frons of the late classical theatre building. There were evidently alternative forms of the Eunuchus stage.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Terence-Stage." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Terence-Stage." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-TerenceStage.html

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Terence-Stage." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-TerenceStage.html

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