The Journal

The theatre stage, as we have come to recognise it, works on a defined separation of the actors telling the tale and the audience passively watching. This ‘Fourth Wall’ was made popular in the early 17th century and became the classic standard right through the Renaissance and Baroque eras, using the beautiful and ornate proscenium arch structures that we are so used to. Here, the stage is elevated, framed and lit to create a window into another world that a gathered audience observes from darkened seats. However, in Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece and even further into a storytelling past, this was never the case. The actors, props and stages set for certain scenes would often be amongst the gathered crowds where formal boundaries had yet to be set.