A mansion stage is a stage for theatrical performances. The name originated in churches where they were small wooden platforms with supports and a roof. Mansions were stage structures used in medieval theatre to represent specific locations, such as Heaven or Hell. The actors would move between these mansions as the play demanded. The acting area of the stage was called the platea, and mansions were placed around the platea. As the actors moved between the mansions, the platea would take on the scenic identity of each mansion. In England, pageant wagons were used for the cycle dramas to hold the mansion, the plateau, and a dressing area. These were used to move the scene from one audience to the next, unlike in the church where the mansions were stationary and both the performer and the congregation would move from mansion to mansion.
Read more about Mansion Stage: Sociohistorical Context, Specific Characteristics of Mansions
Famous quotes containing the words mansion and/or stage:
“Look,
I draw the sword myself; take it, and hit
The innocent mansion of my love, my heart.
Fear not, ‘tis empty of all things but grief.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The spectacle of misery grew in its crushing volume. There seemed to be no end to the houses full of hunted starved children. Children with dysentery, children with scurvy, children at every stage of starvation.... We learned to know that the barometer of starvation was the number of children deserted in any community.”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)