Special Effects

The stages when Shakespeare lived were small with a painted wall for the background to enhance the scene. The lack of good special effects might have made Shakespeare a better writer because he had to describe what the audience was supposed to see. When a scene was supposed to have thunder in it stagehands pounded on a drum or ripped a piece of metal. A character wounded in a sword fight or something like that clapped a hand to his chest, bursting a pouch beneath his shirt to release blood or something red like blood. If the play needed fireworks then some stagehands would set off a cannon to make the “boom” of the fireworks. Even though the technology was slim, what the theatres could do was good for that time.