Introduction / Bárbara Mujica, Georgetown University -- Part I. The Mediterranean World: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France. 1. The Poetics and Dramaturgy of Light in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque Theater / Francesca Fantappiè, University of Tours -- 2. On the Versatility of the Spanish Corral / Bárbara Mujica, Georgetown University -- 3. Portuguese Convent Theater: A Proposed Performance of Soror Maria do Céu’s Triunfo do Rosario Plays / Anna-Lisa Halling, Brigham Young University -- 4. Baroque Language and Meaning through the Senses: Décor in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Spanish Golden Age Season / Kathleen Jeffs, Gonzaga University -- 5. Figuring Duration and Space on the Early-Modern Stage: The Very Relative Triumph of the “Italian Order” and French Classicisme / Guy Spielmann, Georgetown University -- 6. The Garden Theater of Versailles / Jérôme Brillaud, The University of Manchester, UK -- Part II. England: A Theatrical Powerhouse. 7. Staging Early Modern Drama at Shakespeare’s Globe / Michael J. Collins, Georgetown University -- 8. Language as Stage Design in Shakespeare’s Poetic Settings / Michael Scott, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, UK -- 9. Staging Character and the Construction of Shylock / Isaac Benabu, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem -- 10. Reading Shakespeare Performance: Rupert Goold’s Violent and Vulnerable Staging of Macbeth / Susan L. Fischer, Bucknell University -- Part III. The Blossoming of German and Russian Theater. 11. The Theater Stage in Sixteenth-Century German Plays: The Case of Hans Sachs / Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona -- 12. Early Stagings of Brecht’s Trommeln in der Nacht (1922) and Im Dickicht (1923) / Sabrina Kanthak, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich -- 13. Beyond Western Approaches to Theater Globalism: The Space of Performance through the Interaction of Russia and Japan / Iryna Kastylianchanka, Osaka University.

"'Staging and Stage Décor: Perspectives on European Theater 1500-1950' is a compendium of essays by an international array of theater specialists. The Introduction provides an overview of theater décor and architecture from ancient Greece through the Renaissance and beyond, while the articles that follow explore a variety of topics such as the development of lighting techniques in early modern Italy, the staging of convent theater in Portugal, performance spaces at Versailles, the reconstruction of the Globe theater, and Shrovetide plays in Germany. This volume also offers insight into little-studied subjects such as the early productions of Brecht and the spread of Russian theater to Japan. The focus on performance and performance space across centuries and continents makes this a truly unique volume." -- Baksida.