Offered here is a systematic survey of theatrical requirements for 276 plays first performed by professional actors in the period between the autumn of 1599, when Shakespeare's company probably first acted at the Globe, and 2 September 1642, when the theaters were closed by order of Parliament. My purpose is to provide a clearer picture than has heretofore been available of how the plays of Shakespeare were acted by his contemporaries. My central aim is to seek positive correlations between the external evidence, as provided by contemporary architecture and pictures of early English stages, and the internal evidence, as provided by the texts of plays first performed in the years 1599-1642. (from the Introduction)