“Suit the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action:” Intra-Dialogic Directions in Shakespeare’s Plays

Abstract

Shakespeare seems to have been sparing with stage directions. His plays do not contain many explicit instructions. However, the plays’ text does seem to have many instructions for the performance. This thesis will look at the different kinds of intra-dialogic directions that can be found in Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Next, this thesis will look at the BBC productions of both plays and will try to show that to a large extent they have acted on the instructions in the text, unless they tried to create a certain effect.