De Flores between the acts

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhen the adult companies moved to performing indoors in London, as they did progressively after 1609, following the King's Men's acquisition of the Blackfriars playhouse, an important structural and performative change occurred. The need to trim candles, used to help illuminate the indoor stage, meant the introduction of pauses between the acts. Surprisingly little research has been conducted in this area. This article considers several textual examples which script and record business between the acts, and explores in detail a remarkable instance of the use of the interval in Middleton and Rowley's The Changeling (1622). De Flores's skulduggery while the candles are being attended to is examined in terms of its theatre logic and the practicalities of its staging. It is proposed that this fascinating moment is best understood in the context of contemporary political concerns, specifically the unpopularity of King James's foreign policy towards Spain. As is well known, Middleton's plays are conspicuous for their allusions to both court scandal and Anglo-Spanish relations. The article concludes that De Flores's ‘trespassing’ onto the stage while play is apparently suspended may be read as being suggestive of a deep-seated Protestant anxiety about Spain and fear of the threat it posed to England.