Our initial selection of theatrical terms (together with the occasional addition of terms such as show, scafold, Cock-pit and the like) has resulted in our drawing 638 textual references to the theatre. Though this survey does not fully exhaust all possible textual references to the practice of drama in the First Folio, it is certainly sufficient for us to draw certain summary conclusions.
Of course establishing an average number of references per play (as perforce we must do below) is at best an abstraction and at worst a fiction, since there really isn’t anything like an average Shakespeare play. What these figures actually indicate is a mean almost equidistant from the plays with the most and those with the least number of references. As such, what these figures show (very much as graphs do) is an overview of the field.
The exact number of collated references in each play, as well as for the three Folio categories, are the following.
THE COMEDIES
•The Tempest: 15
•The Two Gentlemen of Verona: 8
•The Merry Wives of Windsor: 8
•Measure For Measure: 7
•The Comedie of Errors: 3
•Much Adoe About Nothing: 14
•Loves Labours Lost: 23
•A Midsommer Nights Dreame: 89
•The Merchant of Venice: 12
•As You Like it: 30
•The Taming of the Shrew: 19
•All’s Well, That Ends Well: 12
•Twelfe Night, or What You Will: 15
•The Winter’s Tale: 16
TOTAL: 271 (average of 19.3 per play)
THE HISTORIES
•The Life and Death of King John: 7
•The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: 9
•The First part of King Henry the Fourth: 10
•The Second part of Henry the Fourth: 12
•The Life of King Henry the Fift : 24
•The First Part of Henry the Sixt: 10
•The Second Part of Henry the Sixt: 10
•The Third Part of Henry the Sixt: 14
•The Tragedy of Richard the Third: 24
•All Is True [Henry the Eight]: 17
TOTAL: 137 (an average of 13.7 per play)
THE TRAGEDIES:
•The Tragedie of Troilus and Cressida: 17
•The Tragedy of Coriolanus: 18
•The Lamentable Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: 12
•The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet: 10
•The Life of Tymon of Athens: 4
•The Tragedie of Julius Caesar: 11
•The Tragedie of Macbeth: 11
•The Tragedie of Hamlet: 88
•The Tragedie of King Lear: 11
•The Tragedie of Othello: 15
•The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra: 19
•The Tragedie of Cymbeline: 14
TOTAL: 230 (an average of 19.1 per play)
Though there are more references to the theatre in the Comedies and Tragedies than in the Histories, this is mostly due to two rather anomalous plays Midsommer Nights Dreame and Hamlet. The total number of theatrical references in the Comedies is 271, an average of 19.3 per play. But if we exclude Dreame and its 89 references, this average then comes down to 14 per play. The same may also be said for the Tragedies’ 230 references and average of 19.1. For if we exclude Hamlet and its 88 references, the average is then 12.9 per play. Therefore, without these two gross anomalies, the average number of theatrical terms in a Shakespeare play is 13.5, or approximately that of the Histories (13.7).
Sub-dividing the plays chronologically into early, middle, and late periods (say from Two Gentlemen to Dream, Merchant to Troilus, and All’s Well to Tempest) reveals similar averages. In the plays of the first period (Two Gentlemen, Shrew, 1–3 Henry VI, Titus, Richard III, Errors, Loves Labours, King John, Richard II, Romeo, & Dreame), we recorded 221 references, for an average of 17 per play. But if we, once again, exclude Dreame, then the average of this first period is 11 per play. In the second period (Merchant, 1 & 2 Henry IV, Merry Wives, Much Adoe, Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like it, Hamlet, Twelfe Night, & Troilus), we recorded 242 references, for an average of 22 per play. Excluding Hamlet, it is 15 per play. And in the final period (All’s Well, Othello, Measure, Tymon, Lear, Macbeth, Anthonie, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Winter’s Tale, Tempest, & All Is True), we recorded 159, for an verage of 13.2. It therefore appears that (in spite a slight waxings and wanings), Shakespeare’s plays internal references to the theatre remained fairly stable and constant throughout his career. This is made rather more clear when we list the plays (together with their number of references) in their (presumed) chronology.
•Two Gents of Verona (1590–4): 8
•Taming of the Shrew (1590–4): 19
•2 Henry the Sixt (1591): 10
•3 Henry the Sixt (1591): 14
•1 Henry the Sixt (1592): 10
•Titus Andronicus (1592–4): 12
•Richard the Third (1592–3): 24
•Comedie of Errors (1592–4): 3
•Loves Labours Lost (1594–5): 23
•King John (1594–6): 7
•Richard the Second (1595): 9
•Romeo and Juliet (1595–6): 10
•Midsommer Nights (1595–6): 89
•Merchant of Venice (1596–7): 12
•1 Henry the Fourth (1596–7): 10
•Merry Wives (1596–7): 8
•2 Henry the Fourth (1597–8): 12
•Much Adoe (1598): 14
•Henry the Fift (1598–9): 24
•Julius Caesar (1599): 11
•As You Like it (1599–1600): 30
•Hamlet (1600–1): 88
•Twelfe Night (1601–2): 15
•Troilus And Cressida (1600–2): 17
•All’s Well (1602–5): 12
•Othello (1603–4): 15
•Measure For Measure (1603–4): 7
•Tymon of Athens (1605–8): 4
•King Lear (1605/1610): 11
•Macbeth (1606): 11
•Anthonie (1606–7): 19
•Coriolanus (1607–8): 18
•Cymbeline (1609–10): 14
•Winter’s Tale (1609–11): 16
•The Tempest (1611): 15
•All Is True (1612–3): 17
Fifteen of the thirty-six plays are above the average of 13.5 references per play. And only 7 of them make less than 10. Of those seven, 2 (Two Gents, Errors) are early plays and a third (Tymon) is likely unfinished. Whereas two others (Merry Wives and Measure) already have built-in metatheatrical devices. The remaining two plays are histories (King John and Richard II), very probably written back to back.
The TLN of each play’s first reference to the theatre are as follows (“c” indicates when there is a clustering of terms):
•Two Gents of Verona (1590–4): TLN 76
•Taming of the Shrew (1590–4): 73©
•2 Henry the Sixt (1591): 342
•3 Henry the Sixt (1591): 312
•1 Henry the Sixt (1592): 134©
•Titus Andronicus (1592–4): 488
•Richard the Third (1592–3): 21
•Comedie of Errors (1592–4): 607
•Loves Labours Lost (1594–5): 853
•King John (1594–6): 434
•Richard the Second (1595): 1523
•Romeo and Juliet (1595–6): 878
•Midsommer Nights (1595–6): 272(C)
•Merchant of Venice (1596–7): 12
•1 Henry the Fourth (1596–7): 134
•Merry Wives (1596–7): 640
•2 Henry the Fourth (1597–8): 9
•Much Adoe (1598): 179©
•Henry the Fift (1598–9): 4©
•Julius Caesar (1599): 305
•As You Like it (1599–1600): 1114(C)
•Hamlet (1600–1): 265
•Twelfe Night (1601–2): 276
•Troilus And Cressida (1600–2): 2©
•All’s Well (1602–5): 275
•Othello (1603–4): 66
•Measure For Measure (1603–4): 76
•Tymon of Athens (1605–8): 483
•King Lear (1605/1610): 463©
•Macbeth (1606): 239©
•Anthonie (1606–7): 242
•Coriolanus (1607–8): 319
•Cymbeline (1609–10): 1645
•Winter’s Tale (1609–11): 269©
•The Tempest (1611): 17
•All Is True (1612–3): 5©
Apart from those 4 Folio plays that begin with an openly theatrical Prologue (2 Henry IV, Henry V, Troilus, and Henry VIII), only 7 plays make reference to Theatre in their first hundred TLN lines (Two Gents, Shrew, Richard III, Merchant, Othello, Measure, and Tempest); and only 3 between TLN 100–200 (1 Henry VI, 1 Henry IV, and Much Adoe). Whereas 15 plays make their first reference between TLN 200 and 500; and 4 more between TLN 500 and 1000 (Errors, Love’s Labours, Romeo and Juliet* Merry Wives). Only 3 plays make it farther-in than TLN 1000 (Richard II, As You Like It, and Cymbeline).
As for the 4 plays with Prologue, if we exclude those (nearly obligatory) theatrical references that occur in the opening device itself, their next theatrical references come relatively late: TLN 215 for 2 Henry IV, TLN 252 for Henry V, TLN 613© for Troilus, and TLN 416 for Henry VIII. Apart from their opening devices, then, these plays would belong to the third (TLN 200–500) or fourth (TLN 500–1000) group.
It therefore appears that, in general (26 out of 36 plays), Shakespeare establishes the fiction of the play world and leaves it undisturbed for at least 200 TLN lines before he begins (or risks) to undermine it. He also very rarely rattles it for the first time late in the game (i.e. beyond TLN 1000). But on those three occasions where he does (Richard II, As You Like It, Cymbeline), the occurrence is always structurally significant.
In Richard II the line “there the Antique sits … Allowing him a breath, a little Scene to monarchize” (3.2.162–5 TLN 1522–5) announces the beginning of Richard’s catastasic fall. Whereas Duke Senior’s line “This wide and vniuersal Theater” (2.7.137 TLN 1115) leading into Jaque’s “All the worlds a stage” speech basically concludes As You Like It’s longish protasis. As for Cymbeline, Belarius’ line “Nature prompts them” (3.3.84 TLN 1645) followed by the description of Guiderius/Polydore putting himselfe “in posture That acts my words” (3.3.94–5 TLN 1635–6) they introduce the three disguised characters (Belarius, Guiderius, & Arviragus) that not only re-new the play (as in Winter’s Tale’s act 4) but that also will lead to its ultimate conclusion.