In this book Hanna Scolnicov examines the configuration of the theatrical space as an icon of the problem of woman. Through her historical and comparative study, Scolnicov reveals the changing conventions of the theatrical space as faithful expressions of the changing attitudes to woman and her sexuality. The theatrical space has shifted accordingly from the front of the palace, to the street, the piazza, and then, progressively, into the drawing-room, the kitchen, the bedroom, narrowing down the scope and infringing on the privacy of intimate relations. Some contemporary playwrights have gone further, deconstructing the familiar naturalistic room to form a non-mimetic interior. From this unusual vantage point, Scolnicov looks at plays by a wide range of authors, including, among others, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Plautus, Shakespeare, Jonson, Molière, Ibsen, Chekhov and Pinter, relating them to contemporary pictorial and architectural evidence. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of theatre and theatre history, comparative literature, and women's studies.
