Nor does the text of _The
Merchant of Venice_ demand any assembly of Venetian townsfolk,
however picturesquely attired, sporting or chaffering with one another
on the Rialto, when Shylock enters to ponder Antonio's request for a
loan. An interpolated tableau is indefensible, and "though it make the
unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve." In _Antony and
Cleopatra_ the pageant of Cleopatra's voyage up the river Cydnus to
meet her lover Antony should have no existence outside the gorgeous
description given of it by Enobarbus.
III
What would be the practical effects of a stern resolve on the part of
theatrical managers to simplify the scenic appliances and to reduce
the supernumerary staff when they are producing Shakespearean drama?
The replies will be in various keys. One result of simplification is
obvious. There would be so much more money in the manager's pocket
after he had paid the expenses of production. If his outlay were
smaller, the sum that he expended in the production of one play of
Shakespeare on the current over-elaborate scale would cover the
production of two or three pieces mounted with simplicity and with a
strict adherence to the requirements of the text.
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