The costumes had no pretensions to fit the period or place of the
action. They were the ordinary dresses of various classes of the day,
but were often of rich material, and in the height of the current
fashion. False hair and beards, crowns and sceptres, mitres and
croziers, armour, helmets, shields, vizors, and weapons of war, hoods,
bands, and cassocks, were mainly relied on to indicate among the
characters differences of rank or profession.
The foreign observer, Thomas Platter of Basle, was impressed by the
splendour of the actors' costumes. He accounted for it in a manner
that negatives any suggestion of dramatic propriety:--
"The players wear the most costly and beautiful dresses, for
it is the custom in England, that when noblemen or knights
die, they leave their finest clothes to their servants, who,
since it would not be fitting for them to wear such splendid
garments, sell them soon afterwards to the players for a
small sum."
The most striking defect in the practice of the Elizabethan playhouse,
according to accepted notions, lies in the allotment of the female
roles. It was thought unseemly for women to act at all.
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