A Flair for the Dramatic: Shakespeare and Castors

Ask any English literature student from anywhere in the world who the most influential writer in the history of literature is and you are guaranteed to get one answer and one answer alone – William Shakespeare. Born in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1564, Shakespeare wrote some of the best known plays and poetry the world has ever seen in his 52 years. The bard still has a major influence on literature today because his plays are studied in classroom after classroom but that was not always the case. In fact, when he was alive, his plays were not always appreciated by his audience... and it was an audience given that literacy rates were much lower back then. People relaxed whilst watching a play but the theatre was a very different place back then. Sets were rarely changed because they were cumbersome and doing so would have taken too much time during the performance. This may have been a little different had they had castors though...

Although the latter was more lavish than the former (as far as that word applied to the theatre back then), the sets were still static because they just did not have the technology to change sets quickly and efficiently between acts. Imagine the magic of Shakespeare that the people of the 16th and early 17th Centuries could have enjoyed had they had castors!

Castors are essentially those little wheels that are attached to moveable units that are generally used for transporting goods today, such as trolleys, roll cages and equipment boxes. They can also be found on items of furniture, such as chairs and sofas. OK, so Shakespeare was never lucky enough to sit on a sofa either but the possibilities of using castors in the theatre to enhance the atmosphere of his plays could have ensured that he became a legend in his own time as well as following his demise.

Castors could have been attached to all sorts of elements in the theatre to enhance the experience, from boxes carrying costumes and props right through to huge canvases that provided the backdrop of buildings, interiors and even forests in the various plays. Imagine the balcony scene with Romeo and Juliet with the proper backgrounds that we have today being used back then thanks to castors. It would have blown the audience’s mind!

In fact, castors could not only have helped during the plays themselves but also when the troupe was moving from The Theatre to The Globe. For example, the BZPH series of 100mm to 200mm castors holding loads of between 250kg and 500kg would have been ideal for transporting the few sets and belonging the troupe had a little further down the river. In short, Shakespeare would have seriously benefitted from the use of the small but sturdy industrial wheels in a number of ways and so would his appreciative audience. Still, his loss is certainly our gain today!