How did dead characters get off stage during shakespeares plays?

Answer 1

This is a problem that faces any director of any play where someone dies onstage, and there is no curtain to hide what the stagehands are doing. Since many modern theatres are thrust-stage theatres with no curtain, just as they were in Shakespeare's day, watching modern performances can give an idea of how this problem is to be solved. Generally at the end of a scene some stagehands come onstage and drag or carry the actors off, so the illusion that they are dead is not broken. There are three favourite methods: one stage hand comes from behind the actor and holds him under the arms and drags him out, one stage hand does that while a second stage hand carries the feet, or the stage hand carries the actor folded over his shoulder. Obviously the relative sizes of stagehand and actor are a factor on which one to choose, as is the position in which the actor falls. In a special case, a half a dozen stagehands might lift the actor and carry him on their shoulders in a lying position with arms akimbo. This is especially a favourite when it is the main character (Hamlet, Othello) who is being carried off. In some cases the script indicates how a corpse is to be removed: in Hamlet, Hamlet drags Polonius off, and in Julius Caesar, Antony carries Caesar, usually with one arm under the legs and another under the back. It helps to have a strong Antony and a relatively light Caesar when doing this.