answersLogoWhite

0

Up until the nineteenth century, actors wore whatever people of the time wore, suitable to the class of the character. Thus the actor playing Bottom, a working class guy, wore sixteenth-century working class clothes in the sixteenth century, seventeenth century working class clothes in the seventeenth century, and eighteenth century working class clothes in the eighteenth. In the nineteenth century, producers became preoccupied with the "period of the play", a precise historical period in which the play was supposed to take place. Thus they decided that Bottom was a working class guy in Ancient Greece and should wear Ancient Greek clothes. Since the 1960s, however, directors have increasingly viewed period as a flexible concept, so Bottom might wear twentieth-century American working class clothes, or eighteenth-century French working class clothes, or medieval Japanese working class clothes, depending which style suits the impression the director is trying to make.

User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

What else can I help you with?