multiple setting

multiple setting, staging technique used in medieval drama, in which all the scenes were simultaneously in view, the various locales being represented by small booths known as mansions, or houses, arranged around an unlocalized acting area, or platea. To change scenes, actors simply moved from one mansion to another; by convention, the audience regarded the platea as part of the mansion in use and ignored the other booths. Multiple setting had its beginnings in liturgical...