The playhouse Shakespeare used for his performances allowed for flexibility in production. This cut-away diagram shows the principal areas of the stage. The audience paid a penny to enter the theater and crowd around the stage. Those who wished to sit on a bench under the roof put another penny in a box to enter the balcony. (This is where we get the phrase "box office.") The stage was raised, with a trapdoor in the floor. If the action required a quick exit, an actor could slip down the trapdoor and crawl under the stage. The broad main stage area allowed actors considerable movement or, if necessary, two different groups, such as opposing armies, on the stage at the same time. The entrances and exits were done through two large doors in the back of the stage. In theaters built later there was an alcove in the wall between the two doors. This small "inner stage" could be closed off with a curtain. This inner stage could be Juliet's tomb or Titania's bower.

On the second level was a playing area that could be used for Juliet's balcony or the walls of a city, as in Richard III. On either side of the balcony there were sometimes windows which could be used if the text called for a scene at a window. On the third level, partially hidden from the audience, the musicians sat. Above that level was a contraption which allowed a character playing a god or goddess to descend or ascend in a basket, what the Romans called "deus ex machina," 'the god out of the machine."

Atop the theater was a flag, which was flown on the day of performance as a signal to the Londoners across the Thames that a play was scheduled. Behind the stage was a structure called the tiring house where the actors kept their costumes or attires and the props. Note the overall resemblance to an English country inn.

Since there was no curtain or artificial lighting the action of the play flowed without any interruption. Changes in location were signaled by the text itself. No props could be carried on stage that could not be carried off at the end of the scene. The lack of a curtain to hide the main stage meant that there was a limit to how many bodies could be left on stage at the end of the tragedy - it took about eight people to carry four corpses offstage.