Thanks everyone, for the comments. The simplicity of it made it possible for the director to achieve the intimacy, fluidity and focus on the characters that he was looking for. The concept was drawing on the idea of frontier town wooden boardwalks and barn construction with the premise that this was staging assembled by the characters themselves to stage a community entertainment and tell their own story. It's a very useful and effective staging technique that works well for many productions. I have used similar platforming arrangements for productions of "The Good Woman of Sechuan", "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and "Dead Man Walking." I imagine it would serve well for just about anything Shakespeare.