Showing papers in "Shakespeare in 2021"
TL;DR: The independent literary output of Robert Armin, unrivalled among his fellow actors in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, invites speculation about the nature of his influence on Shakespeare as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The independent literary output of Robert Armin, unrivalled among his fellow actors in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, invites speculation about the nature of his influence on Shakespeare. Frustrating ...
7 citations
TL;DR: The critically celebrated but academically controversial Canadian television series Slings & Arrows as mentioned in this paper presents a poignant exploration of the interrelations between art and life, by depicting a dialecyclic graph.
Abstract: The critically celebrated but academically controversial Canadian television series Slings & Arrows presents a poignant exploration of the interrelations between art and life. By depicting a dialec...
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors assess the extent to which screened broadcasts of Shakespeare plays in Hong Kong contribute to a sense of cosmopolitan cultural identity in the city, and engage with current issues in the region.
Abstract: This essay will assess the extent to which screened broadcasts of Shakespeare plays in Hong Kong contribute to a sense of cosmopolitan cultural identity in the city, and engage with current issues ...
6 citations
TL;DR: Shakespeare's procreation sonnets enjoin a young man to sire an heir so as not to deny his beauty to posterity, employing the persuasive techniques of poetry to facilitate the act of childbearing as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Shakespeare’s procreation sonnets enjoin a young man to sire an heir so as not to deny his beauty to posterity, employing the persuasive techniques of poetry to facilitate the act of childbearing. ...
6 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the impact of regendering the role of Malvolio by comparing film versions of two 2017 theatre productions in which female actors were cast as Olivia's steward: Katy Owen and Tamsin Greig playing Malvolia in Shakespeare's Twelfth night.
Abstract: ABSTRACT Malvolio and his yellow stockings have entertained audiences since the first known production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and his punishment is often seen as “festive abuse” as defined by Albert Labriola, a way of curing him of his folly within the comic mode. Drawing on the cultural context of the play and its performance history, I examine the impact of regendering the role by comparing film versions of two 2017 theatre productions in which female actors were cast as Olivia’s steward: Katy Owen playing Malvolio in Emma Rice’s production at Shakespeare’s Globe and Tamsin Greig playing Malvolia in Simon Godwin’s production at the National Theatre. Both productions emphasise comic excess, with Rice embracing the idea of Malvolio’s punishment as redemptive and showing his final reintegration into the playworld. In contrast, the celebratory mood in Godwin’s production is undercut by the outing of Malvolia’s lesbian desire for her mistress. Her anguish is obvious during her imprisonment and reveals both the limits of festive abuse and a comic world dependent on repressive heteronormativity. This has the potential to make Malvolia a tragic figure; instead, she is shown to have the courage to escape this suffocating world in the final scene.
6 citations
TL;DR: Very little work has been done on how theatre directors employ, adapt and adopt the First Quarto of Shakespeare's Hamlet in productions based on the "standard" Second Quarto and/or First Folio text as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Very little work has been done on how theatre directors employ, adapt and adopt the First Quarto of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in productions based on the “standard” Second Quarto and/or First Folio text...
4 citations
TL;DR: Harding read English Literature at the University of Oxford before training as an actor at Drama Studio London as discussed by the authors. She started working for BBC Radio as a researcher on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time a...
Abstract: Emma Harding read English Literature at the University of Oxford before training as an actor at Drama Studio London. She started working for BBC Radio as a researcher on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time a...
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed a live-streamed performance of Shakespeare in Korea: Othello and lago (2020) by The Greatest Masque and considered how the theatre company used aesthetics and technology for its virtual presentation and social media sites for interaction with the virtual audiences.
Abstract: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic from January 2020 necessitated significant changes, a transition from an actual to a virtual stage, as performing arts in Korea experienced economic difficulties. This study analyses a live-streamed performance of Shakespeare in Korea: Othello and lago (2020) by The Greatest Masque and considers how the theatre company used aesthetics and technology for its virtual presentation and social media sites for interaction with the virtual audiences. The study also presents a future model for Korean Shakespeare - with greater emphasis on liveness and communality - which could be fulfilled virtually through social media.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the origins of the tradition of the Shakespeare sermon are discussed, focusing on two significant dates: Garrick's 1769 Jubilee and 1810, when the relationshi...
Abstract: This article addresses crucial landmarks in the origins of the tradition of the Shakespeare sermon. First, it focuses on two significant dates: Garrick’s 1769 Jubilee and 1810, when the relationshi...
2 citations
TL;DR: The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016) as mentioned in this paper, the adaptation of the Henry VI tetralogy and Richard III for the BBC, establishes a norm of white masculinity at the hea...
Abstract: This article considers how The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016) – the adaptation of the Henry VI tetralogy and Richard III for the BBC – establishes a norm of white masculinity at the hea...
2 citations
TL;DR: The play has a Lucretian aspect, such that classical materialism is reflected in its tapestry of metaphysical anxieties as mentioned in this paper, and Prince Hamlet's suffering may also be understood in the context of aLucretian ethics and science.
Abstract: Lucretius’s poem De rerum natura articulates a philosophy meant to help its adherents avoid anxiety and inner turmoil. Although Shakespeare was acquainted with and influenced by Lucretius, scholarship has neglected this influence upon Hamlet, a play whose title character is most famous for inner turmoil and melancholy. This essay argues that that the play has a Lucretian aspect, such that classical materialism is reflected in its tapestry of metaphysical anxieties. Besides Christian concerns about the afterlife, Prince Hamlet’s suffering may also, therefore, be understood in the context of a Lucretian ethics and science. Lucretius propounded a materialist view of the soul, and viewed death as the separation of the atoms of body and soul from each other. Thus, this essay points out certain scenes in the play which suggest or investigate atomic decomposition. In particular, the Gravedigger scene represents Lucretian-materialist attitudes toward death.
TL;DR: The authors examines the role of race in Shakespeare studies and English Literature and argues that the traditional view of Hamlet as a universal paradigm for humanity can be seen as a symptom of racism.
Abstract: This article examines the role of race in Shakespeare studies and, by extension, English Literature. The traditional view of Hamlet as a universal paradigm for humanity can be seen as a symptom of ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe how Donald J. Trump infamously promised to "build a great, great wall on our southern border" and to "have Mexico pay for that wall" during his presidential campaign.
Abstract: When Donald J. Trump announced his campaign for president on 16 June 2015, he infamously promised to “build a great, great wall on our southern border” and to “have Mexico pay for that wall”. The U...
TL;DR: In this article, the author disrupts present-day readings of women's experience of and diagnoses with depression by reading them in the light of the patriarchally inscribed experience of melancholia in the early 20th century.
Abstract: This article disrupts present-day readings of women’s experience of and diagnoses with depression by reading them in the light of the patriarchally inscribed experience of melancholia in the early ...
TL;DR: O'Farrell's Hamnet as mentioned in this paper explores the tradition that the death of Shakespeare's son inaugurates the father's play and reopens Hamlet's metaphorical grave.
Abstract: Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning novel Hamnet explores the tradition that the death of Shakespeare’s son inaugurates the father’s play. Reopening Hamlet’s metaphorical grave, the novel brings its r...
TL;DR: The 1610 Additions to Mucedorus end the action with the promise of a feast and of revelation to characters in the play of information about it that they currently lack.
Abstract: The 1610 Additions to Mucedorus end the action with the promise of a feast and of revelation to characters in the play of information about it that they currently lack. Such foreshadowing of imagin...
TL;DR: Creation Theatre as discussed by the authors presented a version of the play with an immersive pre-show experience in which audience were invited to have their tarot cards read and asked to answer questions about their star sign, elemental preferences, and whether they were able to bear the burden of choosing.
Abstract: Creation Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet is difficult to describe. Like a piece of immersive theatre, this complex, game-based, multifarious, and ambitious rendering of the play encouraged the audience to plot a subjective and partial path through it, eluding any attempt to provide a complete picture. While there is more to say about Annabelle Terry and Kofi Dennis’s likeable, earnest lovers, Katy Stephens’s nuanced Nurse, Dharmesh Patel’s dynamic Mercutio, and Graeme Rose and Vera Chok’s engaging Capulets, the actual performances were somewhat overshadowed by the dramaturgy of the piece. Following an increasingly bold series of digital theatre productions, Creation continued to push the boundaries of the form with Romeo and Juliet. It was a version which played through the notion of “star-crossed lovers” with commitment and sophistication. From scenographic backdrops of galaxies and nebulae – celestial bodies projected directly onto the lovers’ bodies in the balcony scene – through to a second half in which the audience member made successive choices between pre-recorded videos towards various possible endings, the principles of choice, destiny, and fate governed the production. They were even embedded in an immersive pre-show experience in which audience were invited to have their tarot cards “read”. Answering questions about my star sign, elemental preferences, and whether I was able to bear “the burden of choosing”, I was told that I was “of the Morai”, and that I should “unshackle [myself] from convention” and “choose the path less trodden”. Going back through the lobby and answering the questions differently produced the same result, suggesting that perhaps I was not so individual after all. Under the direction of Natasha Rickman, the performance itself showcased the techniques which are starting to amount to a Creation aesthetic. The use of digital technology in blocking to mirror and superimpose characters, dialogue cheated outwards to privilege the character’s response as well as what is said, performers often presented semi-transparently, and bold washes of colour
TL;DR: For instance, Shylock's Jewishness in The Merchant of Venice seems to brand him as a villain, but his character is more nuanced and unsettling than any cultural stereotype as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: If, at first, Shylock’s Jewishness in The Merchant of Venice seems to brand him as a villain, his character is more nuanced and unsettling than any cultural stereotype. Shylock cannot simply be con...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on London at the turn of the seventeenth century as one of the most fascinating places to investigate the reception of the new astronomy propelled by new astronomy.
Abstract: Recent findings by historians of science focus on London at the turn of the seventeenth century as one of the most fascinating places to investigate the reception of the new astronomy propelled by ...
TL;DR: In a genre necessarily concerned with representing the national past, Richard II stands out as being, more than any other Shakespearean history play, a play about British national identity as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In a genre necessarily concerned with representing the national past, Richard II stands out as being, more than any other Shakespearean history play, a play about British national identity. From th...
TL;DR: The unexpected opening of Emma Rice's 2016 production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream established the setting of the performance in an intriguing way as mentioned in this paper, where a woman dressed in denim overalls l...
Abstract: The unexpected opening of Emma Rice’s 2016 production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream established the setting of the performance in an intriguing way. A woman dressed in denim overalls l...
TL;DR: Jealousy conspicuously underpins the actions not only of the title character, but also those of Iago, Roderigo, and others in Shakespeare's Othello.
Abstract: Race is by no means the only theme in Shakespeare’s Othello: The Moor of Venice. Jealousy conspicuously underpins the actions not only of the title character, but also those of Iago, Roderigo, and ...
TL;DR: In this article, the etymological oscillation of guest and host, stranger-featured in early modern England, has been studied in the context of identity and difference.
Abstract: This essay focuses on current research on keywords of identity and difference in early modern England, and draws attention particularly to the etymological oscillation of guest and host, stranger-f...
TL;DR: The opening of Robert Lepage's Coriolanus, in Barry Avrich's screen version, foregrounds an icon of memorialization, a bust of Caius Martius CORiolanus's head, presented with engraved name as if pr...
Abstract: The opening of Robert Lepage’s Coriolanus, in Barry Avrich’s screen version, foregrounds an icon of memorialization. A bust of Caius Martius Coriolanus’s head, presented with engraved name as if pr...
TL;DR: A stark, imposing wooden edifice marked from the start with flecks of blood; a barren stage with only sparing use of props; a dark, sanguineous colour palette characterised by tones of deep red; an...
Abstract: A stark, imposing wooden edifice marked from the start with flecks of blood; a barren stage with only sparing use of props; a dark, sanguineous colour palette characterised by tones of deep red; an...
TL;DR: There are arguably two options facing a director of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in the present day: to recuperate it, or to excavate it as mentioned in this paper, either, the thinking goes, the play itself is antis...
Abstract: There are arguably two options facing a director of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in the present day: to recuperate it, or to excavate it. Either, the thinking goes, the play itself is antis...
TL;DR: As Iago reminded the audience of his continued plans to distort both truth and reality for Othello, he characterizes the burgeoning jealousy of his adversary as "unbookish".
Abstract: As Iago reminds the audience of his continued plans to distort both truth and reality for Othello, he characterizes the burgeoning jealousy of his adversary as “unbookish”: As he shall smile, Othel...